It’s been said that the best job in politics is to be a press secretary for a liberal Democrat. Because the compliant press will write whatever you give them and they will never ask a follow-up question. Having spent most of my adult life around the political world, I can attest that there is a good deal of truth to that statement.
We are all products of our environment and are influenced by people around us, especially people we respect. If a person attends a liberal university and majors in journalism, it shouldn’t surprise us that they graduate and enter the profession with a certain point of view. It is sad that our education system that proclaims its love of tolerance is today so intolerant of conservative ideas. What is even sadder is the naked partisanship displayed daily by most of the “professional journalists” in the national media.
What is surprising (perhaps because of their overt bias) is that they are losing their influence over the body politic. A growing percentage of Americans no longer trust the national media. Remember, it was the Left and their friends in the media who created the term “Fake News.” Now it’s come back to bite them. CNN can blame Donald Trump for the decline in trust. But, he didn’t create the term or the opportunity, he simply exploited it. He just had the courage to call them out.
I believe it was Rush Limbaugh who first compared Congressional Republicans to the Washington Generals. The hapless team of semi-professional basketball players who travel around with the Harlem Globetrotters. They put on a good show, but everyone knows in advance that they are going to lose. Whether it was a healthcare battle or a budget showdown, everyone knew the Generals would come up short again.
For the first time since the Gingrich glory days, Republicans seem to be willing to think that maybe they can actually win. It started with Tax Reform. Not only were they able to pass it, it is already working! Then came the first shutdown. All the pundits loudly predicted an embarrassing loss for the GOP since they controlled all three branches of government. Mick Mulvaney quickly corrected CNN concerning the arcane 60 vote Senate rules and dubbed it the Schumer Shutdown. The term stuck and the rats quickly abandoned their ship.
And now we have the brewing FBI-DOJ-FISA scandal. The Democrats and their fellow travelers in the national media have done their level best to discredit Chairman Nunes and his efforts to get the facts out. The contortions they have resorted to would be humorous if this weren’t so serious. They have breathlessly reported every misleading statement uttered by Rep. Schiff. Never a follow-up question or a look back at yesterday’s obfuscation. No need to fact check, they know who the good guys are.
Jefferson once observed, “Give the people the truth and the Republic will be saved.” In spite of the media’s best efforts to cover for their friends, Americans are beginning to figure this out. Recent polls confirm. A majority now believe that certain high ranking officials inside the FBI and the DOJ abused their power. That they mislead the FISA Court to spy on Team Trump. Worse, that they likely did so out of purely political motivations.
The American people can handle the truth. It is now time for Republican Congressional Leaders to behave like real Generals. They need to get a little more steel in their backbones, stare down their adversaries and get to the bottom of this. Courage and winning are inseparable.
Get the people the truth and the Republic will be just fine.
Gil Gutknecht served six terms in the Minnesota House. He was first elected to the U.S. House as a Republican in 1994 with the new Gingrich majority. He served six terms and now consults with several organizations. He lives in Rochester, MN with his wife Mary.