The public is exhausted after a decade of chronic untruth from the left-wing and its media.
The 2016 presidential campaign will be long remembered for the false allegation that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to warp the election.
Citing the bogus “Steele dossier,” loser Hillary Clinton and other Democrat grandees claimed that the victorious Trump was an “illegitimate” president.
Almost immediately, the left and media then pushed for the appointment of special prosecutor Robert Mueller. He assembled a “dream team” of partisan prosecutors to prove Trump-Russian collusion.
Some 22 months later, Mueller found no evidence that Trump improperly won the 2016 election with help from any colluding Russians.
More hysteria followed when Trump was impeached in December 2019.
The left claimed he had pressured the Ukrainian government to look into the family of Joe Biden (then a potential 2020 election opponent) for its corruption with Ukrainian oligarchs — as a condition for releasing military aid designated to Kyiv.
Yet Hunter Biden was paid nearly $1 million a year by a Ukrainian energy company to enlist his father, Vice President Joe Biden, for quid pro quo services.
In turn, Joe Biden himself later bragged he had pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor, Victor Shokin — who happened to be looking too closely into the various shady schemes of the Biden family.
The deceptions and lies continued.
On the eve of the first 2020 debate, Biden aide and now Secretary of State Antony Blinken helped to round up “51 former intelligence authorities” to claim falsely that Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop — full of incriminating evidence of felonious Biden family behavior — was fabricated by the Russians.
Yet the FBI already had the laptop and had authenticated it as genuine.
The FBI was also actively enlisting Silicon Valley social media companies to suppress accurate news accounts of the laptop’s embarrassing contents — ostensibly to aid the Biden campaign.
The signees of the false letter included former intelligence kingpins such as Leon Panetta, James Clapper, and John Brennan. None has ever apologized for deliberating lying to the country in a (successful) attempt to help alter an election.
During the summer of 2021, top military officials, at least publicly, parroted the Biden administration’s lie that it was safe to abruptly withdraw all troops from Afghanistan.
The Biden plan was to take political credit for ending the two-decade-long war on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the American invasion of Afghanistan.
Yet many intelligence officials in and outside the Pentagon had warned both Biden and the Pentagon top brass that any such reckless and total withdrawal would collapse Afghanistan.
They rightly also advised that sudden flight would give terrorists a windfall of equipment and infrastructure.
But they were ignored and during the subsequent Biden misadventure, 13 American Marines were needlessly killed.
After the greatest military humiliation in a half-century, Biden and many in the media lied that the mission was nevertheless a successful withdrawal.
But that was not all. For the first time in history, a presidential candidate, Donald Trump, was subjected to numerous criminal and civil suits in an election year.
Yet an aide of the federal prosecutor, Jack Smith, met with Biden officials. A high-ranking Biden Justice federal attorney joined the New York municipal prosecution. The Georgia prosecutor met stealthily with Biden’s legal counsel. And a major Biden donor funded the civil suit.
The once collusion-hungry media ignored all such lawfare and rank collusion.
During the 2020 Democratic primaries, the general election, and throughout the first three years of the Biden administration, it was evident that Joe Biden was physically and mentally incapable of serving as president.
Yet his aides and the media all misled the American people. They insisted that Biden was vigorous and sharp.
Then suddenly in June 2024, within a 24-hour period, Biden was declared by these same insiders as unfit to continue as the Democratic nominee.
Their new problem with Biden was not just his long-standing embarrassing dementia. Rather bad polls increasingly warned that voters no longer believed their lies and thus would likely not reelect Biden but would instead punish most Democrats in the upcoming 2024 election.
So, a new media narrative arose: the once-hale Biden was forced to resign as the Democratic nominee. His once widely caricatured vice president, Kamala Harris, just as abruptly was coronated as his replacement candidate by an equally suddenly gushing and colluding media.
In sum, for some nine years, the media and the left have successfully fed the country a succession of rank deceptions and conspiracies.
They did so because they proclaimed Trump too dangerous to be president and therefore any means they employed to stop him were to be justified. And they are doing so yet a third time in 2024.
As they continue, they have all but destroyed democracy, ruined the reputation of the media, alienated the public — and embarrassed their country before the world.
Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness. He is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” from Basic Books.
Reprinted with Permission from The Daily Caller – By Victor Davis Hanson
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
What you wrote Victor is important and appreciated as this news media wrongdoing , this stuff can get a bit complicated at times .So having clear, intelligent explanations of all of the news aberrations helps to get a grip on the situation. Straight talk is a reflection of straight thinking – that is what news reporting should be all about, it should not be convoluted, it should not be twisted as a corkscrew. I reckon that I have plenty of company if I admit that it takes much time to decipher ,to figure out what exactly some of these journalists are talking about at times . At 74, I remember when news reporting was far more honest, far easier to understand, and that was far better for the Country . So, not being a complainer , but rather a believer in fixing what needs to be fixed — I do believe that new standards are needed pertaining to journalism American citizens who have a sense of responsibility and respect for truth need to express their concern about the ethical standards for news media practices.
