The day that Donald Trump proudly welcomed the most anti-Semitic leader in Europe to the White House, the Beltway press managed yet again to completely abdicate its responsibilities by helping Trump launder an ugly, hollow attack against a Muslim member of Congress. Deep into Trump-era stenography mode, reporters and editors routinely and willfully regurgitate any absurd allegation he makes against public officials, and do so under the banner of news. The press continues to play an absolutely central role in spreading Trump's hate and appears to do so without pause or concern about Trump's targets, or about how political journalism is supposed to be practiced. It's one thing for the press to tread timidly around Trump and his radical ways, as journalists refuse, for instance, to accurately dub him a pathological liar. It's another thing entirely to play dumb on such an epic scale, where journalists willingly amplify obviously dishonest attacks.
That's what happened this week when Republicans concocted an utterly phony outrage campaign against Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the first Palestinian-American in Congress. She recently gave an interview where she addressed the search for peace in the Middle East.
Here is part of her extended response:
There’s always kind of a calming feeling, I tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people's passports. And, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time. And, I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways, but they did it in a way that took their human dignity away and it was forced on them.
Tlaib added that she is "coming from a place of love, for equality and justice" for all people and that she wants "a safe haven" for Jews.
Republicans then set upon her comments and completely ripped them out of context, suggesting that Tlaib had insulted the memory of the Holocaust by using the word "calming," and that Democratic leaders need to punish her for her allegedly anti-Semitic commentary. In fact, Tlaib was clearly advancing the optimistic notion that a bond exists between Israelis and Palestinians, and that bond could be the basis for possible peace.
This wasn't even a “gotcha” campaign from the GOP where political adversaries tried to artfully misconstrue a comment. This was just Republicans completely manufacturing an attempted outrage.
Soon came the Trump tweet to boost the GOP's relentless harassment of Muslim Democrats.
“Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust,” Trump said in a tweet. “She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?”
And then came the predictably awful news coverage, where journalists pretend they're obligated by law to type up Trump's attacks and smears as news, and bury all context and fact-checking—where Beltway reporters pretend it's simply not in their job description to accurately point out a bullshit slur when they see one.
"Trump and Republicans smear Muslim Congresswoman with manufactured claim of anti-Semitism," is what accurate headlines would have looked like. Instead, these were some the spineless, “both sides” headlines offered up:
“Dems hit back at Trump for attack on Rashida Tlaib” (Politico)
“Trump blasts Tlaib over Holocaust comments, accuses her of 'tremendous hatred'” (Fox News)
“Trump joins GOP criticism of Rep. Tlaib over remarks on Holocaust, Israel” (Washington Post)
“President Trump slams Rep. Rashida Tlaib for Holocaust comments” (Detroit Free Press)
“Dems say Trump, GOP, twisting Tlaib's Holocaust remarks” (Associated Press)
“Rashida Tlaib stands by Israel and Holocaust comments amid criticism” (CNN)
What's so astounding is that some news outlets acknowledged in their coverage that Trump's Tlaib attack wasn't legitimate and didn't reflect, even remotely, what she said. But those acknowledgements were buried in the reports, instead of being amplified. The Post noted Republicans were "falsely accusing" Tlaib of using the “calm” phrase to describe her views about the Holocaust itself." [Emphasis added.] And from the AP: "The remark instantly ignited an online fight, with Republicans incorrectly describing Tlaib's words as reflecting her feelings about the genocide itself that cost millions of lives, including those of 6 million Jews."
So if Republicans were lying about Tlaib, and the lie represented the entirety of the kerfuffle, why wasn't the lie touted in the headline and in the first paragraph of the Post and AP reports? (CNN acted as if it couldn't figure out the proper context of Tlaib's comments.)
Folks, what are we doing? Most journalists covering this nonsense clearly understand what's going on in terms of the chronically dishonest behavior, so why won't they acknowledge it and treat that as being newsworthy? Why this robotic insistence by the media to make believe (and there's really no other way to describe it) that Trump's ever an honest player? Why this refusal to treat his dishonesty as the news story, instead of typing up his lies and amplifying them?
Adding to the media’s dismal performance was the fact that virtually none of the Tlaib coverage regarding Trump's manufactured claims of anti-Semitism mentioned the fact that on the very day of that attack, he hosted the anti-Semitic leader of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, at the White House, where he was touted as a friend and true leader. [Orban] “peddles in unpunished anti-Semitism," William Echikson, editor of the Holocaust Remembrance Project, recently noted. "The Hungarian government’s anti-migrant rhetoric endangers all minorities, including Jews, and its comparisons with the 1930s are unmistakable."
Why is the press so afraid of connecting the obvious dots that lead directly to Trump?
Eric Boehlert is a veteran progressive writer and media analyst, formerly with Media Matters and Salon. He is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush and Bloggers on the Bus. You can follow him on Twitter @EricBoehlert.
This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.
