A bonus quote from the opening paragraphs of an op-ed in yesterday’s Washington Post: “For a president who promised ‘unity,’ division remains Trump’s signature tactic.”
This harsh critique by foreign affairs writer Ishaan Tharoor continues in the following sentence: “And what troubles critics is that Trump’s behavior seems utterly familiar in authoritarian contexts elsewhere in the world.”
Those “critics” Tharoor mentions (i.e., the mainstream media) were silent over the last eight years when a president whose policies they approved of followed precisely the M.O. being ascribed to Donald Trump.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
When in April of 2016 Barack Obama “warned Democrats against adopting a ‘Tea Party mentality’ that could lead to deep divisions within the party and harm its chances of winning national elections,” he was being a loyalist to his party — not a divisive president.
And when a Gallup poll in February 2015 found Obama to be the most polarizing president in history, the WaPo and its allies conveniently explained the 70% disparity in approval between Democrats and Republicans as racism.
And if it wasn’t racism that propelled the actions of Obama’s naysayers, it was straight up obstructionism. When it still looked like Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election, far-left commentator Paul Waldman predicted a “golden age of Republican obstructionism” under the second President Clinton. But since the underdog won, Waldman has become suddenly tongue-tied. This despite Senate Minority Leader [score]Chuck Schumer[/score]’s overt appeals to his base to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct.
To say that the liberal media are subscribing to a double standard in their handling of President Trump vs. President Obama is to make a mockery of the term. The New York Times, which took a very light hand in reporting Obama-era scandals involving Benghazi or the IRS, has taken a keen interest in the current president’s behind-the-scenes actions. On Sunday the Times broke the story that Trump repairs to his upstairs residence in the White House and watches television in his bathroom at the end of a workday. Oh, the humanity!
On the same day, the Post shocked the world with the news that Trump’s son, Eric, spent $97,830 of taxpayer money for Secret Service protection on a trip to Uruguay in early January on Trump Organization business. As blogger Ann Althouse rhetorically asks:
Were there equivalent headlines for what taxpayers paid when members of Obama’s family traveled to do things that were not the work of government — vacations, career-boosting internships, political fundraisers and rallies?
Good question, but don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer from the MSM.
