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Why Trump, battling media hostility, is declaring war on fact-checkers

Why Trump, battling media hostility, is declaring war on fact-checkers

As the negative media onslaught against Donald Trump grows louder, he is taking on the fact-checkers. What’s fascinating in the coverage is that the journalists and organizations that do this are treated like prophets handing down the tablets from Mount Olympus. There is no hint, not a whiff, that they might sometimes be wrong or engaging in overkill. AS A CAUTIOUS KAMALA LOSES MOMENTUM, DEMOCRATS ARE PANICKING OVER A TRUMP WIN In a new Gallup poll, 36 percent said they had “no trust at all” in the media, while just 31 percent said they found the media to be fair and accurate a “great deal” or “fair amount.” The distrust was far higher among Republicans than Democrats. Now skeptics will say that Trump tells a lot of falsehoods, some decisions are clear-cut, and it’s worth trying to hold him accountable. I know these folks work hard, having done a lot of it myself, but sometimes the fact checks are contentious in gray areas, or even over something Trump said jokingly at a rally. I don’t even have to make the argument that Kamala Harris draws overwhelmingly favorable coverage. Now that she’s come out of her cocoon in the light of slipping polls, sitting down today with Fox’s Bret Baier, she has a short period of time to break through after walling herself off. With Democrats in panic mode, she is also ramping up her rhetoric against the former president. And we’re seeing an explosion of columns and segments on what Harris needs to do to turn her campaign around – free advice from the media. OBAMA ACCUSES BLACK MEN OF SEXISM AMID RELUCTANCE TO SUPPORT KAMALA HARRIS As the Washington Post notes, Trump complained about fact-checking by ABC in his debate with Harris (when it did seem like 3 against 1). And in turning down “60 Minutes,” he cited the program’s tradition of fact checking. (He also drew flak from CNBC yesterday after backing out of an interview.) If there’s one moment that crystallizes the media opposition to Trump, it’s his appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists. The opening question was a diatribe about how he was a horrible racist, building up to why any Black voters should support him. The Harris appearance, by contrast, was practically a lovefest. Behind the scenes, there was a tense, hour-long impasse in which Trump was refusing to take the stage if there would be fact-checking. When he finally took the stage, the group lied and blamed the entire delay on audio problems. TRUMP COUNTERS HARRIS MEDIA BLITZ BY RIPPING BOB WOODWARD, HOWARD STERN AND HER HURRICANE BRIEFING How is it that Trump says things that trigger journalistic outrage, sometimes with incendiary language, but raise no doubts among many Republicans? The New York Times offers this explanation:  “One of the more peculiar aspects of Donald J. Trump’s political appeal is this: A lot of people are happy to vote for him because they simply do not believe he will do many of the things he says he will… “It’s how they rationalize his rhetoric, by affording him a reverse benefit of the doubt.”  A 40-year-old Detroit publisher was quoted as saying he didn’t believe Trump would purge the federal government and hire only election deniers: “It could just be for publicity, just riling up the news.” Whether Trump wins or loses, he will have the support of roughly half the country. In 2020, that amounted to 73 million voters. And yet most of the mainstream media, with some exceptions, have never really understood the unshakable bond between Trump and his supporters. Most tend to travel in circles where allowing him to be a “danger to democracy” is unthinkable. He has made inroads among Black voters, especially Black men, some of whom say the Democrats make promises at election time and then forget about their community. In fact, some pundits have unloaded on Trump supporters as being dummies or racist yahoos. That “basket of deplorables” approach means they are failing to grasp how much of the country feels and what their legitimate grievances might be.  That would seem to call for a sweeping reassessment of their views about America if Trump wins a second term, except the media aren’t big on self-reflection.

EAM Jaishankar and Pakistan PM Sharif shake hands at SCO reception

EAM Jaishankar and Pakistan PM Sharif shake hands at SCO reception

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday exchanged pleasantries with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, hours after landing in the Pakistani capital in the first such visit from India in nearly a decade that came amid frosty ties between the two neighbours.

More than 230 doctors and health care professionals call on Trump to release medical records

More than 230 doctors and health care professionals call on Trump to release medical records

More than 230 doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are calling on former President Trump to release his medical records after Vice President Kamala Harris did so. In an open letter dated Oct. 13, first reported by CBS News, the health care providers raise concerns about Trump’s advanced age and argue that the 78-year-old Republican nominee should be transparent about his health and medical history.  “On August 20, Donald Trump said he would ‘very gladly’ release his medical records. In the 55 days since, he has yet to do so,” the letter states. “With no recent disclosure of health information from Donald Trump, we are left to extrapolate from public appearances. And on that front, Trump is falling concerningly short of any standard of fitness for office and displaying alarming characteristics of declining acuity.”  Most of the signatories support Harris for president. The letter asserts that Trump appears to “ramble, meander, and crudely lash out at his many perceived grievances” during his campaign events and questions whether this behavior is the result of cognitive changes associated with old age.  HARRIS GOADS TRUMP TO RELEASE MEDICAL RECORDS AFTER SHE GETS CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH FROM PERSONAL PHYSICIAN “The American people deserve to have confidence in their elected officials’ mental and physical capacity to do the jobs that they’ve elected them to do. Trump ought to be going above and beyond to provide transparency on his physical health and mental acuity, given his advancing age.”  The letter comes while Harris is goading Trump into releasing his health information after the White House put out a “Healthcare Statement” on Saturday that declared her to be in “excellent health.” WHITE HOUSE CORRECTS RECORD ON BIDEN’S PHYSICIAN, PARKINSON’S EXPERT MEETING, SAYS IT WAS FOR PRESIDENT’S CARE The statement from Harris’ doctor also indicated she had her most recent annual physical exam in April of this year. Trump released his own health records while campaigning in 2016, and once he took over the White House he continued the trend. In August, with the 2024 election quickly approaching, Trump told CBS News that he would release updated medical records to the public. However, he has yet to do so, with roughly three weeks until Election Day. “He won’t put out his medical records,” Harris said Monday morning during an interview with podcast host Roland Martin. She also slammed Trump for refusing to debate a second time and questioned why Trump’s “staff” would not allow him to do an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” particularly when it is tradition for both presidential candidates to do a sit down with the show. WHITE HOUSE RELEASES MEDICAL REPORT ON VP KAMALA HARRIS “It may be because they think he’s just not ready and unfit and unstable and should not have that level of transparency for the American people,” Harris suggested. The Trump campaign responded by pointing out several times the former president has voluntarily released updates about his health. They also noted that he shared records from a July screening conducted by Dr. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician turned GOP congressman, following the second assassination attempt on his life.  “All have concluded [Trump] is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung. “He has maintained an extremely busy and active campaign schedule unlike any other in political history.” Meanwhile, Cheung slammed Harris as being “unable to keep up with demands of campaigning,” arguing that compared to Trump her schedule “is much lighter because, it is said, she does not have the stamina of President Trump.” Trump himself reacted to Harris’ medical statement on social media, calling it “really bad.”  “With all of the problems that she has, there is a real question as to whether or not she should be running for President!” he wrote. “MY REPORT IS PERFECT – NO PROBLEMS!!!” Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.