Media Meltdown Since Trump’s Inauguration

The leftist media has been in a meltdown over President Trump since his inauguration. In this article, I will review some of their claims in the past two weeks about Trump and his administration. The following subtitles are genuine headlines I have seen or reflect the attitudes of news reports I have read or heard in the past two weeks. But just about all of their exclamations are examples of fake news. In fact, they have been making up news ever since Trump first took office.

“Trump Removes Bust of MLK from the Oval Office”

The piece of fake news was when the media made up that a bust of Martin Luther King (MLK) was removed from the Oval Office. This claim was made to make President Trump look like a racist. But as soon as Trump heard the claim, he inquired about it and was told the bust had never been moved. What happened is the reporter reporting the fake news didn’t see bust because someone was standing in front of it! He didn’t even take the time to look around someone before tweeting the claim. So much for investigative reporting. But the media never actually retracted the claim. They just stopped talking about it. Trump explained this himself in his interview with Sean Hannity.

“Trump’s Orwellian Speak is Causing Sales of 1984 to Skyrocket”

This one was actually directed towards KellyAnne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager and now Counselor to the President. The media took a two-word phrase out of context from an 8-1/2 minute discussion and turned it into a “1984” catchword. The phrase was “alternative facts.” It was in the context of a debate on the crowd size at the Inauguration. The liberal media was using a photo that shows the crowd was much smaller than at Obama’s Inauguration in 2009. But KellyAnne was saying that photo was taken before the crowd reached its peak. Her “alternate facts” were other photos taken at a later time showing a much large crowd. But the media has spun that phrase into the equivalent of Orwellian double-speak. This was explained by KJellyAnne herself on the Sean Hannity radio show.

But as for sales of George Orwell’s 1984 skyrocketing, I’m all for that. It is a great book that I read back in high school. It is right up there with Brave New World and Animal Farm, as books I read back then that I still remember parts of. If you haven’t read those books, I’d highly recommend you do so. They are biting commentaries on how depraved a secular society and abusive government can become. Follow the links for where to purchase them on Amazon.

“Trump is Causing a Rift with Foreign Leaders”

The supposed rift with foreign leaders is with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Trump tweeted that Obama made a “dumb deal” with Australia when he agreed to take in 1,200 refugees in exchange for unspecified help from Australia in anti-terrorism activities. The media is claiming this has caused a rift with the president of Australia, with Trump hanging up on Turnbull. But in fact, he and Trump had a cordial conversation. (ABC - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-03/trump-thanks-malcolm-turnbull-for-telling-the-truth/8240608).

“Trump’s 140 Character Method of Foreign Policy is Dangerous “

The media really hates Trumps use of Twitter, and the reason should be obvious—it bypasses them! They just cannot stand that he can talk to the American people without going through the media. But the fact remains, each time a new method of communication has come to the forefront, the President has utilized it. FDR used the new-fangled radio and his “fireside chats” to communicate with the American people. JFK then LBJ used the new medium of TV. Obama was the first President to make use of the Internet, and Trump ash perfected that.

It is true that it is hard to articulate the nuances of a policy in 140 characters, but the leaders of other countries seem to have no reluctance to respond to Trumps tweets with tweets of their own. And they do pick up the phone and talk when the need arises. As such, I am all for the use of Twitter and the Internet in general by the President.

In fact, I think Trump should rethink out the whole relationship of the White House with the media. He really does not need them to get out his message. But I do hope his press secretary Sean Spicer continues the daily press briefings. I’ve been recording them every day. And those briefings keep me up to date on what is happening in the White House. They also give me a window into the thoughts of the media. But Sean has already perfected how to deal with them. He doesn’t let them get away with making any false statements, while ignoring their many stupid questions.

“Trump is Going to start a War with Iran”

This is a dangerous situation that should not be used as political fodder. It is Iran that is firing the first shots by violating United Nations resolutions, and it might fall to the USA to enforce those resolutions with military force. I hope and pray it does not come to that. But if it does, the media and all Americans need to back the President and the US military.

But if they want to play politics, it was Obama who made the horrid Iranian deal. It was Obama who looked the other way when Iranian soldiers captured American sailors, putting them on their knees with guns to the back of their heads. It was Obama who paid a $150 billion ransom to Iran; the only way he was able to get American hostages released. All of these failures on the part of the Obama administration emboldened Iran, leading to the current crisis.

“Trump’s Policies Will Lead to a Taliban-like Takeover of the USA”

This claim is in regards to Trump considering to ask congress to repeal the Johnson amendment of 1964 that forbids tax exempt organizations like churches from speaking out on political issues and supporting political candidates. As it is now, churches and other organizations that are tax exempt have to worry about what is allowed and not allowed when touching on political issues. What that involves has changed and narrowed over the years, with the media now trying to prevent churches from speaking out at all on any political matter. And now the media is saying that for the government to exempt churches from taxes while allowing them to do speak on political issues would amount to a church-state system, with the state supporting “Christian Taliban-like” forcing of people to live as the right-wing Christians want people do.

