By now virtually everyone in the United States and the world at large knows that the establishment media is far-left and heavily biased toward candidates who reflect its preferences. What happened recently when Kamala Harris stole a Donald Trump policy proposal, however, revealed that the problem with our self-appointed media gatekeepers of truth goes far deeper than mere bias.
CBS News, ever mindful of its serious responsibility to deliver the straight facts to the American people, made the announcement in a post on X Monday: “Vice President Kamala Harris is rolling out a new policy position, saying she'll fight to end taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.” It was a refreshing and unexpected departure from the Democrats’ tendency to demand ever more of working Americans’ income, and CBS’ story attempted to portray Harris as actually concerned about ordinary Americans, quoting her as saying: “We will continue our fight for working families of America."
Considering that the Biden-Harris regime has unleashed galloping inflation and filled the country with millions of illegal migrants, thus increasing unemployment for actual Americans, the idea that it has ever been fighting for rather than against working families in America was laughable enough. CBS is, of course, mum about how the regime’s policies have devastated the working families of America, and that is not even close to being the worst part of the story.
As the media so often describes them as doing, Republicans were ready to pounce on Harris’ new idea, noting that she had purloined it from none other than Donald J. Trump. Even worse, CBS was singing a different tune when it reported on Trump’s version back on June 17. Instead of the straight statement of the policy, the alleged news organization had provided when reporting on Harris’ proposal, its headline on Trump’s virtually identical idea contained a warning: “Former President Donald Trump's vow to stop taxing tips would cost the federal government up to $250 billion over 10 years, according to a nonpartisan watchdog group.”
Even in its story admitting that this Harris proposal came from Trump, CBS claimed — without evidence — that Harris’ ending taxes on tips would cost less than Trump’s ending of taxes on tips: “The Center for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Harris' proposal to exempt tip income from federal income taxes and raise the minimum wage would increase deficits by $100 billion to $200 billion over the next decade. The Trump proposal to nix federal taxes on tips could cost up to $250 billion, the CRFB said previously.” CBS doesn’t consider the possibility that cutting taxes could actually increase revenue by encouraging productivity because to admit that, the proponents of statism and authoritarianism would have to cease to exist.
MSNBC was even worse. As recently as Aug. 2, it was warning: “‘It’s just a scam’: The real truth about Trump's no tax on tips or social security pledge.” But on Sunday, we got this: “Harris says she supports eliminating federal taxes on tips.” The word “scam” doesn’t appear anywhere in the article.
Many people noted CBS’ bias in slamming the proposal when Trump made it but reporting it straight when Harris made it, but what is going on here is not just bias. It also reveals the establishment media’s complete lack of principle. It isn’t just that they love Harris and hate Trump because they are leftists and so is she, and her proposals coincide with their socialist vision for the country. No, Harris could don a MAGA hat tomorrow and start talking about building the wall and encouraging American industry, and the media would be thrilled.
The implications are clear. For the establishment media, this isn’t about principles, although they certainly are socialist internationalists, just like Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. For the media, it’s all about power. Harris is an establishment insider who will continue the symbiotic relationship between the executive branch and the media — remember Clinton wonk George Stephanopoulos moving to ABC without skipping a beat, Biden regime circle-back girl Jen Psaki going to MSNBC, and so many others.
Trump, by contrast, is an outsider with an adversarial relationship with the media establishment. He will, therefore, never do, even if tomorrow he starts talking about universal amnesty for all the migrants the Biden regime has brought into the country and how racist it would be to build a wall.
What we’re seeing from the establishment media is pure tribalism. “Journalists” love Harris because she is one of their tribe; Bad Orange Man, on the other hand, is the tribe’s totemic object of hate. The worst part of all this is that the American people aren’t part of the leftist elitists’ tribe, either. We just have to foot the bill.
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