Sunday, May 14, 2017

Trump can't win the press

washingtonexaminer.com ^ | Eddie Scarry 

The mania over James Comey's firing would carry more weight if the press didn't behave this way every time President Trump signed an order, wrote a tweet or flushed a toilet.
Political commentators, news organizations and lawmakers on both sides had been calling for Comey's ousting for months for his bizarre, inconstant approach in conducting the sensitive investigations into Hillary Clinton's emails and then Trump's election campaign.
But now that he's gone, the media act like America just lost its favorite uncle.
Everyone is now used to the simple fact that no matter what he does, Trump cannot win the press. And that's why no one should look to it for an indication of whether he's doing anything right.
Depending on what mood the Washington media wake up in on any given day, Trump is either dumb and expected to screw up (i.e. Charles Blow wittily referring to Trump in every column as "president" in quotes) or it's, Hey, why isn't he doing everything like a normal president? Constitutional crisis!
The president's version of events is that he felt Comey was no longer up to the job and that he asked the Justice Department to make a case for his firing.
That's inconsistent with the original White House story that the president made his decision based solely on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The media have seized this point with a vice grip as if it proves something.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...

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