‘The president’s visit made fools of these critics…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) With Wall Street, Capitol Hill and everywhere in between closed for the Christmas holiday, the non-stop flow of the news stream slowed to a drip this week.
Some newsrooms fell back on their “evergreens”—feel-good puff pieces, pre-planned and canned for use anytime.
Not so for the trolls at certain left-wing outlets, where the reflexive instinct to any story is to seek the Trump-bashing angle. Feasting on a string of negative headlines, they attempted to paint it as the president’s worst week ever.
But those expecting Trump to let down his guard for the holidays did so at their own peril as he once again reversed courses and left many with eggnog on their face following a surprise troop visit in Iraq.
Clinging to the familiar narratives, biased liberal outlets that were poised to savage Trump for taking a break during the government shutdown dispatched their crews to his Florida retreat, Mar-a-lago, only to find he wasn’t there.
The despondent journalists found themselves forced instead to torch Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, relying on a handful of random social media posts and paparazzi photos to justify the coverage.
Meanwhile, as the president canceled his plans—presumably so he could suffer the shutdown alone at the White House—the remaining “journalists” dug into the archives to try to ascertain what Trump wasn’t doing that he ought to be.
The Media Research Center reported that the echo chamber soon found its scoop. Starting with NBC, several outlets chimed in by criticizing him for being the first president since 2002 not to visit troops over Christmastime.
That alone may have seemed a bit ironic given Trump’s recent announcement that he was planning to withdraw troops from Syria and substantially reduce the forces in Afghanistan—moves which the typically anti-military media suddenly found itself indignant over.
But it became especially awkward when the news broke that Donald and Melania Trump had, in fact, made a surprise visit to Iraq, followed shortly thereafter by a visit to troops in Germany.
Happening Now – President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS meet with Troops at Ramstein Air Base. pic.twitter.com/myDcyFIQde
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) December 27, 2018
This left desperate media hacks scrambling for any other angle they could find to criticize Trump for doing exactly what they had criticized him for not doing (and fawned over his predecessor for doing).
Some managed to blame him for allegedly unmasking a special forces division that he posed for photos with.
Others used the opportunity to give a platform to the politicians in the U.S.-liberated country to criticize Trump for violating their sovereignty and call for the expulsion of U.S. forces.
Some even had the audacity to attack the troops who enthusiastically received the president.
CNN will attack anyone who supports President Trump, including the brave men and women of our military who fight everyday to protect our freedom https://t.co/x6VjuUJFdF
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) December 27, 2018
After noticing the double-standard in place between the Obama and Trump visits, The Washington Post obligingly ran a story to point out the contrasts, if only to go out of its way to try to pin each and every hypocritical media narrative onto Trump himself.
“The contrast between the two trips is sometimes stark—not just because of the timing, but also because of the very different tone they put on display,” The Post reached. “This itself is a reflection of the different personalities of the two men as commanders in chief, as well as the dramatic changes that have taken place in the Middle East in the past nine years.”
Much to its credit, despite its newsroom joining in the ballyhooing of the Iraq visit, USA Today ran an opinion piece by Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer of the London Center for Policy Research pointing out the overwhelming duplicity of the press coverage.
“The visit counters the false narrative that the liberal media and anti-Trump politicians have been working to construct about our commander in chief,” Shaffer said. “Instead of admitting to their error, they attack him for the visit.”
But, as is often the case when the media attempts to construct a narrative, Trump got the last laugh, said Shaffer.
“The president’s visit made fools of these critics. The troops’ enthusiastic welcome of their commander in chief and the Trumps’ Christmastime visit shows that the president cares first and foremost for the safety and well-being of the young Americans we rely on to protect us,” he said. “And the president’s foreign policy decisions show he is far more concerned about the price of war—and of individual sacrifice—than his recent predecessors.”