May 22, 2023

Why this is interesting and significant is that President Trump and others are trying to say that … this Steele dossier … has been discredited, which is not entirely true, and that … the Steele dossier and this whole investigation is based on nonsense.   —  Jake Tapper, CNN, Jan. 2018

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Actually, the Steele dossier has been discredited now, but that’s beside the point.The TV show Ancient Aliens has not been entirely discredited either, but that’s no reason to put it on the “news” day after day after day for years, is it?  And how could the Steele dossier have been either “discredited” or “credited” since no one had seen the actual evidence and subjected it to a fair bipartisan critical discussion. Little Johnny’s claim that he was taken on a UFO to the Hubble space telescope and back last night hasn’t been discredited yet either but that’s not an excuse to put it on the nightly news.  Of course, there had not even been enough time and effort eitherto credit or discredit the Steele dossier when the media bandied it about.  Duh!

The point is that Tapper, “the face of CNN’s absurd Russiagate coverage just as Rachel Maddow was for MSNBC, and much of what passes for our “news” media, never had any evidence whatsoever that the dossier was true, but that did not stop him from engaging in virtually non-stop coverage of it since it was leaked by the Hillary campaign before the 2016 election.  And in a very contentious campaign that possibility never occurred to him and his colleagues?   Really?

If I am wrong about this, CNN and Tapper can provide the video of the verified Russian prostitute that CNN featured in 2016 claiming that she treated Trump to a “golden shower” in a Moscow hotel room in 2013 (when, in fact, Trump apparently turned down a Russian offer of prostitutes to be sent to his hotel room).  Or Tapper can provide the documents that he displayed on CNN before or after the 2016 election that show that Trump was in contact with the KGB?  Or Tapper can provide the evidence that justified him in trusting Adam Schiff ‘s claims enough to have him on his show again and again over the years asserting that he had seen serious evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. 

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Somehow, I don’t remember seeing any Russian prostitutes, secret KGB documents showing Trump-Russia collusion or any evidence that we should trust the transparently hyper-partisan Adam Schiff presented for discussion on Tapper’s show at any time over the past 7 years.  If I missed all that please provide it now!

What actually happened is that some political partisans smeared Trump without evidence and Tapper and what passes for our “news” media just ran with it.  It’s called “confirmation bias” in psychology.  One tends to see what one wants to see or is predisposed to see.  What passes for our “news” media just wanted to believe it and so they believed it without evidence. 

CNN defends Tapper saying,

From the beginning of our Steele Dossier coverage, Jake openly expressed scepticism about the validity of its contents, which contributed to our decision to report only of its existence.  Jake made no mistake by interviewing lawmakers and Intel officials about the Steele dossier. That’s his job. That’s what journalists do.

Actually, that’s not what journalists do, and least not what the few remaining real ones do.  One is supposed to have some serious evidence before one goes public with something like this, not try to present it in real time in front of audiences while admitting one hasn’t verified it yet.

In fact, what Tapper, CNN and what passes for our “news” media did was employ a time-honored technique for smearing someone unjustifiably (without evidence).  One reports that someone has accused Jack of beating his wife but admits that one has not verified it yet.  One continues to report night after night after night that the accusation has been made but one has not yet verified it yet so that it becomes a familiar idea in everyone’s mind.