Public trust is the bedrock of this country. The democrat party has incinerated the trust of its most devoted members. I left, joined MAGA. The US is a beacon of equality and fairness in the world. The Democrat party has become a tin pot dictator, well aware yet unashamed of the direction they have taken a great country. TRUMP has been dragged, beaten, an assassins victim, yet he is still standing. Like old glory, he is still standing. I’m standing with him.
As long as there’s no consequences, it’s just going to continue to get worse.
I love this article by David Victor Hanson. I read his articles in the Epoch Times all the time. Everything he has said is sadly true. It’s so hard to know how to get the American people to wake up and see what’s going on. They have crucified Trump in the “so-called” courts. He’s a regular guy, albeit with a big mouth, who scares the left tremendously for his honesty. The corruption within the Democratic party is monumental and we all know it. They just want to keep power at our expense by any means available even if it means lying and cheating. Those of us who love this country need to be ever vigilant and unwavering in our fight to save our way of life. We need to teach our young people the true American history and the fundamentals of our Constitution and government as the founding fathers made it. God help us.
I’m tired of hearing, “The American people are not dumb ” just look at all the, American people at Harris ralleys,Trump could lose the election. Half of the people are dumb!!!
I wonder if mainstream media can really ever get a majority of the population to tune in. I’m nearly 70 years old and the comparison of news coverage in 60’s and 70’s to this state run media is ridiculous and laughable, but how many uninformed and imbecilic citizens do we have that buy into it? I guess they are hoping enough.
I agree with the content and messaging of this article, which tell us that habitual dishonesty on the part of our national leadership will have horrific consequences for all of us, if we do not make sweeping changes now.
Two impulsive liars at the helm cannot be trusted by our citizens, our allies, or our trade partners… so we’d better work on cleaning out our Capital Building, and also on military reinforcements to survive the conflicts that appear to be brewing across the globe. We are now in a dangerous time internationally, and we desperately need to make serious leadership choices.
Hahahha……and now “little” Merrick Garland is trying to insist that the worlds oldest skateboarder, Tim Pool is just another “Putin Puppet”. When will this little creep leave our lives?
Fake stories of Trump-Russian collusion, fake “intelligence” reports promoted by Hillary Clinton, a corrupt and weaponized Justice Department and FBI to bring fake charges against Trump while colluding also with social media and the press to discredit legitimate “real” reports of Biden family corruption. This is the production of the Democratic Party that then tells us it is important to vote for a woman of minimal management skills or intellectual capacity in order to “save democracy.” If Americans buy this, we will quickly join the pantheon of failed nations.
Everyone of the corrupt, lying bureaucrats and politicians Hanson mentions and probably 3 or 4 thousand other government corrupt supporters need to lose all their federal (taxpayer) income and spend many years in jail for what they have tried to do to America. ACCOUNTABILITY IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST IF OUR COUNTRY IS TO SURVIVE. IT MAY TAKE A FEW YEARS TO LOCK THEM ALL UP BUT IT WILL KEEP LOTS OF LAWYERS BUSY.
I am 89 and a Vietnam combat vet. I can remember honest news reporting after WW II, but that all changed during the Vietnamese conflict (war),
Mr. Hanson’s summation of the MSM is spot on. But they do not care! They march to the same drum as establishment Democrats.
Thank you Victor Davis Hanson for your rational based commentaries based on what the current media elites will not allow us to know. Hiding the truth rarely makes it go away.
Always love your commentaries Mr. Hanson, wish you would have run for president!
Pretty excellent account of the last decade. The ONLY GOOD thing in that whole time was the four astounding years of Trump’s astute Admin. (complete with Dem hysteria, Dem chaos, Dem stone-walling, 2 Dem fake and failed impeachments over NOTHING! and the Dem collusion with China to CREATE an ‘epidemic’ to thwart Trump’s re-election that turned into an unplanned worldwide ‘pandemic’ that SHUT DOWN the whole world’s economy for at least a year! Good going, Dems! You WIN the U.S. History Booby Prize!
Mr. Hanson is a wealth of sanity in a less than sane world.
