I don’t know which is more disappointing — the ease with which an election can be stolen in the United States of America, or the abject failure of the American media to safeguard the people from their corrupt overlords. But I do know which is more dangerous. The death of journalism is the topic of my column this week at Real Clear Politics.
Propaganda, Election Fraud and the Death of Journalism
By Frank Miele
Easy question: Is it illegal to steal an election or not?
You would have to assume that it is no big deal based on the response to claims of widespread fraud in the contest between President Trump and Joe Biden. Big Media says the evidence just doesn’t exist, and most Americans seem to be lost in a blue haze of blind acceptance that whatever they are told by the talking heads on TV must be true.
This kind of unthinking obedience to authority is a frightening harbinger of an America that is no longer a nation of laws, but rather a nation of edicts. You can already see that unfolding in the sheep-like acceptance of COVID-19 restrictions that blatantly ignore the Constitution. But if you dare do your own independent assessment of facts — whether regarding the efficacy of mask use in preventing spread of coronavirus or regarding the security of electronic voting — you will quickly come to a different conclusion than that which is approved by Big Tech, Big Media and Big Money.
Unfortunately, most people don’t take the time to do their own research. They simply believe whatever is told to them. For those in thrall to the establishment media, that means they believe that Trump’s allegations of election fraud are “baseless.” Remember, the media made that declaration within hours of the election, long before any evidence had been presented in a court of law and before analysis had begun on the raw vote totals. Once that narrative was established, it didn’t matter how many affidavits were presented, how many witnesses came forward, or how much analysis suggested that the vote count may have been manipulated. The jury of the American people had already been tainted by Big Media to believe the narrative that Trump is a sore loser.
Don’t forget, the mainstream media — in the interests of public enlightenment (now known as wokeness) — have spent the past four years reporting as fact that the duly elected president of the United States is a liar, a tax cheat, a Russian puppet, and a racist. In other words, he is a con man who never should have been anywhere near the Oval Office in the first place. So why would anyone now believe his claims that Democrats used phony mail ballots, vote-counting software and foreign manipulation to steal the election? Most of the media is pretending that there is not even a real story to report in what, if true, would be one of the gravest constitutional crises in the history of our republic.
As Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said in his press conference Thursday, “The coverage of this has been almost as dishonest as the scheme itself. The American people are entitled to know this,” he warned the press. “You don’t have a right to keep it from them. You don’t have a right to lie about it.”
But, the newsrooms at CNN and MSNBC are keeping it from the public. They refused to even carry Giuliani’s press conference laying out the evidence of election fraud. As for Fox News, they covered it, and then put a reporter on the air to say the claims were “simply not true” or “baseless.” Clearly, we are not going to get the truth from the media. Has there been even one reporter for a mainstream outlet such as the Washington Post asking questions about the vulnerability of electronic voting systems to hacking or manipulation? Is any news organization demanding that the Justice Department or FBI get to the bottom of the story?
The loss of a free and neutral press means that democracy cannot work even if its elections were completely above board. The capacity of the people to self-govern is dependent on their access to true and accurate information. Sadly, the opposite principle applies as well. When journalism abandons objectivity in favor of an agenda, then the people are in the position of cattle being led to slaughter.
Thomas Jefferson described the abuses of a free press in 1814 in a letter to his friend Walter Jones:
“I deplore … the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity and the mendacious spirit of those who write for them… These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food. As vehicles of information and a curb on our functionaries, they have rendered themselves useless by forfeiting all title to belief… This has, in a great degree, been produced by the violence and malignity of party spirit.”
Ouch! Take that, New York Times! Take that, CNN!
Of course, it is just such a malign “party spirit” that informs almost all mainstream journalism in the Age of Trump — a spirit that is visible in the hostility towards Trump himself, but also in the accommodation towards Democrats such as Joe Biden. Last Monday’s Biden press conference was a stunning abdication of responsibility by the media for its much-vaunted role of “speaking truth to power” — or at least asking tough questions.
Three of the first four queries were merely anti-Trump questions asked in a new way. Instead of asking Trump “How do you justify your unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power?” the reporters merely asked Biden what he thought about Trump’s “unprecedented attempt” blah blah blah. Then the next three questions were about COVID, which after six months of campaigning, even Sleepy Joe Biden could answer with his eyes closed.
Isn’t the media going to hold Biden accountable just like they claimed to hold Trump accountable? Why not ask about the curious patterns of vote counting in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia that make millions of people think Biden tried to steal the election? Shouldn’t he be asked to support a full investigation to prove his victory was legitimate? How about a question about whether Hunter Biden will come out of hiding now that the election is over? How about asking the “president-in-waiting” to condemn the BLM and antifa violence that sent several innocent Trump supporters to the hospital two weeks ago?
