The Pusillanimous Press
As Donald Trump and his henchmen continue to proclaim that the press is the “enemy of the people,” the press continues to afford him “fair and balanced” coverage that only enhances his popularity with the MAGA extremists, the Law Journal's Bennett Gershman writes.
December 04, 2024 at 07:40 PM
6 minute read
I think I’ve seen close to a trillion stories in the press pillorying President Joe Biden for pardoning his son Hunter. And just as prevalent are the attacks on Biden for lying when he previously stated that he wouldn’t pardon his son. Can you imagine a president lying? Thank goodness for a responsible, courageous and free press, the so-called “Fourth Branch” of Government that is so essential to the healthy functioning of our democracy.
The breathless, feverish, insatiable coverage by the press to demolish whatever vestige of decency and humanity is left in Joe Biden’s legacy says much more about the cowardice and groveling of the press to Donald Trump than it does about anything the Bidens may have done. Indeed, when the owners of the relatively liberal Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times cower before Trump, the message from the press is clear: Don’t mess with Trump.
But there are two important points about the Hunter Biden pardon which the press either downplayed or disregarded entirely. First, it should be clear to any objective observer that the criminal prosecution of Hunter Biden exposed a double standard in charging people with crimes. There never would never have been a criminal charge against Hunter Biden if he was not the president’s son. Virtually every federal prosecutor who has spoken on the subject has stated that the charge of possessing a firearm while the person is addicted to drugs—the charge against Hunter Biden—is almost never brought. Hunter Biden owned the gun for 11 days and is alleged to have lied on a government form when he stated he was not addicted to drugs when in fact he was in the throes of drug addiction. He was also charged while battling drug addiction with failing to pay $1.4 million in federal income taxes. He has since paid it, including interest and penalties. But prosecutors also have asserted that the government typically handles such cases civilly as it did with Trump’s henchman Roger Stone who was accused of $2 million tax evasion and settled his case without facing criminal charges.
And speaking of Roger Stone, what about Trump’s pardons? Trump pardoned his crony, Paul Manafort, who was convicted of financial and lobbying crimes and sentenced to seven years in prison. Trump pardoned another crony, Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian operatives. Trump commuted Roger Stone’s three-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of seven felony counts including obstruction of a congressional investigation, making false statement to Congress, and tampering with a witness. And pardoning relatives? For shame. Well, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was convicted of financial fraud and witness tampering and served two years in prison. Trump granted another 140 pardons to friends, loyalists, and other misfits. I haven’t seen the press cover these pardons with the same venom that it heaped on Biden.
The second important point to note is the reason why President Biden appeared to abruptly change course and give his son a sweeping pardon. The pardon was issued virtually moments after Trump announced that he would appoint Kash Patel, his loyal conspiracy-theorist-lapdog, to head the FBI. Patel is reported to be obsessed with Hunter Biden and fantasizes that the Bidens have engaged in nefarious and pervasive criminal conduct with Ukraine and China. Republicans in Congress, notably Representative James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, spent several years trying to connect the Bidens to these allegations but came up with zero evidence of wrongdoing.
Nevertheless, Patel has insisted that the Department of Justice will find such evidence against the Bidens when Trump becomes president. And if such evidence miraculously happens to show up, will it be reliable? Or will it be fabricated? How will we know? Will there be any accountability? By whom? The press?
Indeed, can the press be trusted to do any honest investigative reporting? Not after Patel has threatened the press that he will “come for you.” Patel has announced that “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government, but in the media.” Trump and Patel have repeatedly accused the press of being “the enemy of the people.” How many people realize that Patel is a dangerous tool of Trump? He’s a loose cannon who if confirmed by the Senate will go far to destroy the rule of law in America and create an environment of chaos and destruction never seen before in federal law enforcement.
The press really doesn’t seem to care about the two points noted above. Indeed, one of the most alarming features of the press today is its penchant to appear fair and balanced. If the media criticizes Trump, it must also criticize Trump’s critics. To be “fair and balanced,” as Fox News pontificates, is to suggest that before Biden dropped out of the presidential race the choice in the 2024 presidential election was between a corrupt, self-interested, and deranged would-be dictator and a doddering, wobbly, and inarticulate old man.
Does the media realize that Trump as President will corrupt if not destroy the democracy many of us take for granted? Also, how many mainstream journalists are even conversant with history and informed about the rise of fascism in 20th century Europe. And even if they are, is the mainstream media so terrified of Trump and his lackeys that it will capitulate to Trump to avoid any confrontation and tough investigative reporting?
Ironically, as Trump and his henchmen continue to proclaim that the press is the “enemy of the people,” the press continues to afford him “fair and balanced” coverage that only enhances his popularity with the MAGA extremists. And the heavy-handed coverage of the Biden pardon only enhances the likelihood that the press will continue to apply its servile double standard to other Trump outrages.
Thus, as long as the press fears Trump it will behave cowardly, marginalize the threat to democracy, and continue to pretend to be a fair and balanced institution. If that is where we are, then we are much closer than ever to losing democracy and a free press.
Bennett L. Gershman is a distinguished professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University and author of "Prosecutorial Misconduct" (Thomson Reuters, 2d ed., 2019).
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