Hypocrisy, thy name is Washington
Double standards and hypocrisy dominate media and politics
The astonishing hypocrisy in US politics and media has rarely been on more full display than in the leadup to the public impeachment hearings. It is painfully evident on both the right and the left.
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A few examples:
First, remember the Mueller investigation? We spent two years hearing Democrats and liberal pundits tell us that it would bring down the Trump presidency. Multiple congressional committees investigated multiple angles. Then the Ukraine whistleblower complaint came to light and, suddenly, crickets.
On the flip side, most Republicans had dismissed all the evidence of obstruction of justice against Trump in the Mueller report. They seemed to forget how they sang a very different tune when Bill Clinton was accused of obstruction.
And while the left fully supported investigating Trump and Russia’s meddling on his behalf based on the infamous Steele dossier, liberals have vociferously criticized the “investigation of the investigators,” despite texts and other evidence of questionable behavior.
Trump supporters, on the other hand, slammed the Mueller investigation, but love the probe into the investigation’s origins.
Second, When President Trump used his usual hyperbole in an especially offensive way, describing the impeachment process as a “lynching,” liberal and mainstream media exploded in righteous indignation. Democrats could talk about little else, while CNN and MSNBC went into full “outrage TV” mode. A column in Slate called the comment not only offensive but dangerous. Conservative media, on the other hand, avoided the trivialization of lynching like the plague.
Then we learned that at least six Democrats, including Joe Biden and Jerry Nadler, called the Clinton impeachment a “lynching” and faced no backlash. Suddenly, Fox News and other conservative media found the story irresistible, while the liberal media went mostly silent, other than to argue that it was somehow worse when Trump said it.
Third, I’d have to dedicate this whole commentary to Syria if I wanted to do justice to the multiple hypocrisies from both sides when it comes to Trump’s pullout from Syria, his prior military attacks on Syria, and Obama’s “red line” fiasco. Suffice it to say that both sides have argued diametrically opposed positions on a whole bunch of occasions.
Fourth, Trump’s over-the-top announcement of the killing of a “screaming, crying and whimpering” ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi deserved criticism, but not to the exclusion of acknowledging the successful hunt for the world’s worst butcher. But, in order to avoid giving Trump credit, his opponents obsessed about over Trump’s exaggerations and on accusations that he had somehow compromised sources and methods. When Trump was a little late for his White House announcement, it just got plain silly, with some anchors paying more attention to Trump’s lateness than to the operation’s success and its meaning. What a difference a president makes. They treated Obama’s killing of Osama bin Laden very differently.
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On the other hand, conservative media treated Trump’s embarrassing hyperbole with kid gloves or ignored it altogether.
Fifth, double standards are also the name of the game on whistleblowers. Trump and his supporters have persistently attacked the official who brought to light Trump’s unpresidential behavior toward Ukraine, but they love the ABC News employee who released a recording of an anchor questioning why the network killed a story about pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Liberals have lionized the Ukraine whistleblower as a hero, while virtually ignoring the ABC story that led to the firing of a young woman who had moved to CBS. CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, and ABC have offered no on-air coverage whatsoever. Not even on media analysis shows. Sure, Trump is a bigger story, but a total blackout?
Sixth, the sex scandal that led to the resignation of Democratic Representative Katie Hill was ignored for two consecutive nights by MSNBC and CNN while Fox played it up big time. I can only imagine how different the coverage would have been on both sides if it had been a Republican congressman.
Finally, it was just plain laughable to see the contrast between right and left in how politicians and media described the recent testimony on Ukraine of Tim Morrison, the top Russia and Europe advisor on the National Security Council. The left trumpeted how he had corroborated a quid pro quo. The New York Times headline said Morrison “Confirms he saw signs of a quid pro quo on Ukraine.”
On the other hand, the Fox News headline said “Ex-White House official testifies he wasn’t concerned ‘anything illegal was discussed’ on Trump-Ukraine call.”
It’s all further evidence that we live in alternate political and media universes, showing that if you limit yourself to partisan media you aren’t going to get the entire story. In fact, you may miss some stories altogether.
I’m sure some on the right will criticize this commentary and accuse me of being a shill for the left. Some on the left will almost certainly slam me for being an apologist for Trump and company.
I’ll be criticized for “what aboutism,” because both sides will argue that it’s somehow unfair to criticize their side by pointing out their hypocrisy.
That’s the reality in today’s America, where, when it comes to politics, those who agree with you are always right and those who disagree are always wrong. And politicians and media play up information that advances their positions while ignoring or playing down facts that contradict or weaken their beliefs.
Dogmatism has taken such a strong hold that nobody seems to care about intellectual consistency: What you criticized yesterday about your opponents; you defend today in those whom you support.
Double standards and rank hypocrisy.
This essay is written by our Editor in Chief, Antonio Mora. To be better informed 24/7, go to newsandnews.com and see articles selected by our editors from hundreds of news sources around the world.
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