The mainstream American media have abandoned journalism's formerly prized ethos of "who, what, where, why, when." There is no pretense anymore that they serve a purpose other than maligning Donald Trump in the hope of destroying his presidency. The latest example comes from The New York Times, a once respected institution that now would offend the birds whose cages it might line.

President Trump has recommended new, very stringent social distancing guidelines as part of slowing the coronavirus's spread in the United States. Speaking of slowing the virus, keep in mind that, thanks in part to President Trump's decision to close America's borders to China in January, the spread here has already been slow. Currently, despite the virus having been present but unidentified in America for some time, only 0.00002 percent of the population has died [i.e., 68 people].)

The New York Times began its report on the new guidelines in a straightforward fashion:

The Trump administration released new guidelines on Monday to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including closing schools and avoiding groups of more than 10 people, discretionary travel, bars, restaurants and food courts.

The Times also reported that Trump is optimistic that the steps America is taking will keep the infection and mortality numbers low here, with the virus wrapped up by the end of summer:

"It seems to me if we do a really good job, we'll not only hold the death down to a level that's much lower than the other way had we not done a good job, but people are talking about July, August," Mr. Trump said about the duration of the crisis.

Indeed, the Times even included Trump's statement about America working together to solve the problem:

"If everyone makes this change or these critical changes and sacrifices now," Mr. Trump said, "we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus and we're going to have a big celebration all together."

And then the Times moved in for the kill, obviously intending to show what a hypocrite President Trump is:

Hours earlier, Mr. Trump told a group of governors they should not wait for the federal government to fill the growing demand for respirators needed to help people diagnosed with coronavirus. "Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves," Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call, a recording of which was shared with The New York Times.

Unsurprisingly, New York Times reporters then tweeted out the article, putting special emphasis on Trump's hypocrisy, cruelty, and incompetence:

Wow.



“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,” Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call. via @jmartNYT https://t.co/RKZusLK5oY — Julie Bosman (@juliebosman) March 16, 2020

Trump told governors this morning they are on their own:

“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,” Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call, a recording of which was shared with The New York Times. https://t.co/K0sont7MBc — Mara Gay (@MaraGay) March 16, 2020

Trump's a bad man, right? Wrong. This is yet another example of the media's despicable ongoing attacks against Trump. In other words, it's fake news.

It turns out that the New York Times was engaged in a lie by omission — something that, at common law, is every bit as wrong as an affirmative fraud. Here's what Trump actually said (emphasis added):

Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves. We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.

Thus, Trump told the governors to get ventilators in the fastest, best way, rather than to be dependent on the slow-moving federal government. That's a good thing. It's not hypocritical, cruel, or incompetent.

The media are currently outraged that Republicans are less panicked by the coronavirus than Democrats are. Part of that may be because Democrats are ruled more by emotion than by reason. A lot of it, though, is because Republicans have no reason to trust the media.

If members of the media believe that saying something will hurt Trump, they'll say it — and that's true whether what they're saying is honest or not. If the media hysterically use coronavirus to attack Trump, Republicans instinctively assume (a) that coronavirus isn't that bad and (b) that Trump's doing an excellent job of handling it.