The Aug. 5 WorldNetDaily column by John A. Wemhoff — who describes himself as “a former international banker” who “closely follows current events” — is an open letter to the New York Times in response to its meeting with President Trump. What follows is the usual right-wing anti-media claptrap.
One bit of claptrap he repeats is that “The Media Research Center found media coverage during the first 18 months of the Trump presidency was 92 percent negative” — an utterly fraudulent claim. The claptrap continues:
When President Trump decries “Fake News” and calls the mainstream media “the enemy of the people,” he is stating the truth. The media’s disingenuous umbrage is reminiscent of those who called President Harry Truman “Give-’em-Hell Harry” for his plain-spokenness. Truman famously replied, “I don’t give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they say it’s Hell.”
President Trump is not being “divisive” in his comments. It is you, Mr. Sulzberger, and your fellow travelers in the mainstream media, who – to apply your own words – are “undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and … eroding … our country’s … free speech and a free press.” Trump is just calling you out.
You speculate that President Trump’s comments are “contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.” Where is your outrage, Mr. Sulzberger, about the blood spilled in the 538 actual attacks on Trump supporters (including the near-fatal shooting of a U.S. congressmen) since the election?
Ironically, Wemhoff’s column appeared the day before a caller to C-SPAN threatened to shoot CNN hosts Brian Stelter and Don Lemon.
Also ironically, Wemhoff failed to notice that his column is published at WND, which is notorious for publishing fake news. We suspect he will not bring that particular subject up in a future column.