Ari Fleischer - Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias

O n January 25, 2020, CNNs Don Lemon hosted a panel discussion with anti-Trump political commentators Rick Wilson and Wajahat Ali to talk about the latest news, meaning it was a discussion of how rotten President Donald Trump was. But this time, they went beyond the usual castigation of Trump. Instead, they went after the tens of millions of people who supported him.

This is an administration defined by ignorance of the world, said Wilson. Thats partly him playing to their base and playing to their audience, the credulous, boomer rube demo that backs Donald Trump.

Then Wilson broke into a phony southern accent and condescendingly played the role of a Trump backer, saying, Donald Trumps the smart oneand yall elitists are dumb!

Ali chimed in, pretending to be a Trump supporter: You elitists with your geography and your maps and your spelling!

Lemon burst out laughing. His guests continued their mockery of Trump supporters.

Your math and your reading, Wilson said.

Your geography, knowing other countries, sipping your latte, Ali continued, as all three laughed out loud. Only them elitists know where Ukraine is.

After he collected his breath, Lemon summed things up, saying, That was a good one. I needed that.

For liberals and much of the media, the moment made perfect sense. It was hard for them to see how anyone could support Trump. Mocking half the country made good sense to them and they didnt think anyone in their newsrooms would criticize them for their narrow-minded stereotyping of tens of millions of Americans. For conservatives, the moment went viral not only because the mockery was just the latest rude and condescending bit of reporting from the mainstream media, but also because it made no sense. Trump was from New York City and didnt have a southern accent, as if that should matter. Trump won the 2016 election thanks to swing voters in the Midwest, from Michigan to Wisconsin. The reliably Republican southern states didnt elect him. Swing voters in Pennsylvania and in the Midwest did. Plus, among white college graduates, Trump beat Hillary Clinton, 48 to 45 percent. I guess those white college graduates include the dumb rubes Wilson was referring to.

Lemon and his guests were able to laugh at this ridiculous stereotype because they spend too much of their time with people in newsrooms who are badly out of touch with much of America. Its an America they dont respect, which is why they could so happily go on the air and mock conservatives and Trump voters, with the laughing support of a CNN anchor. Its a mindset thats killing journalism and the pursuit of truth. Its a reflection of how too many newsrooms have abandoned objectivity for subjectivity. Its an approved-at-the-top, close-minded way of thinking that has led journalists to engage in suppression and deception instead of old-fashioned reporting. Its a window into how predominantly urban, college-educated Democrats run newsrooms where they publish information designed to appeal to other urban, college-educated Democrats. Day after day, night after night, the reporters and editors who make up the mainstream media have convinced themselves that their audiencesand their opinionsare superior to other peoples thinking. The others are akin to deplorables. Theyre racists ready to riot. Theyre rubes who cant read a map or theyre rednecks who dont know how to spell.

Half the country is keenly aware that they are routinely mocked and looked down upon by much of the media. How the media think this is good for America is beyond me. The disdain shown by too many reporters for too many Americans is a major reason our nation is polarized and divided. Its not just politicians who are at fault. The mainstream medias small-minded approach to its job and routine dismissal of conservative or populist thought is an important contributor to our nations divisions. This snobbery and lack of respect and understanding of conservatives and populists breeds resentment and increased polarization. The media play a significant role in driving the American people apart.

This is a book about how and why the American people have lost faith in the media. Its about a once-trusted institution that is now at the bottom of the barrel in terms of trust. Most Americans no longer think the media tell the news fully, fairly, and accurately. Its what happens when a group of mostly college-educated Democrats, out of touch with much of the country, determine what is and isnt news, suppressing news they dont like, repeating deceptions that they do, in a way that resonates with fellow college-educated Democratic readers and viewers, alienating pretty much everyone else.

If you are a conservative or independent in America, you know the media is not fair. However, conservatives often get this conflict wrong. We misread what the media is trying to do, and we misinterpret why they are doing it. There is no secret meeting where liberals decide how to pervert the news. There is no central source of propaganda. Its worse than that. It comes naturally to the media because theyre too much alike. They have a diversity problem.

Interestingly, liberals, too, suffer because of media bias. Americas liberal base is increasingly untethered from reality. Thanks to a press corps that couldnt possibly conceive of a Donald Trump victory, Democrats have had a hard time understanding why and how Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 election in a much-anticipated landslide. There had to be a deeper, more sinister reason. Voila, collusion. Based on media reporting, Democrats knew Special Counsel Robert Mueller would deliver and indict Trump and his top aides. Democrats and much of the media are still having a tough time accepting that Trump and his campaign never did the things they were accused of doing concerning Russia.

In the pages that follow, Im going to argue that, for all our debates about lies, misinformation, and polarization, we are ignoring a fundamental cause of a crisis driving our country apart: the media itself. So long as the mainstream media continues to engage in suppression, deception, snobbery, and bias, our nation will be harmed. When you hear about Russian collusion, narrow-minded intolerant Republicans, Nicholas Sandmann (the Covington Catholic High School kid on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial), mostly peaceful protesters, and college football celebrations instantly labeled as super-spreader events while Democratic celebrations of Joe Bidens 2020 election victory are not so labeled, but you dont hear about President Bidens ethical problems, the Democratic Party chairman in a Texas county who called Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) an Oreo, and the Democratic National Committee staffer who opposed hiring straight, white men, and when you read and see descriptions of GOP policies that make Republicans look bad, you will see whats really been happening. Youll see an activist press corps that has its thumb on the scale. A press corps that increasingly, aggressively takes sides in our national debates. A press corps that is out of touch, gets things wrongand just doesnt care.

To understand why the media is an institution held in such low regard, lets go back to the beginning. To the original sin of who becomes a reporter in the first place.

O N M ARCH , 1998 , IN room 1129 of the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, DC, a dozen students from the prestigious Columbia Journalism School were in town for a working field trip, learning about their chosen profession.

I was the communications director for the House Committee on Ways & Means and was asked to meet with them, which I was happy to do. I talked to them about how news is made and how spokespeople and reporters work together. When I was done, I had a question for these future reporters.