Every serious news outlet in the United States deployed record resources to the 2016 presidential campaign, though a pair of legacy newspapers delivered what appeared to be some crushing scoops. Taken together, the New York Times and The Washington Post exposed President Trump’s treatment of women, his bogus claims of charity, his tax returns, his dodgy approach to the media, his campaign manager’s connection to foreign powers and much, much more.
In an interview with the New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum, Bannon was kind enough to credit these two old organs of the mainstream media. “Mr. Bannon mostly referred to the ‘elite’ or ‘mainstream’ media, but he cited The New York Times and The Washington Post by name,” reads the story. Bannon served as executive chairman of Breitbart News before working for the Trump campaign.
So nice of Bannon to recognize the fine investigative reporting of these two organizations. Oops, perhaps not. He said, “The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated. They got it 100 percent wrong.” What was wrong? The story about how the name of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort showed up on a pay ledger in the Ukraine? The story about how women stated on the record that Trump had touched them inappropriately?
Or perhaps he was talking solely about the failure of the New York Times and others to foresee Trump’s victory. Fair criticism there.
However: Considering that Bannon helmed a campaign heavy on deceit, division and cynicism, we don’t want any praise from his likes. From this fellow, criticism equals ovation. “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,” Bannon told the New York Times. No chance of that, at least as long as the First Amendment remains intact.
