The Media Research Center labored to defend Donald Trump’s hostility-tinged appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists, justifying his nastiness by lamely insisting he’s nasty to everyone. Michael Wnek took his shot at it in an Aug. 1 post:
On Wednesday night’s episode of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, host Joy Reid wasted no time in dissecting former President Donald Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists. She and MSNBC contributor April Ryan pounced on Trump for “the visual depiction of a dumpster fire,” while aggressively defending Vice President Kamala Harris.
[…]Later in the segment, Ryan expressed her outrage at Trump’s participation at the convention in the first place, wondering, “What was this for? Was this for showing clout? Was this really for journalism’s sake? Or was this just to pop ya collar, ‘I can get a presidential candidate?’” This oddly contradicted her very first statement when she stated, “Well, first of all, the NABJ, an advocacy group for black journalists, the black press, extends invitations every election cycle to presidential candidates.”
Well, Trump happened to be a presidential candidate who accepted the invitation while Harris skipped out on it.
Sarah Butler groused that Trump’s whining about the questions he was asked was called out:
Taxpayer-funded National Public Radio did not enjoy former President Donald Trump’s performance at the National Association of Black Journalists. On All Things Considered, co-host Ailsa Chang interviewed Kadia Goba of Semafor.com, one of the three moderators from NABJ, who described the night as “unsettling” and “hostile.” NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez later described the event as “kind of nuts all the time.”
Chang began by asking Goba what stood out to her from the Q&A with Trump. Goba answered “I was very surprised at the vitriol at the very beginning. It was quite unsettling and kind of set the tone for a very aggressive panel.”
Chang played a soundbite from the NABJ where “Trump was almost immediately critical” of Rachel Scott’s first question. In the recording, Trump said “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question so – in such a horrible manner.”
What Chang did not put on air was Scott’s opening question prior to his response where she uncorked a litany of his allegedly racist treatment of political competitors and radical-left Congresswomen, and his name-calling of liberal reporters.
Butler did not deny that complaints about Trump’s “racist treatment” and name-calling was inaccurate. She continued:
Chang brought up the live-fact checking during the NABJ because “he did make a number of false statements.” One of Chang’s examples was when Trump said “millions of criminals are crossing the Southern border into the U.S.”
Chang shared a statement from the Kamala Harris campaign that said “Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.” Goba exclaimed that the vice president is “factually correct” and that she herself “did not expect the personal attacks at all.”
On Thursday’s Morning Edition, co-host Leila Fadel brought in NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. She described Trump’s invitation to speak at the NABJ as “controversial – because of the things he’s said and done.” Ordoñez agreed that it was “very controversial” and professed that Trump “sparred” with moderators.
To Ordoñez, the event was “really kind of nuts all the time.” He added that “Trump has a history of promoting racist birther conspiracy theories” targeting Harris and Barack Obama. Unsurprisingly, Fadel agreed saying “Right and what he’s saying there isn’t actually true” about Harris’s racial identity.
Butler wouldn’t repeat what Trump actually said about Harris’ racial identity.
Curtis Houck found a right-wing commentator to push his preferred narratives and spin about the event:
On Thursday’s The Faulkner Focus, Fox News host Harris Faulkner offered her first public reactions to the wild National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention panel she participated in that was hijacked by far-left reporters Rachel Scott of ABC and Kadia Goba of Semafor sparring with former President Trump.
Faulkner didn’t mention them by name, but she didn’t have to in voicing her displeasure with how it went:
Well, she’s a right-winger — which Houck did not point out — so of course she would be displeased that it wasn’t her preferred Trump lovefest. He also failed to state exactly what Trump said about Harris’ racial identity, but complained anyway that it was called out:
After noting the evasiveness from Vice President Harris’s team and soundbites of both Harris and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denouncing Trump’s comments at the panel about Harris’s racial identity.
Moments after Faulkner uttered a “wow”, she brought in Trump 2024 campaign official Caroline Sunshine, who thanked her for “actually doing your job as a journalist rather than deciding to play commentator like the other woman on that stage, who should have honored her profession but instead took the opportunity to play commentator, which was a disservice to that audience.”
Sunshine went onto say Trump sparring with Scott “was a master class…in how you fight, fight, fight and tell the truth and yet another textbook case study in how the mainstream media’s liberal bias plays out.”
Jeffrey Lord grumbled in his Aug. 3 column that the Washington Post called “absurd” Trump’s claim that he “saved” historically black colleges and universities, citing an Associated Press article noting an increase in HBCU funding under Trump, adding “There it is: a fact in black and white. … He wasn’t alone in saving funding, but he did.” Actual education experts point out, however, that while HBCU funding did increase under Trump, he exaggerated his role.
When a reporter questioned Trump’s claim that he has done more for black people than Abraham Lincoln by referencing “President Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act,” Lord responded by bringing up Lyndon Johnson’s segregationist record before he became president — which nobody was referring to. He went on to insist that Trump “has never once expressed opposition to voting rights of black Americans” and “was honored for his support of civil rights by none other than the Rev. Jesse Jackson.”