This is hysteria that has no basis in reality. It also ignores the fact that a third of the signers of the Declaration of Independence had seminary degrees, as was reported on a recent episode of “Truths that Transforms” (The late DJ Kennedy’s still occurring TV show on TBN). Preachers back then were in the forefront of encouraging people to support the revolution. As such, the Founding Fathers fully expected churches and preachers to be engaged politically. And in fact, later churches were also in the forefront in leading the fight against slavery. But that was all before a federal income tax. But today, with such, things get very complicated.

This whole debate gets into tax laws that are beyond my comprehension (My brother, who prepares taxes for a living, does my taxes). But I will say, when I first started my Darkness to Light ministry over 25 years ago, I made the decision to not incorporate as a tax exempt organization. I did so as I wanted to be able to write about whatever I wanted and whatever I felt God was leading me to write about without worrying whether I was breaking some tax law. I thus pay taxes just like everyone else, and have my First Amendment right to write about whatever I want. As such, I would agree that if a church or preacher wants to speak out on political matters, simply don’t be tax exempt. I know such would be a great financial burden to many churches, but it would be the way to avoid this whole hassle.

“Trump’s Policies Will Lead to Another Banking Meltdown”

This one is in regards to Trump’s easing of banking Regulations. And it is another financial area that is mostly beyond me. But on a general principle, I think the government should get out of the way of free enterprise. Yes, there were some problems in the banking industry that led to the financial downturn of 2008. But from what I understand, it was also government regulations, like the Community Investment Act, that contributed. And over-regulating the banking industry since then has hindered small businesses more than anyone else. As such, easing those regulations sounds like a good idea, as long as that includes repealing stupid laws, like the Community Investment Act.

My dad is a retired banker. And he has told me that law requires banks to lend to people and institutions they know are financial risks, mostly for politely correct reasons. Thus for instance, my township consists of two towns. Mine is mostly middle or upper class while the other is mostly lower class. When the banking regulator saw that my dad’s bank was only lending money to those in my town, they were told that was discrimination and forced his bank to lend to people from the lower-class neighborhoods. Of no surprise to the bank but also of no concern to the regulators, most of those borrowers defaulted on the loans. Multiply that by thousands of banks and loans across the country, and that was one of the main causes of the financial downturn.

“Trump is Turning the Presidency into a Kingship”

The media is crying foul over Trump’s use of executive orders. They say he is turning the Presidency into a Kingship. On this point, I somewhat agree with the media. Trump has accomplished much in his first two week in office. But he has done so through a flurry of executive orders rather than laws passed by congress. Obama did the same, actually more. Obama signed nine executive orders in his first two weeks i office while Trump has signed eight (NBC News). But still, it does make me uncomfortable, for two reasons.

First, one of the most important aspects of the US Constitution is the separation of powers. And the passing of laws is granted to the legislative branch, which is to say, the Congress. The executive branch (the Presidency) is to execute those laws. But Trump’s executive orders are laws in themselves without congressional input.

However, many of Trumps’ executive orders have simply been to overturn of Obama’s executive orders, such as with the Keystone and Dakota pipelines. And in those cases, I am fully in agreement with Trump eliminating those orders. But that leads to the second point.

Any law passed by an executive order can be overturned with an executive order by the next President. Obama is finding that out the hard way, as he is watching his legacy being dismantled piece by piece by Trump. But the same could happened to Trump’s legacy four or eight years from now when he leaves office. It would be much better to bring about his policies with laws passed by Congress. That would take Trump longer to get his policies into effect, but it would also make them much harder to overturn later.

“Trump’s Immigration Order is Unconstitutional, Unlawful, and UnAmerican”

I have already written a full article on Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration, so I won’t repeat all of that here. But I do want to comment on the constant refrain being heard that it is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unAmerican.

On the first, the Constitution begins, “We the people of the United States.” What follows thus applies to us, the people currently residing in the United States. In no way does it apply to those who are outside of the United States but want to immigrate here. Outsiders are not protected by the rights articulated in the Constitution. Meanwhile the Constitution does grant the federal government the responsibility of protecting its citizens (Article 2. Section 2). Not coincidentally, that is also what the Bible indicates is the primary responsibility of human government (Romans 13). As such, it is not unconstitutional for the President to use “extreme vetting” on those he thinks might be threat to the citizens of the US.

On the second point, I cite the law that his order was based on in the afore-linked to article. As such, it is not unlawful.

On the third point, by “unAmerican” is meant that the US was built by immigrants; thus to ban immigrations is unAmerican. But despite the media’s distortions, this order is not an immigration ban. Thousands of foreigners are still traveling into the USA unhindered. It is a temporary halt on travelers from specific countries. It is also not a “Muslim ban” as the media is mischaracterizing it, as most Muslim countries were not included in the order.

