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Readers will know that the other day, in what you might call an \u201cexercise in writing towards an audience,\u201d I encouraged Donald Trump<\/a> to recognize that the media, the Establishment, and various other Powers That Be are aligned against him, and will do everything in their power to ensure he loses, so that he should strategically quit and name his replacement instead.<\/p>\n As a reminder: \u00a0I do not support Trump, I do not support Clinton, I think both are bad enough that the usual rules about \u201clesser evil\u201d don\u2019t apply, and, at this point, am planning on voting 3rd party or not at all.<\/p>\n But here\u2019s the trouble: \u00a0the media is actively out to prevent his election \u2013 and their active partisanship may seem like the right thing to do, in 2016, but is dangerous in the long term.<\/p>\n Witness the story of Trump and the Crying Baby.<\/p>\n For the past week, we\u2019ve heard, repeatedly, reports that go something like this one, from CNN<\/a>:<\/p>\n Donald Trump, trying to reassure a distressed mother with a crying baby, said Tuesday that he loves hearing babies cry at his rallies and told her not to worry \u2014 only to change his mind just a moment later. . . .<\/p>\n But less than two minutes later, as the baby continued to wail, Trump took back his words.<\/p>\n \u201cActually I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here,\u201d he said to laughs. \u201cI think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I\u2019m speaking. That\u2019s OK. People don\u2019t understand. That\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You know this. \u00a0It was plastered all over the news.<\/p>\n Until yesterday, when the Washington Post <\/a>finally reported,<\/p>\n As it happens, Daniel Dale, a reporter from the Toronto Star, was sitting right behind her and wrote that the entire incident was mischaracterized.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The actual facts were that the baby, after Trump\u2019s first comment, had calmed. \u00a0Then the baby cried again, the mom left, and as she was on her way to the exit, Trump made his second comment. \u00a0The mom and baby returned to their seats later. \u00a0Here\u2019s the link to the original report<\/a>, which the Post linked to.<\/p>\n This description was confirmed by the mother herself:<\/p>\n Dale\u2019s account is confirmed by the mother herself \u2014 Virginia resident Devan Ebert. (She spoke on the condition that we not report her town.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe media did in fact blow this entire situation out of proportion,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cI\u2019m not looking to make it into anything bigger. All I\u2019m hoping is that Trump personally is aware that I am in agreement with him and stand by the fact that I was never kicked out of the rally.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that she decided to leave the auditorium on her own because \u201cit\u2019s the considerate thing to do for others around, trying to listen or for those presenting,\u201d adding that \u201cit was blatantly obvious he was joking.\u201d She said she stood with the police officers outside the auditorium, who were very kind to her, and then returned to her seat once her child had calmed down.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a wonderful time and I appreciate Trump\u2019s graciousness during a time that is usually considered stressful,\u201d she said. \u201cHis comic relief was a breath of fresh air.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And those of us who have had experiences of crying children know this \u2014 take the kid out, calm the kid down, bring the kid back.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m not defending Trump as a candidate. \u00a0But reports such as these \u2014 breathless reports of how dastardly a man Trump is, with a walked back, \u201cnever mind,\u201d are a form of crying wolf that condition Trump supporters and potential supporters to shrug off any similar incident, or even worse statements, as \u201cthey took him out of context.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, at a recent\u00a0joint convention of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Hillary Clinton held a \u201cpress conference\u201d or press conference-like event in which she received applause from her questioners, as reported at The Hill<\/a>. \u00a0Now, to be sure, Time Magazine<\/a> provides a defense of sorts:<\/p>\n But those in the crowd noted that the audience included a lot of people who are not actually journalists, including public relations and communications professionals, as well as columnists and commentators who are supposed to have opinions.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s what people don\u2019t understand. First and foremost, the room is not filled just with journalists,\u201d Roland Martin, a journalist who moderated a panel prior to Clinton\u2019s remarks, told TIME. \u201cYou hear a smattering of applause in the room. Also there are people in the room who are opinion folks.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And the Time article also makes it clear that the questions were moderator-chosen so the event isn\u2019t really a press conference in the ordinary definition of the term.<\/p>\n But reports like these further undermine trust in the media \u2014 and move us farther along the path of voters on both sides getting their news from one-sided sources.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n image from\u00a0pixabay, https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/baby-tears-small-child-sad-cry-443393\/, public domain<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Readers will know that the other day, in what you might call an \u201cexercise in writing towards an audience,\u201d I encouraged Donald Trump to recognize that the media, the Establishment, and various other Powers That Be are aligned against him, and will do everything in their power to ensure he loses, so that he should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":5106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[116,443,325],"class_list":["post-5105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-2016-election","tag-news-media","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n