OPINION:
Drudge Report blasted a headline, all in red caps, across its main, feature section Friday that went like this: “TRUMP CALLS FOR CHENEY’S EXECUTION.”
Except Trump didn’t.
He said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that Cheney would not be such a “war hawk” if she had guns “trained on her face.”
That’s tantamount to saying that Democrats wouldn’t be such open border advocates if they had to live in areas where illegals freely roamed and committed crimes. It’s tantamount to saying that Democrats never face the consequences of the policies they foist on the rest of Americans. It’s tantamount to saying that if Cheney had to pitch a tent on the battlefield and face an armed enemy herself, that she wouldn’t be so eager beaver to commit America’s military to overseas entanglements.
Trump’s exact words, as NBC wrote: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know — when the guns are trained on her face — you know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building.”
This is hardly a call for Cheney’s execution.
This is in fact a call for Democrats to stop being such hypocritical warmongers.
Cheney, on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris — along with her father, Dick Cheney, whom the Democrats used to accuse of warmongering, until they saw they could use him as a political tool to win elections and so dropped their hatred of him — responded to Trump’s remarks like this: Wahhh!
“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” she wrote on X. “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Bravo, Cheney.
Bravo, Drudge.
Gold stars for shameless theatrics.
Lie. Libel. Given the tightness of the presidential race and the timing of the headline, just days before Election Day, the fact Drudge Report would run such an irresponsible headline for millions and millions to read is certainly cause for a lawsuit.
Moreover, it wasn’t just that one headline. From that one sprang many.
“World In Shock,” another headline read.
“Ex-president increases violent threats against opponents,” another read.
“Trump Floats Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley,” another read.
“MSNBC: Dark warnings turn dire,” another read, to a link on Mediaite with this headline: “Joe Scarborough Demands Producers Keep Drudge Report’s Liz Cheney ‘Execution’ Take On Screen.”
Yes. Spread the lie as far and wide as possible before voters head to the polls. Make sure the defamation sticks. Make sure the media and pundits have plenty of fodder to discuss — by posting and reposting and sharing and resharing the same defamatory headline that can fuel more and more and ever more discussions about how dictatorial Trump is; how tyrannical he would be in the White House. Cue headline.
“Liz Cheney: This is how dictators destroy free nations,” another Drudge snippet read.
This is why Americans don’t trust the media.
This is why Trump calls out the media as fake news and enemy of the people.
And truly, this is how dictators actually destroy free nations — by taking over the media to further the propaganda.
Trump has just announced a lawsuit against CBS News for $10 billion for censoring the Harris interview to make it appear as if she weren’t so word-salad-brain-dead, but rather knowledgeable, about Middle Eastern affairs. CBS scoffed and said the suit was without merit.
“Former President Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false,” the outlet said in a statement. “The interview was not doctored.”
But in an earlier statement, CBS acknowledged the clip was edited to make her answer “more succinct.” That’s kind of like admitting it was “doctored” to take out the word salad — or, to put it more succinctly, to prop up Harris as the better candidate.
The Drudge Report did CBS one better.
The Drudge Report should be sued for libel.
Enough of the lying media. There are enough issues with candidates that can be debated and argued based on differing ideologies and goals — based on the merits — that don’t have to lead down paths of deception. Politics is dirty business; we all know that. But politics shouldn’t be dirtied by propaganda in the media. That truly is the mark of a despotic, communist nation.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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