The past year has been a challenging one for the media, marked by a lack of honesty and further complicated by a high-stakes election.
This situation is both a cause for celebration and a reason for concern.
According to the Daily Caller, throughout the year, the mainstream media unleashed a torrent of propaganda, the most egregious of which was the portrayal of President Joe Biden as being as vibrant as a young rooster and as intellectually sharp as an MIT scholar. This blatant falsehood was disseminated far and wide, despite its glaring inaccuracy.
The failure of the mainstream media to pursue the truth is both a cause for celebration and a warning. Despite their dwindling influence, they still wield some power to shield the corrupt and influential, and to propagate narratives that are detrimental to the nation. In light of this, it is worth revisiting some of their most egregious hoaxes, beginning with one of the earliest from the year.
In March, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke at a rally about China's plan to manufacture cars in Mexico and sell them across the southern border, a move that would have severely impacted U.S. auto workers. He issued a stark warning, using the rather fitting term "bloodbath," which the liberal mainstream media grossly misinterpreted.
Trump stated, Were going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and youre not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected. Now, if I dont get elected, its going to be a bloodbath for the whole thats going to be the least of it. Its going to be a bloodbath for the country.
Within the next 24 hours, numerous media outlets, including Politico, Mediaite, MSNBC, NPR, and The New York Times, ran misleading headlines, while liberal commentators falsely claimed that Trump was inciting political violence if he lost the election.
In August, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to honor the 13 soldiers who lost their lives during the Biden administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan three years earlier. Vice President Kamala Harris, her campaign, and the liberal media attempted to politicize Trump's visit, with Harris leading the charge.
Harris stated, As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times. It is a solemn place; a place where we come together to honor American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of this nation. It is not a place for politics. She further propagated hoaxes that Trump had insulted fallen soldiers, referring to them as suckers and losers.
However, eight Gold Star families refuted Harris's claims, stating that they had invited Trump to the ceremony. They also pointed out that Harris had not reached out to them since they lost their children in Kabul in 2021.
On Halloween, Trump's comment that war hawk Liz Cheney should experience the consequences of her actions sent the media into a frenzy of dishonest outrage.
Trump said of Kamala Harriss decision to campaign with Cheney, I think it hurts Kamala a lot actually, [Cheneys] a deranged person, but the reason she couldnt stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. I dont want to go to war. He further labeled Cheney as a "radical war hawk."
Trump added, Lets put her with a rifle, standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Lets see how she feels about it when the guns are trained on her face. Numerous pundits and outlets misinterpreted Trump's pragmatic remark as a call for Cheney to face a firing squad.
The Atlantic and its editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, published what they believed would be a damaging 'October Surprise' against Trump, filled with scandalous details and comparisons of the now-president-elect to Adolf Hitler. However, the veteran's sister and several Trump officials who were firsthand witnesses immediately disputed the story as false following its publication.
The most damaging hoax of 2024, due to its scale and the harm it inflicted on the country, was the outright lie that President Joe Biden was mentally and physically capable enough to serve as commander in chief. The White House disseminated propaganda that Biden was in excellent health, and the media knowingly echoed these falsehoods because it was an election year and they did not want Trump to win.
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