by Boaz Bismuth
There is an ongoing concerted effort among American media outlets today to take down Trump
Judging by American
media reports, in 22 days, there will be a referendum in the United
States regarding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's talents,
character, statements, and especially his past and his (poor) treatment
of women. However, on Nov. 8, there will actually be a U.S. election
featuring two candidates, one of them Trump, and the other, Democratic
nominee Hillary Clinton, who, according to reports, also has skeletons
in her closet (perhaps even an entire cemetery, according to WikiLeaks.)
But her problems, it seems, should be hidden. There is an ongoing
concerted effort among American media outlets today to take down Trump.
Since The Washington
Post revealed the 2005 tape in which Trump is heard speaking very
disrespectfully about women, many other women have spoken up. Each one
with her own scandalous story. They are accusing Trump of harassing
them. The timing, of course, is not coincidental. Trump is denying the
claims. It is up to the voter to determine whom to believe.
It seems like the media
has already decided Trump's fate. A reminder: At the beginning of the
week, just before the second presidential debate in Missouri, Trump held
a press conference with four women who claimed to have been hurt by the
Clintons many years ago. (Three said they had been sexually harassed by
former U.S. President Bill Clinton and one said she had felt very hurt
when the current Democratic nominee served as the attorney defending the
man who had raped her when she was 12 years old.) This story obviously
did not cause much of a stir. Trump ended up taking the heat for it.
People said it was an old story, that Bill Clinton is not the one
running for the White House. In short, the story had almost no impact.
It seems that in the current election, the story is not only about what
you did, but about which political camp you belong to. Trump's major
problem is, of course, the fact that the claims from women are surfacing
now, immediately following the release of the tape from 11 years ago.
The timing is perfect, even if Clinton's supporters claim that it is
entirely coincidental.
The problem with the
story before us is not simply the reports about Trump (which are
completely legitimate). The problem with this story is the lack of
balance in the American media. "The press buries Hillary Clinton's
sins," read the headline of an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal,
which has not done Trump any favors in the race -- but in this article,
it is doing its part to preserve the honor of the American media.
"If average voters
turned on the TV for five minutes this week, chances are they know that
Donald Trump made lewd remarks a decade ago and now stands accused of
groping women," the article states. "But even if average voters had the
TV on 24/7, they still probably haven't heard the news about Hillary
Clinton: that the nation now has proof of pretty much everything she has
been accused of."
It seems that the fact
that half the private individuals that she met while serving as
secretary of state later donated to her husband's foundation was not
scandalous enough.
It seems that the fact
that Qatar, which funds terrorism around the world, also funded the
Clinton Foundation -- in complete contradiction of Clinton's statement
that she would not accept donations from foreign governments to the
foundation while she was serving as secretary of state -- was not a big
enough story for the press, either.
The fact that Clinton
tells opposing tales to the banks and to the nation -- on one hand
reassuring corporations that she won't pressure them to change their
conduct, and on the other hand addressing the members of the middle
class as if she were their representative who would fight in their
corner, proving just how inauthentic she is -- also did not manage to
produce headlines.
The fact that she hid
her emails on a private server and provided different versions and that
someone took care to delete all the evidence also wasn't important
enough for the media, despite the difficult statements from the head of
the FBI, refuting her claims that she had never sent classified
materials.
Twenty-two days before
the election and only Trump's problems interest the press. The WikiLeaks
reports about Clinton are not making the headlines. So what if Clinton
has two positions, one public and one private, regarding the banks,
wealth, borders and energy? So what? The people may vote, but the press
always comes first.
The WikiLeaks reports
also revealed how the media cooperates with Clinton's campaign: Donna
Brazile, for example, who in the past was active among Clinton's staff,
sent the Clinton campaign questions in advance for a CNN town hall
debate. Other media outlets allowed the Clinton campaign to veto some
questions that the Democratic candidate did not like. And woe to the
journalist who dares to break away from the herd.
Boaz Bismuth
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=17421
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