AG Report 9.7.2023
Bump Saga Exposes Credibility Problem For Mainstream and Right-Leaning Media
This newsletter has spent significant time over the years demonstrating that Washington Post columnist Philip Bump is a bad journalist and dishonest pundit. That’s why it was no surprise when he embarrassed himself last week on a podcast by saying he has no interest in the allegations of possible corruption related to President Biden and his family.
In the interview, Bump claimed there is no evidence of such corruption. When the host disagreed and cited circumstantial evidence, Bump threw a tantrum and left the interview. The revealing part wasn’t that Bump ignored evidence; it’s that someone merely asking about it triggered him.
None of this is surprising given Bump’s history. A major problem with the mainstream press is it rewards journalists like Bump for sticking to the narrative regardless of the facts. Bump received very little criticism from other mainstream journalists for his embarrassing episode or complete lack of curiosity about possible corruption involving the President of the United States.
The incident also revealed a major problem with the right and why criticism of Bump gets easily discounted. Most major right-leaning outlets spent two days after that clip came out excoriating Bump for being a hack. And yet, just days later, the Republican front-runner posted two articles from Bump on social media targeting his Republican primary opponent.
In other words, Donald Trump is promoting the same guy that the entire right lampooned just days earlier because his hackery was aimed at Trump’s Republican opponent this time. That alone would emphasize a problem on the right, but it’s much worse due to the silence of the very same right-leaning journalists who criticized Bump. Those people are so unwilling to criticize Trump that they just accept him promoting dishonest attacks against other Republicans, even if it means undermining their credibility on other issues that benefit the party overall.
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