That shrinking credibility is the Achilles Heel. Once people start dismissing anti-Trump news from the Times as risible because they know the paper has no scruples, its power is gone. And with each busted fake news story from the Times, that credibility declines a notch, and the Time-skeptics grown in number.

The “fake news” label for the New York Times is far more accurate and damaging to it than President Trump’s habitual label of “failing New York Times.” For one thing, there’s a genuine market niche for Trump hatred that has allowed the paper to expand its digital subscription roll and earn some real money. But the New York Times is failing at its original mission of being a trustworthy newspaper. The paper continues to sacrifice its credibility on the altar of “the narrative” – the leftist dogma that Donald Trump is: racist, sexist, homophobic, antisemitic, stupid, crude, vulgar, unpopular, dangerous, and any other negative human characteristic you could imagine.

That’s why two Trump-hating fake news items coming so close together are significant.

On Friday, the paper published a fake news story by Allan Rappeport intended to advance the narrative that Trump is a racist. Specifically, that he and his minions are needlessly dallying the introduction of the Harriet Tubman $20 bill – replacing Andrew Jackson, formerly celebrated by Democrats (I well remember “Jefferson-Jackson Day” fundraising events that Democrats used to run before slave-owning became a disqualifier for honoring any of our predecessors).

Early version of the planned Tubman Twenty (via NYT)

Hannah Bleau of Breitbart did an excellent takedown of the story that was based on – you guessed it! – anonymous sources.

The New York Times ran a piece Friday, wrought with speculation on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s rationale for “delaying” the release of Harriet Tubman’s $20 bill. Former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew set the process in motion in 2016. Proponents of the bill change hoped that it would be completed by 2020, in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. However, during an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee in May, Mnuchin noted that a 2020 rollout was improbable– if not impossible– due to daunting technical issues. Mnuchin indicated that the redesigned bill would make an emergence in 2028 with designs coming out two years prior.

Note that the 2020 date for introduction of the bill came from proponents of the bill, not the Treasury. Thus the “delay” is an artificial construct. But the Times found an anonymous person willing to speculate that the complex security measures needed for a new bill really don’t take that long:

However, the New York Times spoke to an anonymous employee of the bureau, who supposedly viewed a digital image of the redesigned bill. The development of the note did not stop there. A current employee of the bureau, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, personally viewed a metal engraving plate and a digital image of a Tubman $20 bill while it was being reviewed by engravers and Secret Service officials as recently as May 2018. This person said that the design appeared to be far along in the process.

Treasury flatly denies the story:

Treasury spokesperson response to today’s misleading New York Times story: pic.twitter.com/PeMcoVL8tC — Treasury Public Affairs (@TreasurySpox) June 14, 2019

Bleau notes:

… during an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee in May, Mnuchin noted that a 2020 rollout was improbable– if not impossible– due to daunting technical issues. Mnuchin indicated that the redesigned bill would make an emergence in 2028 with designs coming out two years prior. (snip) Bureau of Engraving and Printing Director Len Olijar also released a strong statement denying the existence of a potential 2020 release. That was never going to happen, he claimed, while adding that the focus lies squarely with implementing advanced security features. Because those take years to finalize, it would be impossible to make legitimate mock-ups of the bill public.

You can read that statement here.

Yesterday, Donald Trump Jr sent out a tweet linking to the Breitbart story and went for the jugular, the Times’ no-longer-valid reputation as the “paper of record”

If the @nytimes is still the so called “paper of record,” it’s only because they continue to set RECORDS for the amount of Fake News they print.



‘Completely Erroneous': NYT Busted for Fake News Story On Tubman Bill https://t.co/6XloNj3jv2 — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 15, 2019

Another New York Times story, published yesterday but still featured on the home page of the Times today is potentially even far more destructive. The Headline tells the story:

In a series of two tweets, President Trump called the story false and “a virtual act of treason.”

Do you believe that the Failing New York Times just did a story stating that the United States is substantially increasing Cyber Attacks on Russia. This is a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

.....ALSO, NOT TRUE! Anything goes with our Corrupt News Media today. They will do, or say, whatever it takes, with not even the slightest thought of consequence! These are true cowards and without doubt, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

Publication of this story could easily incite “retaliation” and almost certainly has encouraged enemies of the United States to pursue weapons aimed at crippling our power grid. That sort of encouragement would certainly seem to make the Times an “enemy of the people” and if not treasonous, at least inimical to the national security of the United States.

Hat tip: Roger Luchs