It is journalistic malpractice for news outlets to take anything that anybody associated with the Trump administration says at face value.
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When, in the middle of Signalgate, the Trump administration announced the arrest of one of the leaders of the dangerous Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, the right-wing media treated the news as a sensational law enforcement victory while mainstream news outlets dutifully transcribed the quotes from Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who made it sound as though this was the greatest national security achievement since D-Day.
Not WhoWhatWhy.
Right from the start, we pointed out that this administration is filled with liars, and that nothing coming out of the White House (or out of the mouths of senior officials) should be taken at face value.
Nothing!
Here is what we wrote two weeks ago:
And, boy, were we right.
Fast forward to Wednesday, when all of the outlets that covered the initial arrest as straight news reported that federal prosecutors now wanted to drop the case against the suspect and deport him instead.
Oh, and all he was charged with was the illegal possession of a firearm. As for his gang affiliation, federal prosecutors merely said that the law enforcement officers involved in the arrest merely “observed indicia of MS-13 association.”
That does not sound at all as though he was “one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13,” as Bondi described him, or a “major leader of MS-13,” which is what Donald Trump called him.
What is does sound like, however, is that we were 100 percent right in our assessment of the situation.
This should serve as an important lesson for the rest of the media.
Unless the Trump administration produces verifiable evidence that backs up any statement that comes out of the White House (and, of course, the president’s mouth), responsible reporters should assume that it is a lie.
And any evidence the administration does provide should still be viewed with suspicion.
This is especially true when it comes to the justifications the administration offers for its most egregious violations of the Constitution and its greatest transgressions against the rule of law.
Specifically, that means any statement associated with the deportation of immigrants and the detention of legal residents who simply voiced an opinion.
In case after case, we have seen that the administration’s portrayal of these people as serious criminals or threats to the United States does not hold up.
Instead, what seems to be happening is that these individuals, both those who are in the US legally and those who are not, “get disappeared,” often by masked government thugs, and that everybody from Trump, Bondi, and Leavitt on down then lies about the reasons.
And for all of the news outlets that have fallen for this over and over, it is high time to stop giving this administration the benefit of the doubt.
