Fake news wrapped in weasel words from the Washington Post

Fake news wrapped in weasel words from the Washington Post, by Paul Mirengoff.

President Trump today condemned “all types of racism and acts of violence.” That’s a good thing. However, the Trump-hating Washington Post seized on the occasion to condemn Trump for alleged “racially tinged” statements.

“Racially tinged” is a weasel phrase. A statement is either racist or it isn’t. When the statement pertains to race but isn’t racist, those obsessed with race or, in this case, Trump-hatred call it “racially tinged.” It’s the kind of intellectually dishonest move we’ve come to expect from the Trump resisting Washington Post — here, Anne Gearan, Seung Min Kim, and Josh Dawsey.

(Wouldn’t it be nice if once and while these stories had a single author? Then we would know who, precisely, is writing so dishonestly. Why does it take three people to write such stories? By now, this kind of reflexively anti-Trump drivel should almost write itself.)

What are the “racially tinged” recent statements the Post takes Trump to task for? You can probably correctly guess some of them. Trump questioned the intelligence of Don Lemon and Lebron James, who happen to be Black. But an individual isn’t exempt from having his intelligence questioned merely because he’s Black. …

Trump also criticized NFL players who protest during the National Anthem, all of whom, as I understand it, are Black. But Trump is criticizing them for their conduct, not because of their race. He is not required to give athletes a pass for their obvious show of disrespect for America merely because they are Black. (I disagree with Trump’s view that the players should be “suspended without pay” for expressing their disrespect for America. But it’s not racist — or racially tinged — of him or anyone else to say they should be). …

Trump is an equal opportunity attack dog. He has labeled media outlets like the Washington Post “the fake news media.” These media outlets are run by Whites and rely on mostly White reporters and opinion writers.

No one suggests that Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media are “racially tinged.” Yet it would be just as plausible to make that claim as it is to assert that Trump’s disparaging statements about particular Blacks are.