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In what may be the most despicable piece of journalism in a year filled with unacceptable bad examples of the craft, The Atlantic delivered what it hoped to be a vicious October surprise to bring down the fortunes of Donald Trump. Instead, this becomes an almost instantly refuted piece of media guano, and it is affecting the broader swath of news outlets.
I try not to traffic in hyperbole, so to call this not just a repugnant example of yellow journalism but one that further impacts the already-foundering reputation of our media is not said lightly. This manages to infect numerous supposedly reputable news sites, and it goes on to broaden the reality that most major news outlets are toxically partisan these days. To explain, we will perform a bit of a forensic study into how bad this has become.
Our Neil McCabe laid out nicely the issues with the Goldberg hit attempt, and you should read it, filled with updates. Goldberg resorted to what is tried practice with him, as he mirrors his previous slovenly work in the last general election. That was when he delivered the entirely flawed story of Trump allegedly bashing dead service members while on a trip to France. That was a claim made back in 2018 that had already been refuted, but Goldberg reissued the accusation and eventually was proven false, as named individuals – including Trump opponents – came out to declare that it never happened.
Now we get that same tactic here, as unnamed sources made scathing accusations about what Trump allegedly said, disparaging a dead female military member and invoking racial epithets in reference to her and promises he broke to her family. The breadth of the accusations and the vacuous nature of the “proof” is so poor that any editor worth any value would have spiked this when filed.
But Goldberg is in a position above those gatekeepers of the truth; he sits as Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, as well as host of “Washington Week With The Atlantic” on Public Broadcasting. He is held in high regard by many in journalism despite his routine bouts of being a fabulist. Note how even after his previous election eve hit on Trump was thoroughly debunked, to this day, many in the press invoke the “suckers and losers” quote manufactured by Goldberg in that hit job.
There has been every reason to toss away this new smear from Goldberg. Start with the fact that he is recanting a tale that was supposed to have taken place in 2020. It is in no way believable that a story with this level of impact on the man so reviled would have remained quiet for four years. The quoted opponents never thought to come forward prior to now? The family that had been crudely rebuffed by the president had no words of scorn over the alleged slight?
Which brings us to the refutation phase that arrived so quickly. The soldier’s family has unequivocally disputed Golberg’s trash report. Mark Meadows was name-checked in the piece as having been present, and he denies the claims. Former Trump official Ben Williamson and the family’s lawyer have since come forward to declare forcefully that Goldberg outright lied about their interactions. These are verifiable individuals with first-person knowledge, and they are corroborating. Journalistically, you cannot do better for sourcing, yet Goldberg delivers nameless souls with veiled connections who will not stand behind their comments.
And our press industry has decided that despite the collection of individuals willing to go on record and dispute all of this content Joe Biden would label “malarkey,” they will broadcast these flawed accusations. CBS’ Norah O’Donnell ran with the story. Jonathan Lemire of MSNBC and Politico was among the first to tout the piece. CNN has been repeatedly covering the article and holding panel discussions throughout the night and this morning. Numerous other outlets are following suit.
None of this anti-Trump desperation comes as a surprise, seeing that it derives from The Atlantic. As we covered here back in August, one of the closest allies to Kamala Harris going back to her days working in San Francisco is the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. For years Laurene Jobs has been close to Harris as she has funded a number of liberal causes and organizations. She is also the owner of The Atlantic. That her publication would be blindly colluding on behalf of Kamala’s campaign is of little shock.
But the remaining news organizations that have signed on to this coordinated hit job are going to experience more turmoil. There was every reason in the world to regard this report by Goldberg as radioactive and to steer clear of it. Instead, they are choosing to ignore those going on the record to refute it, supporting the corrupt practice of using nameless sourcing to deliver a poisonous libel piece and, in the process, completely abusing the emotions of a Gold Star family.
All of this is done in the name of undiluted partisanship and bias. This is the state of our contemporary journalism complex. Their reputations as journalists are something fungible to them, an afterthought item that is shadowed by their blind need to bring down one man. We thought things couldn’t get any worse in the news business, but the outlets are effectively telling us, “Oh yeah, hold my Kiwi-Strawberry White Claw!” in their quest to prove us naive.
