Help shape the narrative!

December 18, 2023

You must help shape the news narrative on media and social media. The major stories we hear and see each day are shaped by editorial choices and crowd-sourced algorithms that push curated content to users’ smartphones and newsfeeds. Fighting for control of the information narrative may seem distasteful or feel hopeless. It is not. The process of setting a narrative for a news cycle is inevitable, and MAGA extremists are intentional and relentless in their efforts to control the narrative.

We should be equally intentional and relentless in ensuring that the truth dominates the news narrative—because the truth is that Joe Biden and the Democrats are doing a great job of governing while Trump is descending into chaos, madness, and fascism. And yet, the media is skeptical of the truth of Biden’s good news while it reports Trump's menace and deterioration with large doses of false equivalency, whataboutism, and dismissive cynicism.

Here's my point: Readers of this newsletter are becoming more active in writing to media outlets and posting on social media to shape the media narrative. Keep up the good work! Every effort matters. You may not receive a reply from an editorial board, but someone noted your complaint and placed a tick mark in a column. Your social media post may not have gone viral, but an algorithm digested your words and flipped a bit (or two) in its assessment of the truth.

Every effort matters. That is my theme tonight as I review stories that were in the news over the weekend that should shape the narrative for the next year—but will disappear in 48 hours if we let them.

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Violent crime is down! Tell a friend!

The lie vs. the truth. A lie that MAGA extremists frequently repeat is that violent crime has skyrocketed during Joe Biden’s presidency. That is false. In fact, violent crime has decreased significantly over the last two years. See The Atlantic, America’s Peace Wave. (Accessible to all.)

Per The Atlantic,

In the sample of 175 cities, murder is down by an average of almost 13 percent this year.

And it’s not just murder. FBI data for the third quarter show that every category of crime [except auto theft] is down, some of them sharply, year over year from 2022.

The quarterly data in particular suggests 2023 featured one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the United States in more than 50 years.

The Atlantic article is based on reporting by Jeff Asher in his Substack newsletter, Jeff-alytics, Crime in 2023: Murder Plummeted, Violent and Property Crime Likely Fell Nationally.

Jeff Asher writes that crime is down everywhere:

“The quarterly data shows violent crime down in big cities, small cities, suburban counties, and rural counties, pretty much across the board. . . To put some of this in perspective, a 4 percent decline in the nation’s violent crime rate relative to 2022’s reported rate would lead to the lowest violent crime rate nationally since 1969.”

Why it matters. Trump and his paid liars have convinced the American people that crime has increased under Biden because of lax enforcement by liberal prosecutors. That is false. Unless we promote the truth, Trump's lie will consume all the oxygen in the news cycle about the true rate of crime in America under Biden. Tell a friend.

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Trump promoted Nazi-themed racial purity and praised Vladimir Putin and President Xi in weekend speeches.

What happened. In campaign speeches over the weekend, Trump parroted the Nazi theme of immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the nation. He also praised Putin, Xi, Viktor Orbán, and Kim Jong Un for their dictatorial style and cited a statement by Vladimir Putin to prove his criminal prosecutions are politically motivated persecution directed by Joe Biden.

What Trump said.  At a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Trump said

“They let—I think the real number is 15, 16 million people into our country. When they do that, we got a lot of work to do. They’re poisoning the blood of our country.”

Trump punctuated his campaign statement by repeating it—in ALL CAPS—on his vanity social media platform,

“ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS POISONING THE BLOOD OF OUR NATION.”

The White House issued a condemnation of Trump's statements, saying that he “parroted Adolf Hitler” at the New Hampshire rally.

Chris Christie said of Trump, “He’s becoming crazier.” But the infinitely flexible Lindsey Graham said he “could care less about the language” Trump uses as long as Republicans address immigration.

Why it matters. Trump is adopting Hitler’s anti-immigrant hate speech. Per a Newsweek analysis of Trump's “poisoning our blood” statement, the magazine writes:

“In Hitler's infamous tome, Mein Kampf, he refers to "blood poisoning" in the context of the intermingling and growth of Jewish communities within society, also arguing that "great cultures" died off because of "blood poisoning" caused by foreign nations.”

Trump's choice of words is no accident. The similarity to Hitler’s anti-immigrant language is deliberate. Trump has used the “poisoning our nation’s blood” phrase on multiple occasions since November 2023, and went to the effort to repeat the phrase on his social media platform after a firestorm of criticism following his New Hampshire appearance. He is not hiding his meaning or intention—he is seeking support using a white-supremacist, racist ideology responsible for the largest genocide of the last century.

Faced with a candidate using Hitleresque appeals to denigrate immigrants, many media outlets continued to report on “horse-race” polling between Trump and Biden as if both are legitimate candidates to lead our democracy. Such reporting is journalistic malpractice that rises to the level of complicity by omission.

