It is time for the media to have a serious reckoning about Michael Avenatti. The “Creepy Porn Lawyer” was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony domestic battery in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the news isn’t a huge surprise given his public track record.
Since becoming a household name in March, he has lied about potential evidence, manipulated his client’s statement, been accused of outright fraud, failed to pay millions in taxes, and was ordered to pay a $10 million judgement to a former associate. He had also been recommended for disbarment for his involvement in a “pump and dump” scheme in Washington State in March.
But will Democrats and the liberal media stand by him now, even after he’s been accused of physically abusing a woman? Based on their overwhelmingly accommodating treatment of him so far, it is hard to say. Even with such a clear history of manipulation and lack of ethics, Networks like CNN, MSNBC, HBO, and Showtime haven’t stopped themselves from hoisting him up as an icon of the Donald Trump resistance.
Avenatti quickly established himself as a public and willing opposer of Trump after he jumped into the spotlight representing Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump. His politics were instantly apparent, as his legal interests vanished into his increasing popularity as a “Trump critic.” He often dodged simple questions relating to evidence and legalese of his cases for a chance to chastise the Trump administration on unrelated matters.
Actively ignoring all evidence against the character of their new hero, CNN, MSNBC and others continued their march toward unseating Trump with Avenatti as the magic bullet. So blinded by their hatred of Trump, they could not see or didn’t care that they were being taken by a conniving spotlight hog. Even as stories like Julie Swetnik’s (one of the Brett Kavanaugh accusers) totally fell apart, Avenatti continued to gain the approval of mainstream media.
CNN has had him as a guest at least 100 times since March of this year. His screen time on that network rivals only that of Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper. His appearances on MSNBC aren’t far behind. He regularly talked of running for president against Trump in 2020, rarely having to defend himself against his ongoing questionable behavior.
He found a reliable home in being a leftist media fixture, and they made it incredibly easy for him. No one asked him questions that made him look bad, and if he didn’t want to answer something, he rarely got push back. He would sternly say “I won’t be answering that question,” and anchors would dutifully move on. This is a man they consider to be a presidential candidate, not because he is worthy, but because he’s obnoxious enough to say it, and popular enough to mean it.
He has appeared on Fox News only twice in 2018, once in a fairly tame interview with Shannon Bream, and once in September on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which was combative, to say the very least. Avenatti only agreed to be interviewed by Carlson after he complied with a list of demands set forth by the attorney. They included a promise to “let him finish” when asked a question.
The interview was revealing in a number of ways, but mainly because it was the first public interview that Avenatti had done where he had to play defense. He dodged every single question, turning each answer into an attack on Carlson. Prepared for this, and in no way a sufferer of fools, Carlson would reiterate his question, only to constantly find himself on the receiving end of a mystifying jumble of accusations and anti-Trump buzzwords. Avenatti is also behind the recent accusations against Carlson for assault at a Virginia country club.
It is only by the grace of Networks like CNN and MSNBC that Avenatti has not been completely laughed out of town. Avenatti became an unlikely icon of feminism and a hero for the #BelieveWomen and #BelieveSurvivors movement by bringing accusers of Trump and Kavanaugh into the limelight. After nothing came of those accusations except a referral to the Department of Justice for lying to Congress, it’s sadly not a big surprise that he has also been accused of domestic violence. He is not a defender of women, he is a defender of himself. He acts as a man hungry for fame and public respect at any cost, with no regard for who he has to exploit or belittle to achieve it.
Michael Avenatti is a disgrace to the profession of law, but that is not new information. Now is the time for CNN, MSNBC and every other network that gave him a platform to look in the mirror. At what point and at what cost will it be time to cut ties with a political bias so deep that it blinded them to being conned by such a despicable person?
