This is the state of media in today’s world.

The Washington Post, in a news story, openly whinges that Donald Trump will be able to make his case that the 2020 election was rigged because Fox News will be airing a live town hall and hence not have his words “fact-checked” or censored before they get out into the public.

It is a bizarre complaint. But entirely on-brand for a regime media that is convinced that controlling the narrative is the most important task of the MSM.

For the first time since 2020, Fox News will hold a town hall with Donald Trump that is aired live rather than taped — a dynamic that has critics raising alarms about his potential to spread falsehoods unchecked. https://t.co/e04hZY4pjT

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 10, 2024

The Washington Post famously did a real-time and often dishonest accounting of Trump’s “lies” during his presidency, some of which were genuine whoppers and many of which were anodyne disputable claims. The point of all this was to create a sense that Trump was unique in being a politician who made exaggerated or false claims–an assertion that is rich from a newspaper that spent years pushing a false narrative that Russia either “hacked” the election or conspired with Trump to steal it.

Claims that were disproven by multiple investigations. The Post published countless false claims from politicians without any remorse, and even shared a Pulitzer Prize for printing blatant lies as truth.

For the first time since 2020, Fox News will hold a town hall with Donald Trump that is aired live rather than taped — a dynamic that has critics raising alarms about his potential to spread falsehoods unchecked.

The challenge during Wednesday night’s broadcast from Iowa will be particularly acute for Fox, which recently spent $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit prompted by false claims of 2020 election fraud that Trump allies pushed on the network and still faces several other lawsuits stemming from its election coverage.

Based on his recent appearances — including an infamous live town hall on CNN in May, during which he said that the 2020 election was “rigged” and other falsehoods, to the raucous cheers of a heavily partisan audience — Trump will probably attempt to re-litigate the last election during the event, which will be held ahead of the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.

Trump’s claims may not rise to the level of proven, but they are not absurd. After all, it is indisputable that there was a systematic effort to “debunk” true claims such as the veracity of the Hunter Biden laptop, clearly with the intent of rigging the election. The Washington Post itself participated in the conspiracy to “debunk” a true story, so rigging the election is, at least, in the eye of the beholder.

Then there is the Molly Ball Time story in which the participants essentially bragged about rigging the election.

There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs. Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans. The pact was formalized in a terse, little-noticed joint statement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO published on Election Day. Both sides would come to see it as a sort of implicit bargain–inspired by the summer’s massive, sometimes destructive racial-justice protests–in which the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.

Sounds like rigging to me. At least plausibly so. Ball even called it a “conspiracy.”

Still, for the Post, the problem is that Trump will be able to speak without being muzzled and edited, and we all know that muzzling and editing the words of the presidential candidate leading in most polls is vital to preserving democracy.

There’s no way to control what he’s going to say, and he’s most likely to bring it up,” said George Washington University professor Matt Dallek, who noted that Trump’s attempt to warp reality by denying that he lost “has almost become an uber rationale for his running again.”

He added: “With Trump, it’s very hard to separate the past wrongs and grievances from his political appeal, because the two are so tightly wound together.”

The task of countering the expected election lies from Trump will fall to anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, who University of Maryland journalism professor Mark Feldstein said are in “a no-win situation” — though they have experience from moderating live town halls with Trump twice in 2020.

MSM outlets have been on a roll, making outlandish claims that Trump is unique in questioning election results, despite having spent hours of precious airtime over years pushing false claims about election rigging on behalf of Democrats, including open worrying about hacking voting machines on behalf of Trump and other Republicans. Stacey Abrams and her hero status comes to mind.

Oh. Here’s 10 minutes of Democrats denying election results.

pic.twitter.com/vwFaprEmem https://t.co/UzpuhOFmmi

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 7, 2024

I don’t recall a lot of complaints from the MSM about these false claims, or calls to muzzle Democrats for making them. How many hours have been spent on TV in recent years making the claim that Biden is vital and in charge, or asserting that the economy is roaring? The media doesn’t care about lies; it cares about pushing a narrative.

Politifact, for instance, insisted that the lab leak theory was false during Trump’s presidency; then they quietly took down the “fact check” when it was no longer a useful claim, even admitting that evidence shows it is quite possible. This “fact check” was up when it was well-known that several intelligence agencies assessed that a lab leak was in fact likely.

Vaccines are safe and prevent transmission. Remember that? Remember all the false information the MSM pushed during COVID–none of which they immediately “fact checked.” Instead they relied on false or disputable evidence to suppress alternative and eventually proven correct assertions.

The WaPo calling Trump a liar is rich, given their history, and a media outlet wailing that a presidential candidate can speak unfiltered is a perfect example of just how corrupt the media has become.

As is so obviously the case, China has become the model country for the Establishment. Whether it is columnists wishing we could “become China for a day,” the push to use China as a model for COVID policy, or the push for widespread censorship of dissenting voices.

This is their model of “saving democracy.” You have to destroy the village in order to save it.

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