Many on the left are calling Newsweek’s epic investigation of Donald Trump’s myriad entanglements with dubious world characters “too complicated” to be picked up by the rest of the dumbed-down media. Now while I have little doubt that our craven fourth estate is more than anxious to throw this old-fashioned piece of great reporting down the memory hole, I want to encourage our side not to help them do it.
Kurt Eichenwald’s article is not “complicated” at all. It’s episodic, and every episode tells the same story. Here’s an example:
But for the Trump Organization, Qaddafi was not a murdering terrorist; he was a prospect who might bring the company financing and the opportunity to build a resort on the Mediterranean coast of Libya. According to an Arab financier and a former businessman from the North African country, Trump made entreaties to Qaddafi and other members of his government, beginning in 2008, in which he sought deals that would bring cash to the Trump Organization from a sovereign wealth fund called the Libyan Investment Authority. The following year, Trump offered to lease his estate in Westchester County, New York, to Qaddafi; he took Qaddafi’s money but, after local protests, forbade him from staying at his property. (Trump kept the cash.) “I made a lot of money with Qaddafi,’’ Trump said recently about the Westchester escapade. “He paid me a fortune.”
This brief account of Trump’s nasty business practices may be beyond the comprehension of a Sean Hannity, but I’m sure most Americans would be able to grasp it. And all the stories Eichenwald tells follow the same template of potential corruption and conflict interest for a prospective president.
Indeed, the Newsweek Trump saga is so simple to understand, most journalists will be reluctant to touch it. They might have to do some actual work. For a lazy reporter, the ideal “big” political story is completely incomprehensible. (Think Whitewater.) The more incomprehensible something is, the easier it is to write about. It’s not like anybody’s in a strong position to contradict you. And you can always find a new angle. Just call a partisan politician.
So don’t play into the media’s hands. The Newsweek story is not complicated. It makes sense. It’s based on verifiable facts. And it’s scary. Don’t let anybody tell you different.