RUTHFULLY YOURS

Is there anything more disgusting than a reporter so full of himself he decides to try to outshine the subject of the report and make himself the news?

Welcome to Chris Wallace’s world. The Fox News newsman got a prized interview with President Trump to be aired Sunday and used it as an occasion to argue with his subject, playing junior fact-checker instead of grand old interviewer, all in the name of cheap shilling for Joe Biden:

Here’s the biased USAToday report with a little editorial comment there in the loaded word ‘inaccurate’:

WASHINGTON – Fox News host Chris Wallace fact-checked President Donald Trump’s inaccurate claim during an interview that former Vice President Joe Biden is in favor of defunding the police, leading to a testy reaction.

In a clip released between the “FOX News Sunday” anchor and Trump – the entire interview will air Sunday – the president blamed  “stupidly run” Democratic local governments for the increase in violence in some cities and implied the increase was the fault of the defund the police movement. 

Just one problem. Trump was right. And Wallace was wrong:

Biden indeed has called for defunding the police. Taking money out of a police budget and placing it into the coffers of social workers or diversity officers or sensitivity trainers, or anything other than police … is defunding the police.

That’s what Biden wants now that America is in a crime wave, coming from bail reform, sentencing reform, agenda-minded Soros-funded DAs who won’t prosecute quality of life crimes, and the release of thugs from the can on the logic that they might catch COVID. In an atmosphere where shopkeepers and factory owners must now watch their establishments burn and homeowners must buy guns to defend themselves as blue city officials order police to stand down, and murders are now hitting record highs each weekend, Biden is calling for less money for the police, same as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other crazed radical leftists.

Wallace, though, wasn’t interested in fact or nuance, in drawing the president out as to what he meant – this is increasingly a problem as we saw the other day – he just wanted to be the new Candy Crowley, fact-checking a Republican, with fact-free, vehemence-filled arguments in a bid to seize the narrative by making himself the news. That’s campaigning, not doing the news.

And Wallace just doesn’t get it.

And the public is fed up:

> @FoxNewsSunday is the terrible and very condescending. He ruins my Sundays if I ever watch him. He needs to move on, get him off @FoxNews. He is just a smiling assassin. https://t.co/0z7BmEWjUe

— Crystal20112008 (@crystal20112008) July 18, 2020

Once upon a time, reporters tried to enlighten the public by exposing perspectives, drawing interview subjects out, asking questions, following up with more questions, and shedding light on what a public figure thinks, or what drives a policy decision under an administration. Now they argue with Republicans, in a raw bid to get Democrats elected.

We saw it happen with Candy Crowley, who, as presidential debate moderator in 2012, decided to take her privileged position to argue with then-GOP candidate Mitt Romney, who lacked the gumption to fight back. She took flak for that in some circles, not all Republican, some just professional ones, and instead of keeping her in mind as an example of what not to do, Wallace decided to try to interview her. Who says it’s not over until the fat lady sings? Wallace decided to extend the disaster of professionalism for years to come with this new low in journalistic standards.

Image credit: Fox News shareable YouTube screen shot, pixelated with Foto Sketcher