I would go even further and say they have lied since the 2008 election of O what they wanted to make of America. The neighborhood organizing plan was a grassroots effort to make everyone obey the dems and especially president O. H was supposed to continue this power grab in 2016 and dang the people had other ideas and voted in Donald Trump. The best president of the 21st century so far. Only the dems couldn’t tolerate that and started on a path of destruction of millions of people. Russian collusion in 2016-2020. Anew Russian collusion in 2020 and dang it is Baaaack in 2024. You know ole Joe and Kameltoe were so perfect at destroying America and Trump and his supporters are still standing spoiling their plan to keep the power. They still haven’t been able to eliminate Trump. They worked so hard at it. They have no problem to keep at it to eliminate Trump. They’ve tried everything and like a bad toothache he survives. Which shows who has Devine intervention on his side. The devil is losing every day a little bit more. Their lies are proven every day that they are lies. The truth always prevails. Telling lies over and over again have a way of turning into truth. Telling the same story the same way over time has a way of taking on a new meaning. One word changes today the next day it is two words. And all of a sudden you have the truths. Especially if it starts to affect someone close to the lie. Satan can’t protect them as well as the Angel of truth. To save America as the America of Kennedy or Reagan 2 of the most honest and caring presidents of the 20th century. When we didn’t turn in our neighbors or friends or family for a different opinion. We got along, we talked, we listened and we stayed friends and family. Victor is right the lies are piling up and Harris/Walz are not done yet with their fairy tales of lies, manipulation, gaslighting and brainwashing. For the real truth and to keep our America VOTE TRUMP/VANCE. To unite the people of America to live in peace and prosperity.
How about revocation of FCC licenses of Corporate Media when caught spreading political lies, at bear minimum reestablish truth standards.
Call me old…this media lies and deception has been ongoing for all my life..Korean war, JFK, Vietnam Nixon Gerald Ford,the Hostages in Iran, need I continue
Donald Trump is a threat, an existential threat, but not to our Republic. He is a threat to the deep state uniparty. They’re scared to death off him so they’re throwing everything they can at him, both legal, and (mostly) illegal.
The Democrats’ most recent drumbeat is that Trump will “destroy our democracy.” I saw a recent commentary which was enlightening. Apparently, a “democracy “ is a system in which citizens elect representatives, who then create laws which will suit themselves (i.e. will be profitable to their own pocketbooks and/or careers). Our form of government is actually a “constitutional republic “, in which citizens elect representatives who are committed to creating laws which will benefit their constituents. Sadly, way too many of our elected officials have grown accustomed to the perks and the power of their office, while abdicating their responsibilities to the people they actually represent. Not only that, but much of the responsibility for framing good, effective legislation has been abdicated, in recent years, to UNelected bureaucrats and their agencies- most of whom are focused on fulfilling the agenda of the leftists in Congress.
We have a MESS. The only candidate who can right/reverse our ship of state is Donald Trump. PLEASE be sure you are registered to vote and vote early for him.
“It’s good to be a Democrat!” Only a Democrat could debate the “definition of IS”, claim felatio isn’t sex, and giving a million a year to a crachead isn’t bribery! And isn’t funny how there’s financial evidence to convict Hunter on that computer dubbed “disinformation” but nothing about the Big Guys?
I’ve been saying for decades that the most dangerous threat to our freedoms is the MSM or legacy media, Lamestream media regime media, and my favorite the ministry of propaganda for the DNC. The constant lying and biases leading to anything but reportage is despicable. These people are unconscionable, the outright lies and insane innuendos are non-stop and fooling a good portion of the public. Thankfully some people are FINALLY getting wise to vermin of the media, I just pray that it is soon enough to stop them from aiding and abetting Kommie Kameleon into the WH.
The Democrats are the swamp at the end of the river Styx.
I am glad that AMAC has put out a detailed summary of the attempted and on-going Coup of president Trump. I am also sad that our most well known media companies have not only failed to do the same but instead have lied and colluded to bring down our Republic. This will not be forgiven.
in the fifties the newspaper editors basically admitted if they told the truth and their opinions they would be fired this isnot something new and dont forget stalin said give me three generations educated by us the ussr you will sell us the rope we will use to hang you
Oh Mr. Hanson…. You are correct again. The only problem is why are these people so stupid as to go along with this corrupt behavior? I can not believe half the country is stupid enough to believe all this. The lies and the Great exit from Afghanistan! The left wing media is killing this country. When will the people wise up? We need lots of prayer and people to wise up.
Joe Biden and his chosen administration has sold this country out. What disrespect to every American living in this country. Criminal gangs are now taking over towns in this country. Joe Biden is compromised he has no credibility. We now have wars in this world that could have been avoided if the American citizens were given truthful news instead of propaganda. It’s horrible how the leftist news stations caused so much confusion in this country by hiding the truth of the actual events that occur on a daily basis. This country is collapsing due to this Biden administration. He has been the worse president for this country I’ve encountered taking that position from Jimmy Carter by a threshold. This country needs a president like Donald Trump who believes in this country and its citizens. All the news media propaganda bashing Donald Trump and having Americans believing those lies to their own detriment and including the ones that know better. My main concern right now besides having the southern border closed is to find a peaceful resolve to the wars that are occurring before Armageddon is introduced to the world. I’m hoping the deep state doesn’t allow this next election to be overrun by fraud which has so far caused the present chaos this country and world is facing now.
