I’ve been chronicling the leftward tilt of Fox News for many months. That includes Chris Wallace, Shep Smith (fortunately now gone ), and Leland Vittert. It also includes RINO Congressman Paul Ryan, who was put on the board of Fox News last year to presumably encourage more anti-Trump reporting.
But perhaps the most audacious example of someone at Fox acting like an “embedded CNN reporter” may be Trey Yingst, who covers the Mideast from Jerusalem. I’d never heard of Yingst until last week when President Trump ordered the attack that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Today, as I was watching Fox News cover a press conference by Defense Secretary Mark Esper about the Iranian threat of retaliation for the death of Soleimani, I was disgusted to hear this so-called American journalist do the bidding of Iran when he suggested that Esper was either stupid or lying.
On the video that accompanies this post, you can watch Yingst starting at about the 2:52 mark. He begins his reaction to the press conference by saying, “I think what we just heard there was a shocking lack of understanding from America’s top defense official about what’s actually happening on the ground here in Iraq.”
Say what!?? Since when are reporters supposed to give their opinion about what government officials say! “You report; we decide.” REMEMBER!!! Wow, I sure miss Catherine Herridge, who is one of the last straight reporters left, but recently departed Fox for a cushy network job at ABC.
Yingst apparently thinks he is smarter than the entire Defense Department and maybe the entire executive branch. He certainly is good at twisting the words of his sources, as anyone paying attention would be able to see.
For instance, Yingst says that the US Ambassador to Iraq met with the Iraqi Prime Minister “discussing the decision by the Iraqi Parliament to ask America to remove troops from Iraq. That message delivered directly to the American representative in Baghdad, but you just heard the Defense Secretary say he wasn’t aware of any message being delivered.”
That’s not exactly what Esper said, of course. Esper first noted that the vote by the parliament was invalid because only Shi’a members had voted and both Kurds and Sunni Muslims stayed away from the vote in protest. The Shi’a are aligned with Iran and engineered the anti-American vote. Esper said the vote was not binding.
Yingst continued:
“The Defense Secretary also saying that to his knowledge there was no signed letter. We have not yet seen a copy of a signed letter, but the Iraqis including the prime minister say that one does exist.”
This refers to the draft of a letter agreeing to depart from Iraq that was leaked to the criminal corrupt US media and promoted as an Iraqi win. The letter obviously contradicts the stated policy of the commander in chief and the Pentagon ways it was never intended as an official statement of policy. The only known copy is the unsigned draft. The Iraqis claim that they received a signed letter, but have not produced it. Obviously, Yingst was more inclined to believe the Iraqis than his own government — even without evidence.
In fact, although Yingst said, “Everything the Defense Secretary just said there is going to be questioned tomorrow in Baghdad,” he should have just said that he was questioning it right now.
“The Defense Secretary notes there have been many Iraqis pushing their government to stop close ties with the Iranians, but his comments about the number of protesters in Baghdad don’t match up with the realities on the ground. He said the past few days the Iraqis have been protesting in the streets continuously pressuring their government to cut ties with the Iranians. That was happening weeks ago. In the past few days there’s been less than 500 protesters in Tahir Square called in the government to stop these ties with the Iranians. So the Defense Secretary here is painting a not so accurate picture about the realities on the ground, and that’s something that’s only going to widen the gap between the Trump administration and the administration of [Prime Minister] Abdul -Mahdi going forward.”
Umm no. What Is Esper said was, “Even in the last few days, we still see Iraqis on the streets protesting their government due to corruption and the malign influence of Iran. Those feelings have not gone away.”
Notice that Esper did not mention a number of protesters. He made a perfectly accurate statement, and Yingst tried to make it look ring by putting it into a false context. Are their fewer protesters now than a few weeks ago? You bet, but not because of a newfound love for Iran. Rather it’s the same old fear of being shot by Iranian-backed militias or exploded by an Iranian-built IED.
According to Yingst, “The bottom line is Iraq is a sovereign country, so if the prime minister says ‘Get Out,’ the US will have very few options to decide from.”
YOU THINK? In fact, the bottom line is that the American military is the most powerful force in the world, and President Trump isn’t afraid to use it if he has to. If we decide to stay in Iraq, neither Iran nor Iran will have any option other than to get used to it.
Please, Fox News! Dump this anti-American goon from your newscasts and start telling the truth!
ABOUT HEARTLAND DIARY
Frank Miele has spent four decades in the news business and now offers conservative commentary to counter the left-wing bias in the national media. If you enjoy reading these daily essays, I hope you will consider purchasing one of my books. They are available through the following Amazon links. My new book — “The Media Matrix: What if everything you know is fake?” — shows that Fake News has been around for years. The “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy tackles the politics of the last two decades: Part 1 is subtitled “Bush’s Global Failure: Half Right.” Part 2 is “Obama’s Fundamental Transformation: Far Left.” Part 3 is “Trump’s American Vision: Just Right.” As an Amazon Associate, I may earn referral fees for qualifying purchases through links on my website. Also consider subscribing to Heartland Diary on YouTube by clicking here for News Every Conservative Can Use. My goal is to reach 1,000 subscribers.