What Trump also said. Trump also praised Putin, Xi, and Kim Jong Un at the New Hampshire speech. See ABC News, Trump, again, praises dictators and rails against immigrants -- again sparking backlash. And he cited Vladimir Putin for support of Trump's notion that he is being politically persecuted by Biden:

“Putin of Russia says that Biden's—and this is a quote—'politically motivated persecution of his political rival' is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy. So we talk about democracy, but the whole world is watching the persecution of a political opponent that's kicking his ass.”

Why it matters. Trump is again inserting Vladimir Putin in US domestic politics—as he did in the 2016 election. The events of 2016 led to political trauma from which we have yet to recover as a nation. Trump's invocation of Putin is similar to his infamous “Russia if you’re listening” plea to find Hillary’s emails in 2016. Trump's renewed injection of Putin into US politics should result in damning editorials in every media outlet in the nation. You can help ensure that result by speaking up and demanding that media outlets condemn Trump for his unholy, anti-democratic alliance with Putin.

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Binder of raw intelligence on Russia investigation is missing.

What happened. CNN broke a story over the weekend that a sensitive binder containing raw, unredacted intelligence on the Russia investigation of Trump went missing in the final days of the Trump administration. Trump and Mark Meadows are the prime suspects in the saga. See CNN’s story here: The mystery of the missing binder: How a collection of raw Russian intelligence disappeared under Trump - CNN.

Per CNN,

“A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. [¶]

“The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.

“The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia . . . .”

Why it matters. Trump was obsessed with the material in the binder. Mark Meadows worked until the final fifteen minutes of the Trump presidency to declassify the material—but the DOJ apparently slow-walked efforts to declassify. So, someone appears to have walked off with unredacted, highly classified information of great interest to Donald Trump. Hmm . . . I wonder who would be motivated to walk off with highly classified information and risk being prosecuted by a special counsel for unlawful retention of national defense information?

Someone knows who took the binder and where it is currently located. This incident is a scandal more shameful than all of the existing document retention charges currently pending against Trump. A motivated corps of journalists should put this story at the top of every newsfeed until it is solved (and it can be). Or they could write about five truck drivers sitting in a diner in Iowa who are going to vote for Trump and declare, “Biden faces bleak prospects.” You get the point. Make your voice heard.

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Catching our breath

Okay, I have covered a lot of ground. To review: Violent crime is down under Biden, while Trump is adopting Hitler’s formulation of racial purity and “poisoning of the nation’s blood” by immigrants, is injecting Vladimir Putin into domestic politics, and is a prime suspect in the disappearance of a highly sensitive binder of materials about Trump's relationship with Russia. So, what is the media focused on?

In fairness, the media is currently focused on the Trump stories I noted above—for now. But they are also publishing garbage stories about Joe Biden that imply a false equivalency between a candidate who seeks to preserve US democracy and one who seeks to destroy it. Read on!

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The Washington Post’s “Biggest Pinocchio’s of 2023.”

The story. On Friday, the Washington Post published a story entitled, The biggest Pinocchio’s of 2023. In a political environment where the fate of our democracy hangs in the balance between truth and lies, reporting on political lies is important. But if you were expecting a serious treatment of the threat to our democracy presented by disinformation, the cutesy, unserious title is a clue that the story is clickbait entertainment, not serious journalism. “Biggest Pinocchio’s”—get it? Ha, ha! And the winner is . . . .”

Worse, although the author—Glenn Kessler—claims that the awards are discussed “in no particular order,” they begin with President Biden—whose picture is prominently displayed as the large centerpiece of a collage featuring Senator Tommy Tuberville, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Andrew Ogles, and—finally—Donald Trump. In short, the article is a hit-piece on Joe Biden—and the truth.

Why it matters. By treating all lies as equivalent, Kessler and the Post are normalizing Trump's lies that are designed to erode the foundation of democracy. For example, Kessler complains that Biden has claimed he reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion—a claim that is literally true—as acknowledged by Kessler’s own math. But Kessler complains that even though the deficit has decreased, the national debt has increased—allegedly proving that Joe Biden is wrong. Here is Kessler’s discussion:

“Biden gets his $1.7 trillion figure by comparing the deficit in fiscal 2020 ($3.132 trillion) with the deficit in fiscal 2022 ($1.375 trillion). [My note: A $1.7 trillion decrease.] The deficit was always expected to fall with the end of the pandemic. But Biden’s policies increased the national debt about $850 billion more than originally projected. So the deficit picture has worsened under Biden, and he’s seizing on a technicality to claim otherwise.”

The “technicality” that Biden has “seized upon” is also known as “the truth.” The deficit and debt are two entirely different things, which are subject to different methods of accounting under arcane rules enacted by Congress—which Kessler understands. But Kessler is annoyed that Biden disagrees with his view, so he describes the disagreement with Biden as “a lie.”

Kessler’s pique-driven disagreement with Biden does not compare well to Kessler’s off-hand comment about Trump: “As usual with Trump, it’s hard to isolate a particular falsehood.”