But despite these points, just last night (2/3/17), the liberals got a federal judge to side with them, and the order is on hold. Trump has already appealed that ruling, and I am sure as it makes its way through the courts, Trump’s order will be upheld.

Update:

Early Sunday [2/5/107] morning a federal appeals court denied the Justice Department’s request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump’s ban on accepting certain travelers and refugees. The DOJ filed an appeal of a judge’s order temporarily stopping Trump’s travel ban on Saturday night, saying it’s the “sovereign prerogative" of a president to admit or exclude aliens. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco instead asked for the Justice Department to file a counter-response by Monday afternoon. The higher court's denial of an immediate stay means the legal battles will continue for days at least (Fox News).

What this means is what the Trump administration was trying to avoid by instituting the executive order without warming just might happen—terrorists will make a rush into the USA before the executive order is able to take effect again. Thus in the near future, if one of these terrorists in fact commits an act of terrorism, remember, Trump tried to avoid it, but the liberals thwarted his efforts.

“Trump Approved Raid Without Sufficient Prep”

“Donald Trump bungled his first operation as Commander-in-Chief. Trump ordered the raid without “sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations,” according to a Reuters report.

The Navy SEAL raid on al Qaeda in Yemen over the weekend resulted in the death of U.S. Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens and non-combatant civilian deaths, including possibly children, while not producing any militants or taking any prisoners (Politicus USA - http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/02/donald-trump-orders-raid.html).

Sean Spicer in his press briefing addressed such claims as these in the media. This raid was planned out by the Obama Administration. President Obama was briefed on it on November 7, the day the election, so obviously, Trump had nothing to do with the initial planning. The plans were then refined over the next couple of months and ready to go at the beginning of January. But the navy wanted to wait until a moonless night to carry out the raid. That did not occur until after Trump came into office. But once he did, the plans were thoroughly reviewed and approved by all relevant parties.

And yes, one Navy Seal tragically lost his life and four were wounded. But 17 al Qaeda were killed and valuable intelligence was attained via computer hard drives. Thus in that sense, the raid was a success. But whether any noncombatants were killed is still a matter of debate.

Deaths of US servicemen and noncombatants is always a risk in any military undertaking. As such, to jump on this raid as some kind of “proof” of Trumps’ noncompetence is very disingenuous. Again, it was mostly planned out under Obama. And it is very disheartening for the Dems and the media to use these deaths to gain political points.

“Trump’s Supreme Court Pick is Out of the Mainstream and Will Set Back Civil Rights 50 Years”

I knew the media would say such things and worse about Trump’s Supreme Court pick before he even announced who the nominee would be. The left already had their playbook laid out. No matter who the nominee was, they would say he was a racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, and whatever other terms they could make up. I also knew they would drag up something he said or did thirty years ago as “proof” he was unqualified to be a Justice. And the media has not disappointed me in this regard.

It was circulated this week that Neil Gorsuch was a member of a group called “Fascists Forever” back in high school. Mind you, Neil is 49 years old, so that would be over thirty years ago. But more to the point, there never was any such group, let alone was Neil a member of it. It was just a yet another piece of fake news.

The fact is that Neil is the most qualified person to be nominated to the Supreme Court since Robert Bork in the 1980s. But the leftist just could not stand that Bork was pro-life, so they did everything they could to tear him to keep him off of the Bench. They were successful back then, when President Reagan backed down and nominated Anthony Kennedy instead. That is how we got the moderate Kennedy, who has sided with the liberal wing of the Court on several important votes over the last three decades.

But despite their best efforts and no matter how many lies they tell, the liberals will not win this time. I predict Gorsuch will be confirmed, as it should be, as he is without any doubt qualified.

“Trump Flew of in Marine One Without Telling Us!”

This one was my favorite of the week. For those who don’t know, Marine One is the President’s helicopter. He went on an unannounced trip on Marine One with his daughter Ivanka, and the media went nuts. They did the same when Trump went to dinner with his family right after the election to celebrate the victory without telling the media about it. They seem to think he must tell them every time he so much as sneezes. But I like the fact that my President likes to spend some private time with his family.

“Trump is an Absolute Idiot Who Is Ruining America”

Well, this last one I made up, but it does reflect the attitude of the liberal media towards President Trump since he was inaugurated. They are doing everything they can to discredit him. But in the end, they will fail. As Trump’s policy prove to be correct, as America is kept safe, as the economy rebounds, and as the populace realizes all of the media hype is just that, hype, people will wise up and start to ignore the liberal media and back Trump. If Trump continues to keep his promises as he has been doing, come 2020, he will win reelection in a landslide. At least, that is my hope and prayer.

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The above article was posted on this website February 4, 2017.
The Update was added February 5, 2017.

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