Special Counsel John Durham Discredits the Press

The way back to sanity for America is for the media to rediscover its interest in truth.

Only John Durham can say why he proceeded as he did. The 45-year veteran prosecutor was assigned to examine the FBI’s decisions related to the Trump collusion investigation. Aside from an early guilty plea from an FBI lawyer who falsified evidence, he pursued only two outside informants for allegedly lying to the agency.

My own guess is Mr. Durham viewed his informant indictments as merited but orthogonal to his larger purpose. He was counting on civil society, i.e., the press, to lead a necessary conversation about the FBI’s role in 2016 and after.

However, in such matters, our media doesn’t believe the important question right now is “Is it true?” The important question is, “Is the truth pro-Trump?” If it is, it must not be reported. Never mind the clear lesson that such an approach only discredits the press while providing Mr. Trump the only real asset he has—the revolting qualities of his enemies.

The Washington Post is a particular conveyor of red herrings while ignoring the obvious, that the FBI made no effort to abort the furor over the Steele dossier even after it knew the allegations it contained were false and fraudulent.

The press’s unspoken justification is that playing it straight in such matters would be bad for the country and good for Mr. Trump. Don’t buy it. What might hurt the country is not what worries our media elites. It’s what might hurt them. Somebody might call them Trump supporters. Social media might demand their cancellation. Their web traffic might fall off. Turned upside-down is the traditional motto “without fear or favor.” Every choice by our media elites now must be understood in terms of the fear and favor they show their own interests..

The behavior of his enemies and opponents, especially the media, is what gave him his real power and still does. An astute analysis in the Columbia Journalism Review criticized MSNBC not for opposing Mr. Trump reflexively but for doing so stupidly—in ways that strengthened him. Bingo.

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