On further reflection, we probably should have put the headline word “conservative” in quotation marks as well, because we’re here talking about David Frum of The Atlantic who is one of those pretend-Republicans who think their tenuous ties to the right gives their unending criticism of Donald Trump some extra heft.
But for whatever inane observations Frum is making regularly in The Atlantic, we doubt any of them are as ill-conceived as what he said on CNN this Sunday. Appearing on an edition of Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources program, Frum seriously suggested that the mainstream media is too easy on the 45th President of the United States.
Answering Stelter’s question about whether or not the media was doing itself a disservice by being too hard on President Trump, Frum said the question was built on a “false premise.”
“Relative to the truth,” he said, “the prestige press in this country has a pro-Trump bias. Relative to the truth, Trump gets easier coverage than he deserves.”
Oooookay. We can only conclude that Frum lives in one of those states that has made marijuana legal in the past couple of years.
Frum’s remark about the media was in line with the rest of the show, however, because it was a very media-centric program. Specifically, Stelter was on a mission to find out what the mainstream press could do to win back the trust…of liberals.
From NewsBusters:
It’s a new year, so CNN media reporter Brian Stelter decided to dedicate a lot of Sunday’s Reliable Sources (the first episode of the year) to starting things off on the right foot by trying to improve the liberal media’s trust with the public. Unfortunately, he was only interested in improving it with only half the country. The left half to be precise. Throughout the program, he queried his ample supply of liberal panelists to understand how the media could improve in their eyes going into 2020 and beyond.
“But let me level with you since it’s the start of a new year here,” Stelter began. “I thought about leading off this program with President Trump’s insults against Democrats, his latest slur against Elizabeth Warren, his new ad blasting Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. But then I thought, that’s precisely the problem.”
According to Stelter, “[f]raming Democratic policies and campaigns through Trump’s shots and smears is one of the things that is wrong about political coverage.” Speaking with Obama-bro Dan Pfeiffer a short time later, Stelter argued that “[t]he idea that if everything is framed or refracted through Trump that’s going to hurt the Democrats.”
Hmm, is it possible that maybe, just possibly, it SHOULDN’T BE ANY OF YOUR CONCERN WHAT HURTS THE DEMOCRATS? What the hell does that have to do with the responsible coverage of news?
CNN is so far off the trustworthy map that they don’t even have a clue how to find the way back. But hey, if they want to pat themselves on the back and pretend that their only fault is in giving Trump too much benefit of the doubt, have at it. Enjoy your impending and inevitable trip through bankruptcy court in a few years, because it’s coming.