Right on the money VDH. When i was growing up i remember seeing that Pravda was the press in Russia and being thankful that our free press was not controlled by the government like Pravda. How things have changed.
We see it and hear the truth here on AMAC. The general public still believes Trump is a rapist and felon. The mainstream media will never admit or allow this information to get out so Harris will probably win. Or, they’ll simply cheat, again.
The Big Three, AP, and major cable news have long been called the MSM (Main Stream Media). Rush Limbaugh famously nicknamed them the Drive-by Media and it stuck for awhile. Now, they need a new moniker: I submit the LLM (Lying Leftist Media).
Excellent article that should be read by many!
It’s really not complicated if you listen to what they say and then watch what they actually do, and I am 90 years old, so yes I remember when news reporters like Walter Cronkite reported the news, not opinionated lies! America had 4 years of seeing how much good, a patriotic businessman accomplished for all Americans of every color! Then we’ve had almost 4 years of the most crooked and worst liar politicians ever in office, with a lazy, do nothing, crooked VP who can only speak “word salad”! Unfortunately Democraps can only remember the last 5 minutes! Can you imagine Kakala negotiating with China’s President XI or Russia’s Putin when America has never been this close to WWIII? What a scary thought!
Yet, tens of millions still listen to or read the MSM. Are they all deluded? Or, are they too lazy or stupid to seek out more reliable news sources? Or, do we really have that many communists in our midst?
The Democrats goal is to retain power at any cost. The lies are all part of their strategy. You say, “But eventually all their lies will be found out!” That’s when they employ the next part of the strategy: Denial. Ultimately when the country has turned into a smoking ruin, they go to the last part of their strategy: Rewriting history to cast the blame on everybody else.
Is there any way that the soros,obama,biden herd can be stopped.Only one way,be just as mean,vile and ruthless as they are.Their plan to take over AMERICA has no boundaries and neither do we.Fight and vote and watch for the cheaters.
A very good replacement for AARP!
I hope Mr. Trump does all he can to bankrupt the 51. They deserve it and more.
THAE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS NOT OUR FRIEND,THEY CATER TO THE LEFT.
The lying Media are nothing more than propagandist. US Media is cringe worthy. If you don’t watch FOX or listen to certain radio, you will never hear the truth. Too sad!
Exactly on point, as usual! One would expect even the dullest voter would begin to wonder, unless 2+2 eludes them.
Freedom of speech,Freedom of the press, free to lie.
All of this so true and so sad for our country. Sick and tired of being sick and tired.Its as if half our country wants communist Marxist socialism. I hope they know what they are asking for. Once we go there there is no going back.This whole country needs GOD back. One nation under GOD!!! GOVT is not our creator !!I hope 40% of our nation realizes that before it’s too late.
It’s going to take 25-30 years of GOD fearing well intentioned AMERICANS. To straighten the destruction out that has been brought on our nation for the last 60 years. They just doubled and tripled down from 2019 on and showed everyone exactly what they have done and will do to get what they want [total tyrannical govt].
I totally agree! It’s quite scary that the ignorant people in our country would even think of voting for Harris! I have liberal friends who always believe the lies that the media tells us! I can’t even stomach watching the news and all their lies!
As usual, clear, concise and, most importantly, honest assessment. Thank you.
I love VDH, but he is delusional if he actually believes this started in 2016. This has been going on my whole life, obviously more openly now. But they coronated Osiinky long before the election. They covered up all his admins crimes and illegal activities. They continue to do so. They covered up for the demoncrats during Ronald Reagan’s tenure as well. They absolutely got Bill clinton elected and covered for him as well. Sure they reported on the Lewinski stuff, but it was “only sex” and a private matter. Ken Starr became the problem. At least he had actual crimes to investigate unlike the turd, Mueller and his henchmen.
No, this has been going on for over a century now. It started with the slimeball Wilson in the 19 teens.
But Democrats don’t care as long as they win elections…
Great article a fantastic account of all the media bias However it’s like preaching to the choir
There so many millions of ignorant people that don’t see through all the deceit and lies they’ve been fed over the last ten plus years
How do you reach them ?
VDH is a true shot caller for the truth. This man knows his facts. When President Trump wins the election, VDH should be in his cabinet. No other person knows more about what is right and wrong with our country and how it can be fixed.
Wake up to the lies America. How mwny years can they continue?? We are the butt of all the jokes in russia, china, iran, and south korea. After the greatest military humiliation in a half-century, Biden and many in the media lied that the mission was nevertheless a successful withdrawal. But that was not all. For the first time in history, a presidential candidate, Donald Trump, was subjected to numerous criminal and civil suits in an election year. We HAVE to drain the swamp. With the obamas, clintons, bidens, pelosis, schiffs, and kackels in the sewer water from it.
VDH for president!