Inside the Beltway: ‘We finally have a Republican leader with enough guts’

NEWS AND OPINION:

Tracking the ups, downs, stumbles and evasive maneuvers of the hostile news media as they cover President Trump and his administration has become a challenge, even for veteran observers. The Media Research Center already has revealed in an extensive six-month study that 91 percent of the coverage has been negative toward Mr. Trump during his short time in office. Astute analysts often explain the wily tricks behind negative Trump-related news stories that appear to be factual but aren’t. The blare of biased coverage continues, however.

“It would be a full-time job to keep track of the Democratic Party media’s failed attacks on President Trump and his administration. I wrote about CNN’s latest fiasco here and here. Maybe someone, somewhere, is keeping count of the liberal media’s lies about Trump, but it would be a superhuman task to keep up,” points out John Hinderaker, founder of Powerline.

“These battles between President Trump and Democratic Party reporters are going on almost every day, and Trump is nearly always winning, because reporters from The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, The Associated Press and so on are so crazed by Trump’s election that they can’t restrain themselves from lying. But maybe that is too charitable. Maybe these reporters have been lying for a long time, and we finally have a Republican leader with enough guts to call them on it,” Mr. Hinderaker adds.

ETA: CNN

PJ Media founder and columnist Roger L. Simon points out that there is a single cable new network that appears to offer unchallenged saturation coverage in airports. That is CNN, he says. Mr. Simon is concerned about that. Indeed, the network — originally launched in 1980 as the first 24-hour news channel — also has a satellite television network named CNN Airport; this launched in 1992. It now provides exclusive CNN coverage in 47 major airports.

That’s a lot of airports.

“The best you can say for CNN is that, as the initiator of 24/7 cable news, the network has a first-mover advantage, but that advantage has been perpetuated and protected by a big lie. And that lie is that CNN is the true purveyor of impartial news. MSNBC is on the left. Fox is on the right. But good old CNN gives you the straight story. Nothing could be more ludicrous,” writes Mr. Simon, citing CNN’s recent roles in the “fake news” phenomenon.

“With minor exceptions, almost everywhere one goes that is a public facility like airports, bus and railroad stations, as well as most private venues like the lobbies of banks and corporate towers and even bars and restaurants, CNN is the default cable news network hanging Big Brother-like on the wall for all to see and believe. Often it is blaring at us in elevators,” Mr. Simon observes.

“Allowing one network the privilege of dominating our public spaces is dangerous to our republic in the extreme, even if, as seems to be the case, the public has growing distrust of that network,” says Mr. Simon. “We’re all being propagandized, consciously and unconsciously, all the time. I’m not sure how to end this CNN dominance of those public spaces, but we all should start thinking about it.”

TRUMP BUMP

In a survey of 906 manufacturers around the nation, the National Association of Manufacturers reveals that 95 percent of respondents saying they are positive about their own company’s outlook — the highest in the survey’s 20-year history.

There’s more, though.

“For many workers, 2017 will end on an extra merry note. According to new research from global staffing firm Robert Half, more than half of senior managers surveyed (51 percent) said they expect year-end bonus levels to be at least somewhat higher than 2016. Just 10 percent of respondents reported bonus amounts will decrease, and 39 percent anticipate no change in bonuses,” says the aforementioned research, based on a survey of 300 senior managers at U.S. companies.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE DEMS

Democrats who are still mourning Hillary Clinton’s loss in the 2016 election plan to celebrate “Resistmas” this year to demonstrate that they remain fighting mad, ready to rumble, or words to that effect. And so it goes with the Democratic National Committee as well, which has revealed its recommendations for seasonal gift giving. The organization has four new T-shirts to offer, each emblazoned with one of four new vigorous mottos.

And here they are: “Protest & Call & Speak Out & Vote,” “Hate has no home here,” “Feminist” and “Defend Democracy.”

Well, OK. 2018 will be arriving in 20 days, and with it the midterm elections and lots of nail-biting. There appears to be some Yuletide change afoot, though. The DNC has put T-shirts bearing the more relaxed phrases “Vote Democrat & Chill” and “I’m a Democrat” on its clearance rack, price reduced.

WHO’S WHO IN BREW

Well, here’s something cheerful. The American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association on Tuesday will announce the winners of the second annual Capitol Hill Staff Homebrew Competition, which showcases the talents of Republican and Democratic brew crews who work within those hallowed halls and other staffers in a friendly competition.

“This competition, open to legislative staff and other federal employees on Capitol Hill, is a fun, nonpartisan outlet for the Hill staff,” explains Gary Glass, executive director of the home brew trade group.

The beer bout drew 16 entries, and the brew awards will be given most appropriately in a federal cafeteria within a few hops of the U.S. Capitol. Yes, hops. That’s our particularly dismal pun of the day.

POLL DU JOUR

• 68 percent of Americans say better mental health screening would help “a lot” in preventing gun violence; 61 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of independents and 76 percent of Democrats agree.

• 48 percent say tougher sentences on gang members or criminals would help a lot; 64 percent of Republicans, 42 percent of independents and 42 percent of Democrats agree.

• 41 percent say stricter gun laws would help a lot; 14 percent of Republicans, 39 percent of independents and 63 percent of Democrats agree.

• 40 percent favor arming teachers or school officials; 69 percent of Republicans, 40 percent of independents and 20 percent of Democrats agree.

• 29 percent say allowing more law-abiding citizens to carry guns in public would help curb gun violence; 46 percent of Republicans, 29 percent of independents and 16 percent of Democrats agree.

Source: A CBS News poll of 1,120 U.S. adults conducted Dec. 3-5.

• Petty annoyances and big deals to jharper@washingtontimes.com