Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The Republican Convention and the Media

 

Nikki Haley last night - I would vote for her in a heat beat (National Review)
Most people know and hopefully understand my ambivalence about the President. I have stated here often my simultaneous disgust for his behavior in his role as President while at the same time – even though he is not really conservative himself - lauding him for implementing polices that mostly reflect my conservative leanings. Last night, I saw a lot of Trump supporters reflecting on those policies. Many of which have been ignored or spun by the media in extremely negative ways . 

I saw many black speakers show evidence that he is not racist having had a relationship with him for may years long before he ever became President. Even taking offense that they would have a relationship with a racist President.

There were also a lot of stories told by people who experienced kindness and compassion form the President. A side we never see. They were not lying.

It was therefore almost comical watching the mainstream media spin on what happened last night. I don’t think it is arguable anymore. The mainstream media bias against the President is extreme. I will cite one example of the many I could choose from. 

In reporting the sordid sex scandal about Evangelical preacher, Jerry Falwell Jr. the media could not resist saying that he was a Trump supporter,Which of course has absolutely nothing to do with the accusations being made against Falwell. Why did they do that? I think the answer is obvious. Guilt by association. They want to show what kind of people support the President are hypocrites. 

By contrast when the speaking about terrorist regime of Iran, they never mention that Joe Biden is their favorite candidate.   

After watching the media spin on the Republican convention last night, I could have sworn that we were watching 2 different events. 

Here in some of what I saw last night 

There were several speakers who spoke about a personal side of the President we never hear about. The quiet kindness and compassion he showed them without any media attention. Some of those speakers were black.

In fact there more than a few black people that spoke about what the President's polices have done for their community. Economic opportunities have been created by Trump administration that did not exist before – even under a black President. Prior to COVID these polices resulted in the lowest unemployment numbers for black people - and the highest average income in history. 

They talked about the soft bigotry of forcing children in poor black neighborhoods to attend the local sub par schools because of where they lived instead of offering them choices outside of their own zip-code. Which is opposed by the powerful teachers unions – who despite protestations to the contrary are more interested in the welfare of their member teachers than they are of their students. The Democratic Party seems to feel the same way.

Then there was the law and order issue. There was acknowledgement that we have a long way to go to eliminate racism from our midst. Some of which has raised its ugly head in some police departmants in deadly ways. But as was pointed out, that does not mean that police are the enemy. They are the heroes that stand in the way of lawlessness, that has caused pain and suffering to innocent people that whose businesses have been looted and destroyed.  Arguments by the left that these demonstrations are peaceful and only become violent when infiltrators show up - are beginning to wear thin. I have heard some of the prostesters actually justify the looting as a form of reparations for slavery! 

There is no Republican that would deny peaceful protest. But unlike the Democratic approach of tolerating months of lawlessness in cities like Portland, Rep8blicans would pursue law and order by virtue of law enforcement. As Nikky Haley said,  lawlessness only begets more lawlessness.

Supporting the police does not make one racist. Although the way the media is reporting the police interaction with protesters makes it seem that way.You can oppose racism in all of its ugly forms and still support the police - the vast majority of which are fine people that risk their lives to protect us all. 

Other speakers spoke of the President’s success in implementing prison reform, something his predecessor did not do. 

They spoke about the failure of the media to credit the President for accelerating vaccine development and production - instead of the constant harangue about he hasn't done. Or his lack of leadership -.blaming him for the enormous death toll at the hands of COVID.

Thye spoke about his pre-covid economic achievements – implementing policies that accelerated the longest peacetime expansion of the economy in American history. 

They talked about keeping or trying to keep his campaign promises. One of which involved keeping a promise made but never kept by every single President when they were candidate: Moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 

Theytalked about the 2 conservative judges he palced on the Supreme Court.

They talked about polices implemented by the president that protect freedom of religion from those who see religion as an impediment to equality.

\But the media could not resist tearing every one of those accomplishments down – spinning them all in negative ways.

During the Democratic convention Biden was treated like he was going to save the world… mimicking Biden’s supporters at the convention said he would. Painting 4 more years of Trump like the end of the world. 

I know that a lot of people to my left agree with the media spin. They will see this post as some sort of misguided endorsement of the President’s re-election. 

It is not. I am still ambivalent about him. What I am not ambivalent about is the media bias against him. It is dripping with animus – thinly disguised as 'matter of fact' balanced reporting. 

If you are a 'Never Trumper'. you will agree with the media and wonder what the heck I am talking about. But if you are open minded you will recognize that there are good things and bad things about him. 

What is sad about all this is that mainstream media influence is very powerful. for those that pay any attention to them - it isn’t about the story they are reporting. It is about the way they report it. there are too many people without any real depth about understanding about the issues of our day. They will vote based on the media characterization rather than on any real understanding of those issues. And that is no way to choose a President.