When Republicans lie, which they do, the 'news' media fact-checks them aggressively. Because truth and democracy and accountability matter. When Democrats lie -- especially with a lot at stake -- much of the 'news' media either averts its collective gaze, or actively joins the lie. Four years ago, the Biden campaign manufactured a 'Russian disinformation' talking point to bury a problematic story for their candidate and his family. The idea was hatched by the campaign, the dirty work was outsourced to "respected" and credentialed "experts" in the intelligence community alumni association, then it was laundered back to the Biden campaign. That invented and totally dishonest fabrication (the laptop was authentic all along, and many of the relevant parties, including the FBI, knew it) was then used to justify mass censorship by media and big tech companies. In short, Team Biden killed a true story with a lot of help. It was disturbing and corrosive to trust in our system and institutions.
Four years later, much of this exact same coalition is now trying to doctor up a new "misinformation" panic, this time without even bothering with the smoke and mirrors. They're just flat-out denying reality and insisting we not see what we can all see. We addressed this yesterday, but the shameless, aggressive gaslighting has only escalated. The White House Press Secretary described accurate, unedited videos of the president as "deep fakes" and "manipulated," which is a dangerous, provable lie. The White House is welcome to produce the "real," non-fake, non-manipulated versions of the clips in question, but they can't, because the originals were real. She has also demanded that everyone start calling the videos "cheap fakes," which is also nonsense. The videos are real. And yet many journalists, who congratulate themselves as firefighters for truth, or whatever, are indulging or amplifying the brazen lies. Look at this garbage:
NBC labels an unedited recording from a Hollywood Reporter journalist as a "misleading GOP Video"
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) June 18, 2024
Fails to inform what is misleading about any of it. https://t.co/sYa6sCTC58
Dare I ask how these BlueAnon conspiracy theorists at @AP explain why a grown man grabbed another grown man by the wrist to lead him off stage? https://t.co/vvKSf9q6gJ
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 18, 2024
LOL
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) June 18, 2024
Andrew Bates clearly gave Chris Gardner (Hollywood Reporter) an angry call
Yesterday: Gardner posts the video of Biden freezing on stage (proving that the video wasn’t edited)
Today: Gardner publishes a puff piece filled with White House talking points pic.twitter.com/1Qc4QyZ3rc
I mean, truly, look at this. It's surreal to watch in real time:
CBS News joins chorus of media outlets regurgitating WH gaslight strategy to protect Biden. https://t.co/PxScmVPihz
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) June 18, 2024
This is a blatant lie from CBS News to protect Biden
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 18, 2024
There is nothing about this clip that is "digitally altered" https://t.co/GSZSGkNaZk pic.twitter.com/mlcj13NmbM
The White House says "deep fake," and "cheap fake," and rather than swarming to correct the record on the former lie, 'news' media members are tripping over each other to embrace the latter term, which the White House just decided to run with -- and is also inaccurate. The point, I guess, is to just assert that the president is just fine, and that all visual evidence to the contrary is "misinformation." Something is "insidious" here, alright:
.@NicolleDWallace: “There’s a growing & insidious trend in right-wing media … to take highly misleading & selectively edited videos of Pres. Biden … and use those videos to spread messages virally to cast doubt on Pres. Biden’s fitness for office.” pic.twitter.com/Im5r6y9HDA
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 17, 2024
This breathtaking spectacle will continue for the next four-plus months, unless the Democrats replace Biden sooner, at which point many 'now it can be told' revelations will confirm the obvious. Meanwhile, please don't believe this video. It's 100 percent real, but it must be considered fake, for The Cause:
BIDEN (malfunctioning): "...homeland security secretary, uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhhuhuhuh" 😳 pic.twitter.com/7ubWXbDqrf
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 18, 2024
And don't believe this literal, verbatim White House transcript of the president trying to make a point of some sort:
The official transcript of Biden's speech at the fundraiser. Holy hell. pic.twitter.com/78Vn68pwcS
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 17, 2024
"There you go," adds Biden's helper, trying to affirm that word salad. I'll leave you with the following headline. I was going to make a joke along similar lines, but the Babylon Bee already beat me to it:
White House Claims Terrible Economy Is Just A Deepfake https://t.co/uvSmNqWPtc pic.twitter.com/QVhTRSvgFD
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 17, 2024
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