Let’s pause and repeat Kessler’s line: “As usual with Trump, it’s hard to isolate a particular falsehood”—because he lies all the time. So, Kessler picks two random—and unimportant—lies about Ron DeSantis and Iran.

Why, then, is Trump not at the top of the list??? And why does Kessler focus on partisan lies told by Trump about Ron DeSantis and Iran when Trump continues to claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that he is being politically persecuted by Joe Biden to prevent Trump from being re-elected?

If Kessler were serious about the “Biggest Pinocchio’s” of 2023, why does he ignore those lies that are daggers aimed at the heart of our democracy?

When I say that journalistic malpractice approaches complicity, the piece by Kessler is a perfect example. He resorts to false equivalencies that normalize the threat posed by Trump. He set out to write an unserious piece with an Access Hollywood vibe. He succeeded, and in doing so, he is helping Trump by treating threats of fascism as the political equivalent of “locker room talk.”

Let the Post’s editors know how you feel about its normalization of Trump.

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Washington Post story on James Biden.

The story. In a story published by the Washington Post over the weekend, the Post did its best to suggest that James Biden was engaged in shady dealings with his brother, President Biden. He was not. The story is here: James Biden’s dealmaking caught on FBI tapes in unrelated Mississippi bribery probe.

Here is the shocking premise of the story: James Biden is Joe Biden’s brother.

That’s it. They are brothers. The rest of the story explains that James Biden provided political consulting services that no one alleges involved lobbying Joe Biden about legislation.

The story involves a Mississippi trial attorney, Dickie Scruggs, who wanted Congress to pass legislation regarding a nationwide tobacco litigation settlement. From the story:

“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs said.

“[James Biden] was never untoward about his influence,” Scruggs said. “He didn’t brag about it or talk about it. He didn’t have to. He was the man’s brother.”

Paul J. Fishman, a lawyer for James and Sara Biden, said in an email that neither had talked to Joe Biden about the tobacco settlement bill. “Jim Biden’s consulting work has never involved speaking with or providing access to his brother for this or any other client,” Fishman said.

The story does not claim that James Biden was investigated for anything. To the contrary, a lawyer to whom James Biden spoke [Scruggs] was investigated for attempting to bribe a local judge in an unrelated matter and was convicted. James Biden was recorded talking to the lawyer about a different matter. Per WaPo,

“Neither James Biden nor his brother was charged or accused of wrongdoing in the case, which led to prison for Scruggs and several of his associates . . . .”

So, to summarize, James Biden did nothing wrong, is not accused of doing anything wrong, and is Joe Biden’s brother.

Do those facts warrant the extended coverage provided by the Post? Will the Post continue pursuing this non-story as the Times did with Hillary’s emails, creating the appearance of impropriety where none exists? And, comparatively, how much coverage will WaPo give to the $2 billion investment by the Saudi investment fund in Jared Kushner’s newly created investment advisory services business two months after Jared Kushner ceased overseeing the Trump administration policy on Saudi Arabia?

You can help shape the narrative by letting the Post know how you feel about its coverage.

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Opportunity for reader engagement.

I received this note from Democrats Abroad:

U.S. citizens living abroad can register and vote in U.S. elections – and there are millions of overseas voters! Democrats Abroad knows this well and wants to register and engage every possible new Blue voter.

If you know an overseas American who is:

• working or retired

• in a study abroad program 

• on sabbatical

• in the military

• temporarily abroad during the March 5 California primary  or the November 5 general election

Please make sure they register to vote by going to https://www.votefromabroad.org. There, they will find all the information they need. 

Also, ask them to join Democrats Abroad, the official Democratic Party arm for millions of Americans living outside the United States. Democrats Abroad gives overseas Americans a voice and helps elect Democratic candidates by mobilizing the out-of-country vote.

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Concluding Thoughts.

Let’s be clear: Reporting the news is difficult, especially in an environment where newspapers and cable news must compete with (effectively) free, unregulated social media platforms where posting is easy and the truth is an impediment to generating clicks. So, while I have noted the failings of WaPo twice in this newsletter, I think our best path forward is to try to shape the narrative. You can only “unsubscribe” from a media outlet once. But you can write to the editors frequently or post in the comment section after articles daily.

One reader—Jonathan—reports that he has good luck getting his letters to the editor published in national outlets. Why? He writes frequently, responsibly, and respectfully—even when he disagrees with the outlet’s editorial or news articles. In short, he has developed a reputation for being a positive contributor to the conversation. When the editorial staff sees an electronic “letter to the editor” from Jonathan, they take the time to read it.

I encourage readers of this newsletter to become part of the tens of thousands of Americans who are shaping the narrative about Joe Biden and the Democratic Party heading into 2024. Be an advocate for the truth! The democracy you save might be your own!

Talk to you tomorrow!