It’s no big secret that the relationship between President Trump, other Republicans and the media is highly adversarial. Some would suggest that’s putting it mildly.
Either way, it is without fail that every day, press stewards like CNN’s Brian Stelter are dramatically reporting about how Republican attacks on the press are a “threat to our democracy.”
The First Amendment is under assault, they say, because Trump, in particular, treats some of their fellow journalists with disdain and contempt. In some instances, he does whatever he can to avoid talking to them.
On some level, I get it. As a member of the press myself, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the types of blistering attacks Trump subjects some reporters to in response to some of the questions they ask, but that also holds true for Democrats who have treated the press similarly.
Such has been the case in recent weeks with Democratic leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Just last week, Pelosi clashed with former Fox News reporter and current Sinclair journalist James Rosen after he asked her as she was walking off the stage whether or not she “hated” President Trump.
Pelosi changed direction and marched up to Rosen, pointing down and gesturing to him animatedly in a manner befitting a supreme queen looking downward to angrily address her lowly subjects.
“As a Catholic, I resent your using the word ‘hate’ in a sentence that addresses me. I don’t hate anyone. I was raised in a way that is a heart full of love, and always pray for the president, and I still pray for the president. I pray for the president all the time. So, don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.”
The transcript doesn’t do it justice. Watch the video. It was more about the tone and the mannerisms she used, and what she said at the end.
Nevertheless, many of the same people who have decried Trump’s treatment of the media cheered Pelosi on for “taking down” a reporter — because Rosen, who was monitored and spied on by President Obama’s Justice Department, asks questions liberals don’t like.
This was also barely a month after Pelosi mocked Rosen during another presser, snidely addressing him as “Mr. Republican talking points.”
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, took aim at The Hill opinion writer John Solomon as the committee’s public impeachment inquiry hearings got underway last month. “I’m not speaking to The Hill anymore. Sorry,” she snapped to another writer for The Hill after citing Solomon’s work on the Ukraine issue.
Solomon has written investigative reports that go against established Democratic narratives on the Joe/Hunter Biden/Ukraine story, and for that, Speier punished another reporter who happened to write for the same publication.
Solomon was also a target of House Intel Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was blasted by Republicans after he crossed a line last week by way of releasing the personal phone records of, among others, ranking member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), two of President Trump’s personal attorneys including Rudy Giuliani, as well as Solomon. The information was included in the committee’s impeachment inquiry report.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wrote an op–ed critical of Schiff’s tactics, stating Schiff “is doing exactly what he has accused President Trump of doing: using his power to investigate his political opponents.”
Oddly enough, media stewards like Stelter have had little to nothing to say about any of these Democratic attacks, which is further proof they hold Republicans and Democrats to different standards on these matters.
In summary, attacks on the press are not considered a “threat to our democracy” as long as Democrats are the ones doing the attacking.
Stacey Matthews is a veteran blogger who has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to Red State and Legal Insurrection.
