For anyone not in the tank for the Democrats, the far-left, or the Nanny-State who would like to witness the absolute gold-standard of how to deal with the biased and increasingly rage-filled anti-Trump media, I urge you to run, not walk, to watch the video of White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller eviscerating George Stephanopoulos from the ABC News “This Week” broadcast this Sunday.
The tape should become required viewing for any Republican, conservative, or faith-based communicators hoping to inject some sanity back into policy debates hijacked by the dishonest, hate-filled, and increasingly inflammatory rhetoric of a growing part of the mainstream media, the “entertainment” industry, and academia.
In full disclosure, in the past, I had a number of pleasant communications with Mr. Stephanopoulos. He in fact could not have been more professional at the time.
That said, like an exponentially growing number of mainstream “journalists,” the election of Donald J. Trump as president has seemingly caused Mr. Stephanopoulos to come completely unhinged as he casts away any pretense of being anything other than anti-Trump.
On election night when it was clear that Mr. Trump was going to win, I honestly thought that Mr. Stephanopoulos was on the verge of tears.
During the just completed interview with Mr. Miller, it was fascinating to see the face of Mr. Stephanopoulos get darker and darker with anger as he realized the senior policy adviser was undressing him item by item on his own national show until he had nothing left to shield his bias and anger against President Trump and his policies.
As one who has interacted with all of these Sunday shows in the past and even appeared on “This Week,” I was actually amazed that they even aired the interview with Mr. Miller which was taped earlier in the morning. Given the embarrassment-factor, it would not have surprised me if ABC News had chosen to delete the interview and melt any devices it existed upon.
Also years ago, as someone who had the honor to work in the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses and serve as director of communications for former Senator Bob Dole, I used to plead on a regular basis with certain Republican communicators to fight back tooth and nail with the mainstream media when through commission or omission, they purposely twisted conservative or Republican policy, words, or actions to put them in the worst light possible for the American voters.
I was honestly told time and again: “We can’t do that. If we do, they will be even worse to us.”
To that, I would answer: “Are you kidding me? Do you actually watch their broadcasts or read the lies they are spreading? How much worse can it get?”
Back in the day, Bob Dole used to joke to me that, “If World War Three were breaking out tomorrow, the media would still try to ask me about abortion.”
Meaning of course, that no matter what real policy issues had to be instantly dealt with to help the vast majority of Americans, biased “journalists” trying to carry as much water for the Democrats or their utopian visions of a Nanny-State, would always ask questions pre-selected to try damage the Republican or conservative cause.
To his great credit, White House Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller calls out George Stephanopoulos on this exact point as he suggests the host might want to get back to the pressing issues most cared about by the American people.
As the Trump White House and administration continues to rightfully push back against the “fake news” being created by faux-journalists or even networks, I would offer one piece of advice. That being, as much as possible, only do live interviews.
If not, as evidenced by the orchestrated smearing of then Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in 2008 – and in my opinion, that very good person and governor, was thrown to the wolves by the McCain 2008 communicators – the networks and cable networks can and will slice and dice any interview to delegitimize President Trump and his administration.
Stephen Miller not only defended his boss, but defended “sanity” in the process.
Now that is “Must See TV.”