As anyone knows, I am, to say the least, no fan of Donald Trump\’s.
But I know a hit job when I see one. And the Washington Post published a hit job on Trump that I feel compelled to call it out on.
Here is the description, in Philip Rucker and Robert Costa\’s article, for the Washington Post, of Univision anchor Jorge Ramos\’s confrontation with Donald Trump at an Iowa press conference earlier this week:
Trump booted the nation’s top Latino newsman out of his press conference, but moments later he let Univision’s Jorge Ramos reclaim his seat in the front row and the two men sparred passionately about illegal immigration.
To read this, you would swear that Trump noticed a Latino newsperson in the room and had him tossed out.
But what actually happened was that Ramos was welcome in the room until, clearly intending to force a confrontation, he stood up and started asking questions after Trump had called on a different newsperson. And he continued talking over the person who was called on until he was removed. In other words, the incident was 100% created by Ramos, not Trump.
Somehow Rucker and Costa forgot to mention this….
…folks, literally as I was typing this, the story was updated. Here is what it says now:
Two minutes into Donald Trump\’s news conference here Tuesday night came the question he tried to silence.
“Mr. Trump, I have a question,” said Jorge Ramos, the top news anchor at Univision and one of the country\’s most recognizable Mexican-Americans, as he stood up in the front row of journalists.
“Excuse me,” the Republican presidential front-runner told Ramos. “Sit down. You weren\’t called. Sit down.”
Ramos, holding a piece of paper, calmly tried to ask Trump about his plan to combat illegal immigration. “I\’m a reporter, an immigrant, a senior citizen,” he said. “I have the right to ask a question.”
Trump interrupted him. “Go back to Univision,” he said. Then the billionaire businessman motioned to one of his bodyguards, who walked across the room and physically removed Ramos from the room.
Got it? Trump tried to “silence” a question – the implication being that he was fearful of answering it – from a top Mexican-American news anchor who was calmly asking it – the implication being that this was an uncalled for action against a reporter simply attempting to get an answer to a question.
That is an even bigger fraud, even more of a journalistic disgrace, than the first version of the story.
Here\’s the news: Jorge Ramos may wow \’em at Univision, but he is about as much of a “newsman” as al sharpton is.
Ramos is a hardline advocate for unlimited access to the USA by Mexican nationals, who doesn\’t even try to hide his bias.
Maybe that works on Univision, but some of us are still under the impression that journalism is when you comport yourself in something remotely approaching a neutral manner.
Shame on Rucker and Costa for so completely misrepresenting what happened at that press conference. And shame on the Washington Post for publishing it.
