Trump-hating media gets away with baiting questions

Here’s a scenario:

A reporter asks President Trump whether he’ll agree to a “peaceful” transfer of power and Trump actually says, “Why yes I will, of course.”

What do you think the headlines in the Biden-backing media would be?

“Trump Admits Defeat to Biden.”

So can you really blame Donald Trump for avoiding answering the question?

Trump of course could have handled the question better. What he should have told that Trump-hating Playboy reporter was, “That’s something you’ll have to ask Joe Biden because I plan on winning. I also plan on ensuring that it’s a fair election and not rigged with illegal mail-in ballots.”

Instead what Trump blurted out was, “We’re going to have to see what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster” — which was interpreted by the New York Times and other outlets as “passing on a chance to call for a calm and orderly election process.”

That characterization fits neatly into the concerted effort to portray Trump as a Mussolini-like figure who will stoop to anything and try to call in the military to make sure he stays in the White House.

But in fact Trump never said, and never has said, that he won’t give up power if he loses.

But because the media is trying to bait him into saying that — or conceding he’ll lose — Trump doesn’t simply want to hand the media their victory.

The president did get around to saying that there “won’t” be a transfer of power, “there will be a continuation” — but by that time it was too late. The damage had been done and the front page headlines already written — “Trump refuses to agree to a peaceful transfer of power.”

The real question is what do Joe Biden and the Democrats believe?

Because it certainly doesn’t seem like they are preparing for a “peaceful” continuation of power. They aren’t going to just allow Trump to stay in office if he gets more electoral votes than Biden. Democrats in fact have already amassed an army of lawyers preparing to contest the election.

But you don’t see reporters asking Democrats if they will be refusing to admit defeat. That’s because there’s a stubborn belief in the media that Trump doesn’t have a chance at winning.

Don’t be so sure of that. The polls actually show the race tightening in key battleground states. And Biden has yet to step foot on the debate stage, where he could potentially blow the election.

In fact that’s a good question for debate moderator Chris Wallace to put to Biden. Will he agree to a “peaceful” continuation of power? A good follow up: Why is the Biden campaign preparing for a massive legal challenge to the election?

I guarantee Biden won’t want to give an answer. So let’s see what the headlines will be on that.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3699B12