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The Press Delivers a Fake News Trump Health Crisis, and the Bad Week at MSNBC Just Continues

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Nov 22, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Low-Octane Gaslighting – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • Tell us more about how you hate misinformation, media experts.

For a while on Thursday, social media was abuzz about a possible health crisis involving Donald Trump. Due to a lone ambulance spotted in a motorcade, some CBS press members on site speculated there was an issue with the president-elect, then other reporters ran to Xitter with “reports” and Trump’s health was trending for a while.

Then it turned out that Trump was in a meeting the whole time, the ambulance was simply part of J.D. Vance’s departing motorcade, and the press was caught trying to save face as a result. The best part of all was that after weeks spent scorching social media as the bane of this country, it was independent journalists and Xitter’s Community Notes that delivered the facts and made the “professional” journalists look like complete saps for this hysteria.

Reporting on the Mirror – MSNBC

  • Are we supposed to see a pay cut as good news?

As we covered this week, the ostracizing of MSNBC – along with a clutch of other Comcast-owned cable channels – is an ongoing source of anxiety for the network. One sign of trouble ahead could be seen in the announced re-signing of Rachel Maddow to a new contract. On the one side, it appears that all is well and healthy at Joe Biden’s favorite news channel, as the part-time hostess penned a new $25 million deal.

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However bizarre as it seems to pay out that kind of cash for one day a week of broadcasting, along with special event coverage, she did not get a raise, but this serves as a pay cut. Her last deal saw Maddow collecting $30 million annually.

Stealth Story Evolution – MSNBC

  • We see sympathy for the immigrant murderer was not a good look for you.

Speaking of the deposed network…

The Laken Riley murder case – where a college student was killed by an illegal immigrant gang member from Venezuela – continues to bedevil the press. The way this ruling reflects poorly on the Biden open borders policy and the defense of such in the media for years means the coverage of this verdict has been…well, we’ll call it “spotty.”

One of the more egregious examples was this original headline from MSNBC, which received enough criticism that it went ahead and quietly altered things later.

BlueAnon – MSNBC

  • Just wait until she learns about bath bombs!

And why not keep on MSNBC today?

The hysterics over the nomination of Pete Hegseth continue. Alleged historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat was brought on to list off the ways Hegseth is invalid as a choice to be Secretary of Defense. He once promoted an ammunition company! She trotted out (the debunked claim) how he has a white supremacist tattoo! And he sold things that “extremists” who wanted “military-level” items would buy. Why this alone is disqualifying is not clear, but it reaches the level of the ridiculous when you see what it is she was referring to:

It's also interesting that he was making videos selling grenade soap.

Now, because of her imbalanced approach, we do need to clarify; this is not soap to clean grenades, it is soap made in the shape of a hand grenade. THAT is grounds to not confirm him. Soap.

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – CBS NEWS

  • Did you come in under the quota of stories for the week…?

At CBS News, they have a report on the prospect of a Trump presidency, and it strains to qualify as a story. This allegedly addresses a belief held by many that Trump will be sending out stimulus money to citizens when he takes office. This is rooted in nothing substantial.

Start with the fact that this is posed as a widespread mindset in the population when in fact they had to seek out fringe opinions on social media:

Posts on TikTok are suggesting Trump might issue another round of checks, while on X, some users are questioning if they're in line for a payment.

“Trump’s checks” (issued by Congress, by the way) were made in response to the pandemic and the forced closures of businesses for months. There is zero reason to expect this to take place again. Then you have the vacuous nature of this premise displayed prominently right there in the headline, as it is refuted by experts…and those harboring a shred of common sense.