The bitter tears of Wolf Blitzer

Jeopardy contestant and media guru Wolf Blitzer recently interviewed Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s senior adviser. Blitzer asked Conway if she is comfortable with Trump calling the news media “lowlifes” and “all sorts of other ugly words.” She responded that she avoids personal insults herself and then went on to catalogue a bevy of media misdeeds. She described the media as advocates rather than journalists and elaborated that “many journalists have admitted that Donald Trump compels them to suspend objective standards of journalism.” Media bias is pervasive. The Media Matters headline reveals its biased point of view: “CNN's Wolf Blitzer Presses Trump Campaign Manager To Stop Attacks Against Journalists And Free Press.” Donald Trump is not attacking the free press. He is attacking journalists who are admittedly biased. His audience agrees with him and respond accordingly.

Wolf Blitzer is worried. He complained, “The working journalists, the embeds who are traveling with him all the time, they go to all these rallies, they're in this pen, he points to them, he sort of eggs the crowd on to go after them, and there are a lot of young journalists, they're scared sometimes.” Before Conway was able to respond, Blitzer begged, “Could you talk to him and say to him, ‘Mr. Trump, we only have a few days left. These are hardworking young journalists. They deserve some security,’ if you will. Because, some of those Trump supporters out there, they get pretty nasty at what they're screaming at these young people.” A Business Insider article states that Conway “attempted to partially shift the blame to journalists themselves.” Conway’s defense of Trump was at times weak. She stated, “I know them all, I respect them all” when responding to comments about the journalists. She claimed, “I think the responsibility has to go both ways.” Not all of these “journalists” deserve respect. Some do. The majority are, as Trump says, lowlifes. They are propagandists who are actively distorting the truth. Trump’s comments are in response to their intentional distortions. Not all journalists intentionally distort the news. Some sincerely believe what they are reporting. Wolf Blitzer may be excused. Considering his performance on Jeopardy, he may actually believe what he is reporting. Blitzer complained, “Some of those Trump supporters out there, they get pretty nasty at what they're screaming at these young people.” The media is having the vapors. The Denver Post has a reporter who has “been beaten, shot at, even chased by a gang with machetes.” He’s “had weapons pressed to my forehead, helicopter gunships searching for me, mortar shells falling around me, and journalist friends killed right next to me.” He may even have been under sniper fire with Hillary Clinton and Brian Williams in Bosnia. That violence was nothing compared to a Trump rally. He says we should be scared, too, “[i]f not for the journalists who cover Trump, then for yourself, because if you treasure freedom of the press, you need to realize, he’s putting it in jeopardy.” The New York Times chimed in with an article, “Partisan Crowds at Trump Rallies Menace and Frighten News Media.” In support of their argument, Salon reported on “a number of high-profile incidents in which journalists covering Trump’s campaign” experienced hostility from the crowd. CNN’s Jim Acosta reported being hit by a woman with a sign. He did not appear in great distress and had neglected to bandage his head. There was no sign of blood. CNN’s Sara Murray supposedly had her car keyed. NBC’s Katy Tur was singled out by Trump and had the audience turned against her. Oh my. The media story is that Trump’s supporters are extremely violent and a threat to the First Amendment. Do any of these media cretins actually believe this? The reality is that the overwhelming amount of violence in this campaign is committed by the anti-Trump forces. The Democratic Party has paid agitators to provoke violence at Trump rallies. This has been revealed in videos produced by James O’Keefe. Members of the media make campaign contributions overwhelmingly to the Clinton campaign. Their Twitter accounts reveal a similar bias. Donna Brazile was provided debate questions by her friends in the media, which she forwarded to Hillary Clinton. Case closed. John Dietrich is a freelance writer and the author of The Morgenthau Plan: Soviet Influence on American Postwar Policy, Algora Publishing, 2013.