If you thought Tuesday’s press conference, where Donald Trump spent an hour or so tearing into the media for daring to timidly question what happened to the $6 million he allegedly raised for veterans’ groups back in January, was pathetic, then you haven’t read The New York Times’ take on the event. Because that’s pathetic. The Times spends the first eight paragraphs sobbing about how mean Don was to them (the media), using hurtful words like “sleaze” and “dishonest” and that he was “assailing” the media in “unusually vitriolic” terms that sometimes got “personal.” The Times then spoke to “scholars and political analysts” who assured them one would have to go back to the days of Nixon to see this kind of treatment.
Finally, after spending those eight paragraphs assuring its readers that the media had been downright bullied by Trump, The Times got to the heart of the matter. Sort of. They note that in January Trump held a televised fundraiser to raise money for veterans because he was mad at Fox News, that at the event he said he raised $6 million, including a personal donation of $1 million, but that recent reporting showed that “the full amount did not materialize quickly.” And then … back to the whining about Trump calling them names, quotes from experts defending the media, and a few lines to show how tough they were on Trump as they—more than five months after the fact—were “pressing him for answers.”
Now, let’s contrast The Times’ hard-hitting journalism with that of MSNBC’s Steve Benen, who, after clearly (and from the start) outlining the events leading up to Wednesday’s press conference, said:
So where does that leave us? Trump said he’d raised $6 million for veterans, but that wasn’t true. He later claimed he never used the $6 million figure, but that wasn’t true. His campaign insisted Trump had contributed $1 million himself, but that wasn’t true. Trump said he “didn’t want to have credit” for the fundraising efforts, but that wasn’t true. He said he and his team were vetting groups they’d never heard of four months after the fact, but that wasn’t true.
Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Trump is a liar. He lied repeatedly. But for The New York Times the most important takeaway is that the media was unjustly attacked. Which makes this line from its story even more perfect:
Mr. Trump’s broadside was especially provocative given that concerns have been raised throughout the campaign about whether the news media collectively have failed to subject his candidacy to enough scrutiny and skepticism.
Can’t imagine why those concerns exist … can you?