How about our celebrity journalists celebrate their own crucial role as defenders of democracy? If they don’t want to “render themselves useless,” they need to swear allegiance to facts, wherever they lead, and not to one party. Or as Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana put it more indelicately, “They have to be equal opportunity assholes.”
But they aren’t — and sooner or later the American people will get tired of being manipulated. Journalism is supposed to give an honest account of the facts so that people can make up their own minds what they believe to be true. Propaganda, on the other hand, is a dishonest attempt to persuade people not to examine the facts for themselves. Journalism starts with facts and allows people to reach their own conclusion. Propaganda starts with a conclusion and manipulates people into accepting it as fact. You can decide for yourself whether what we have today is journalism or propaganda.
But the bottom line is this: Whether or not Donald Trump can prove his case in court should be irrelevant to the job of the press. What honest reporters ought to recognize is the significance of the allegation itself, the historical nature of the crime being alleged, and the importance to the future of our republic that the case must be heard.
Too bad there are so few honest reporters left.
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Heartland Diary is solely operated by Frank Miele, the retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Montana. If you enjoy reading these daily essays, I hope you will SUBSCRIBE to www.HeartlandDiaryUSA.com by leaving your email address on the home page. Also please consider purchasing one of my books. They are available through the following Amazon links. My new book is “How We Got Here: The Left’s Assault on the Constitution” and is now available in paperback and as an eBook. It is 536 pages long and chock full of research on the progressive movement and the patriotic heroes who have fought against it. My earlier books include “The Media Matrix: What if everything you know is fake?” and the “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy. 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 please subscribe to Heartland Diary on YouTube by clicking here for News Every Conservative Can Use.
The death of journalism has been slow but steady. I wish it were true what you wrote, “sooner or later the American people will get tired of being manipulated.” 72 million of us, who are well and truly represented by the first Honest President in my lifetime, are tired of the way we are perceived by the press. You mentioned Thomas Jefferson clearly saw the “journalists” weren’t really doing their jobs 300 years ago. It seems their task is not to simply bring you the events of the day, it is to become the adversaries of the people who serve in politics. Ok. Could be very ok. But when it’s one-sided: not okay. Dangerous, scary, and every honest news outlets should expose these operatives. (One example: Like Meacham writing Biden’s remarks or speeches, and then being asked to comment on what a great speech it was. He was slapped on the wrist but I think he still has steady work. No consequences for blatant misconduct. Second: George Stephanopoulos interviewing Hillary but forgetting to mention he had recently “contributed” or “donated” $75,000 that we know of to the Clinton Foundation. Again….nothing to see here, folks, move along.)
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster NJ 07921
I think Meacham has now been announced as working for the Biden transition.
Aoc wrote about Trump sycophants. She only needs to look at the Democrat liberal media who exercise their foolishness everyday in the guise of reporters who asked Obama what “amazes” him at a press conference, or “what is it about you that is so fantastic,” and nowadays ask Joe Biden what kind of ice cream he ordered, or whether he agrees with everyone at the press conference that President Trump is stalling the transition.” These reporters are not reporters, not journalists, but they are current democrat strategists and operatives for the Democrats who moonlight as reporters.
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster NJ 07921
You are right about propaganda used by fake reporters. I really don’t think they know the difference between propaganda and their own agenda vs. reporting the stories as they unfold. I know that, we know that, but these propagandists left politics specifically to be on the “inside” to be able to spread “their truth” like The Jussie Smollett’s “truth,” which is the manufacture of “The Big Lie.” Giant gobs of propaganda. Smollett thought the country had an appetite for racism and he was going to be the poster boy. He was going to make a lot of money doing it. The race baiting reporters were hoping to make a lot of money, too. If they were semi-literate, fairly attractive, or could “Jeer-like-Joy,” they joined a pseudo news organization. They got their “reporter” papers and the rest is unfolding daily. They are in on the joke. The owners of the cable network are getting 50% market share and they are also in on the joke. Everyone gets to jab and poke President Trump for 5 years and they still have 50% of the market share buying ad time, watching their malignant and diseased programs.
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster NJ 07921
Good synthesis of how the scam works, Joe.
