When the Atlantic magazine trots out one of its mostly anonymous defamation pieces against President Trump or one of his allies, it should be conventional wisdom now that its purpose is purely political. Keep in mind what former Washington Post editor Marty Baron said in a speech last week — more or less that the dying media was untrustworthy for the duration of the Biden administration.
The Atlantic put one of those pieces out last week with a bunch of unseemly allegations related to FBI Director Kash Patel, like that he’s a drunkard and a paranoid putting America’s national security at risk. “They said that the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” the piece of content said. “His behavior has often alarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice, even as he won support from the White House for his eager participation in Trump’s effort to turn federal law enforcement against the president’s perceived political enemies.”
Unnamed “officials” (bureaucrats) are often “alarmed” when they have a boss who might prevent them from kneecapping Trump’s agenda. We’ve seen it across the federal departments, about Trump’s appointees, in both of the president’s terms.
It’s worth saying that even if Patel is all the things alleged, the FBI is such an infected, corrupted agency that having a lush leading it is the least of its problems. In any event, a place like the Atlantic assessing whether the head of the FBI is capable of the job is truly awe-inspiring when it, along with the rest of the dying corporate media, did everything they could to defend and excuse Joe Biden — even though everyone else could see the former president was struggling to just stay awake.
Marty Baron, the highly overrated ex-Washington Post editor, addressed that fact at an event which — without a flicker of irony — intended to honor journalism. “Each of us probably can point to other instances where we went astray,” he said. “Here’s one to think about: Did we live up to our truth-seeking mission early this decade as we saw Joe Biden struggling cognitively and physically while holding the most powerful position on earth? I don’t believe we did. Did some among us shy from aggressively exploring his intellectual acuity and physical health for fear of aiding Donald Trump’s campaign and alienating loyal readers, viewers and listeners? My guess is yes. … One thing is for sure: Our credibility was damaged.”
But even more brazenly, the dying media defended and excused Biden’s abysmal policy record, which was absolute hell. Prices were up, but they told voters that wasn’t real. Crime was up, and they said that was also imaginary. After Biden allowed millions of foreigners into the country, the media said illegal border crossings were actually down.
If those were the type of lies they were willing to perpetuate, literally telling voters that reality wasn’t real, how could they possibly recover? Baron’s admission comes an election too late. Where’s the evidence that the dying media are doing anything different? They continue to lie, mislead, and manipulate, provably. And you can be sure that Baron would have never said such a thing had the Democrat won in 2024. Only now that it comes with no price can anyone in his business say, Yeah, we were trying to influence the election when we denied that the president was talking to dead people in public. But hey, it is what it is.
They’re capable of the same thing now. There’s no reason to trust what they say.
