“The Chinese government sought to identify U.S. journalists who had reported negatively on the U.S. president and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him, as many as they could and they didn’t care what they said.”
These 42 words came out of President Donald Trump’s mouth Thursday night as part of a nearly 30-minute address to the nation where he railed on about “vulnerabilities” within the nation’s election system.
Still smarting from his 2020 loss and likely fearful of what may come this November, the president took to the lectern Thursday night to stoke fears that, while “America is respected like we have never been respected before,” one of its most basic tenets of democracy — voting — is at risk of corruption.
This guy. Talk about having your cake and eating it, too.
Many Americans and news organizations saw and heard the speech for what it was: Half an hour of posturing and finger-pointing at others for his failures as a policy-maker and leader.
Poor polling numbers? Inept cabinet?
China is to blame.
Russia is to blame.
Journalists are to blame.
Yes, journalists.
Ten minutes into his speech, Trump said China paid journalists to write negatively about him leading up to the 2020 election because China did not want to see him re-elected. And while there is some evidence showing that China, Russia and other countries indeed did not want to see another Trump presidency, there is no evidence showing that journalists were paid.
That’s simply not how journalism works. If journalists accepted bribes to write articles, we would all be a lot richer and the integrity of our industry would be in complete shambles.
Unlike our president, journalists don’t have cake and eat it, too.
Instead, journalists are notoriously underpaid while serving as both the watchdog and scapegoat for Trump’s cockeyed government. Take ABC and NBC, for example. Both news networks chose not to air the president’s speech Thursday night, simultaneously angering and baiting Trump.
“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech,” Trump said during his address. “They knew what it was about, because of the fact that they don’t like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is and they don’t want to reveal it. They and others in the media are part of a plot.”
What plot?
“They want to protect the radical left,” Trump said. “They can’t have a great country and that’s true; you can’t have a great country without free and fair elections … Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost. This cannot be allowed to continue.”
Trump doesn’t want free and fair elections. He wants to maintain power for himself and the Republican party that bows to him. During his speech, he pointed to some of America’s longest-standing principles — voting and the free press — and called them corrupt.
Apparently Trump doesn’t realize that when he points his finger at someone else, he has three fingers pointing back at himself.
He is right on one account, however. The trust of the American people has been lost. The president’s overall job approval rating sits between 35% and 37%, with roughly 60% of Americans disapproving.
Indeed, this — his continued deteriorating and mockery of our democracy — cannot be allowed to continue.
Journalists will keep working to hold him and the Republican party that props him up accountable. In November, it will be up to the American people to do the rest.