Mr. Miele, I can’t stop thinking about your article about propaganda being sold as journalidm. It keeps me up at night. These propagandist bought the Karl Marx disinformation and it is very scary. Aoc saying to “make a list and note” any Trump sycophants and punish them? Ignorant Harvard affirmative action students demand that no Trump person should ever speak or teach at Harvard? This is very scary stuff. The ayoyollah cast doubt about the Holocaust and the uneducated political people don’t want to think about it anyway so that’s ok with their philosophy. They’ve never had real world history. They have “grievance history.” Odd that Bernie Sanders cannot see the book banning, book burning, destruction and rioting of Seattle, Portland and other cities as the exact same thing that started the Nazi oppression by brown shirt fascists in November 1938. The Nazis used an excuse that a political figure was killed by a Jew who was in Paris at the time, not even in Germany. That didn’t stop the destruction. Antifa IS a fascist political group of thugs who use any social issue to destroy the civilized world and shopping mall as we know it. Antifa is not against fascism, but embraces fascism. In Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland, as well as beautiful and vibrant New York City, the billions of dollars of destruction of property as well as the destruction of people’s lives, was coordinated and paid for by bad people, and it is unconscionable that Bernie didn’t call this out as Kristallnacht.
Now the thugs from the political left are calling foul again because President Trump pardoned Michael Flynn. They don’t want the truth that the FBI set him up. They know the truth. They helped craft it. Somehow, Lori loeffler and her husband were treated worse than the anarchists who burned down cities this summer, and I would love them to be pardoned, as well as other parents who tried to get their kids in college. Big argument is they took a seat from a more deserving student. Puleeeez. All students go for four years if not at USC then somewhere like it for fun on Mommy and daddy’s ticket, so it’s not as if these well intentioned parents are terrorists. It’s the colleges that got off Scot free from the “college admission scandal.” They need to cut tuition because we, the people, keep paying for “anarchists-in-training” and that’s not where I want my tax money to go. Remember, all the reporters who vilify Trump, including Fredo, had the advantage over me of going to Harvard, Yale, or Columbia School of journalism. My commie nephew got a degree from Rutgers, then a master’s in journalism at NYU, and is an adjunct professor teaching God knows what. He has no respect for the lifestyle of his parents who spent a ton of money for all his tuitions. But their lifestyle which allowed him the freedom of lying for a living and pushing his propaganda? Not good enough for him.
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster NJ 07921
You are on fire, Joe! Keep the truth coming!
Sorry…. I meant Lori Loughlin, should be pardoned because she was sent to prison for trying to look after her daughters to the best of her ability. Ms. Loughlin has been vilified for being a concerned mother, and treated like a terrorist while real terrorists from the riots this summer are not being held accountable. Ms. Loughlin’s husband, who never had the opportunity to attend college, thought college was so special he wanted his children to have the opportunity. I would love these two “conservatives” to be pardoned. This punishment did not fit the crime, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Who gets that money? Gavin Newsome? These parents did not take a spot from someone more worthy, because we have thousands of colleges and everyone comes out the same anyway. 98% liberal leftists. Treating the parents of this so-called college scandal worse than the anarchists from the “Summer of Destruction” where buildings, businesses, and homes were looted and burned???? Ridiculous. That there was no penalty put on the overpriced college administrators is very bad. They over charge the entire country for tuitions where they neglect their fiduciary responsibility toward the students by NOT training them for a profession, but train them in nonsense and sedition. The liberal media puts out classic propaganda. Predictable. Time dishonored hearsay, twists, smears and lies.
How does propaganda work? We saw with the Hunter Biden Burisma lobbyist situation. Hunter received a ton of money, shared with Dad, but if the media doesn’t report it, it didn’t happen. The media protected the rioters and called them “mostly peaceful protesters.” The media tells anyone who tunes in that Trump should concede and isn’t he awful. Even the story Jill Biden’s first husband told about how he was okay with Jill married to Joe and he, himself, had remarried. But when he heard stories that Jill and joe met on a blind date, he couldn’t go with that one. They knew each other for years but Jill cheated on her husband with Joe, for quite a while under the “guise” of babysitting Joe’s kids after Joe’s wife died. But the media didn’t pay any attention to Jill’s ex-husband. President Trump is the most honest President we have ever had and I love that he has the will to fight the fraud the media supports. We have 55 days, and a lot can be exposed in 55 days. But the liberal media flexed their propaganda stories and got what they wanted.
If anyone can make a case for removing the fraudulent votes, President Trump can make this happen!! God bless him!
Joe Morrisco
Bedminster NJ 07921
Press conferences as facts, journalists as biased — you miss key points: courts have shut down these appeals for the baseless shame they are. Not the media, not democrats, not state officials, not Joe Biden. Courts. And they do it time and again for one reason— there is no evidence showing any of the assertions. If there were, the cases would proceed.
End of story.
You’re right. They do it for one reason — because they hate Donsld Trump.