Republican nominee Donald Trump said the media totally trashed him for reportedly tossing a crying baby out of a rally in Ashburn, Virginia—and that it was unfair. Well the bombastic billionaire now has some effective evidence to use for his defense, with The Washington Post not only saying he was “unfairly maligned,” but that he was being truthful when saying the media lied about the whole episode. Trump touched on the media’s lies about this incident on Friday at a rally in Green Bay, where he endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Speaker Paul Ryan in their re-election bids.
First, here’s what Trump said in Green Bay:
The press came out with headlines: ‘Trump throws baby out of arena.’ So dishonest. I mean these are dishonest people. I could give you 20 stories like that. Everyone’s having fun, we’re smiling, I’m waving. Everyone’s having fun, but they say Trump throws baby [out]. You know how terrible that is? It’s such a lie. And they know it’s a lie.”
Then, the media fallout:
The New York Post, for instance, headlined its article: “Trump loves crying baby, then kicks the tot out of his rally.”The New York Daily News, in its article on the incident, began: “What a baby. Donald Trump booted a fussy baby from a rally Tuesday because the tot was wailing over the businessman’s speech.”
The Guardian newspaper even used the incident to declare that this is a core problem with Trump — that he has “a total lack of empathy.”
Glenn Kessler, who ran the fact check, cited Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale, who said that this incident has been blown out of proportion. He added that while it might have been delivered in an unfriendly manner, maybe even a tad rude on Trump’s part, he certainly did not eject the mother and the baby. She excused herself voluntarily, as it’s the considerate thing to do for the other attendees trying to hear him speak. Dale said that the mother retuned moments later with her child sucking a pacifier. No harm done.
Kessler concluded, “Trump has been unfairly maligned here. We can see why some reporters ran with this tale, based only on the videotape, but it’s good example of why everything must be checked out.”
And, yes, going by the tape—it does look pretty bad. Still, for this one, things got a little out of hand, as they do with most Republican candidates the media covers during elections. Trump's Geppetto mark, in this instance, will surely be used by by the Republican nominee to show how the press is dishonest, though I fear that he will fallback on this to slam the media when he actually does say something awful...again.