Andrew Bolt: Media’s demented demonisation of Donald Trump is pure deceit

Of course there are reasons to dislike Donald Trump but more haters will change their minds about him — just as his running mate JD Vance did — if the media stops telling lies.

I understand why many Australians hate Donald Trump. That’s natural … if they listen to the extraordinary lies being told about him by the ABC.

You would think the ABC would have thought twice about screening Retribution on Four Corners on Monday, the first of a new two-part series smearing Trump.

For a start, Four Corners had already embarrassed itself by running a three-part series on what it called the “story of the century” – but was actually a totally bogus conspiracy theory that Trump won the 2016 US presidential election by colluding with Russia.

But second, even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says we should be “lowering the temperature of debate” after the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday.

Instead, the ABC just doubled down to portray Trump as a dictator, part of the demented demonisation of Trump that made it seem almost a public duty to kill him to stop him becoming president again.

It’s no wonder Australians hate Donald Trump if they listen to the lies the media spreads about him. Picture: AFP

It was so dishonest. The show’s very first bit of evidence against Trump on Monday was a quote that was deceitfully edited to make it sound like Trump would incite bloody violence if he didn’t win in November.

It showed Trump saying back in March: “Now if I don’t get elected it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country”.

In fact, US president Joe Biden ran the very same line in his latest TV interview, claiming Trump “talks about bloodbath if he loses”.

But it’s a con. Trump was actually referring to his plan to impose huge tariffs on Chinese-built cars, and the “bloodbath” that the US car industry and car workers otherwise faced.

Here’s the quote in full: “We’re going to put a 100 per cent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”

How dishonest was the ABC to cut out that critical context?

Trump picked JD Vance to be his vide-president even though Vance had once called him an ‘America’s Hitler’. Picture: AFP

That’s not the only such example: Later in the ABC documentary, the reporter warns of dictator Trump: “In Donald Trump’s vision for America … the checks-and-balances established by the founding fathers are impediments to absolute power.”

Then came a grab of Trump last December: “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one.”

Again, the full quote shows Trump actually laughing off these ludicrous claims, with an audience of supporters laughing with him:

“I love this guy,” he said, pointing at his questioner.

“He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”

Does anyone seriously believe that’s Trump’s admission that he’s bringing dictatorship to America? You’d have to be dumb or dishonest. Or an ABC journalist.

Oh, or senile Joe Biden, who on Sunday also claimed Trump is “the guy that said, I want to be a dictator on Day One”.

Trump forgave Vance after he admitted he was wrong about the former president. Picture: Getty Images

The ABC titled its hit job Retribution, as if Trump is just out for revenge against anyone who’s done him wrong.

Yet Trump this week put the lie to that at the Republican National Conference.

For one, he invited the head of the Teamsters, America’s most famous union, to speak. Sean O’Brien said he was the first Teamster to address a Republican convention, and he’d accepted because Trump who’d reached out to make a deal for the workers.

Even more telling was Trump’s pick as vice president – the 39-year-old Ohio senator JD Vance, author of the moving memoir “Hillbilly Elegy”.

Trump picked him even though Vance had once called him an “idiot”, “reprehensible” and “America’s Hitler”.

Trump forgave all that after Vance admitted he was wrong. Vance had seen what Trump actually achieved as president.

What’s more, Trump asked two of his fiercest Republican critics to also address the conference – former rivals Nikki Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis. No retribution there, either.

I know, there are reasons not to like Trump. I’ve hated his past abuse and his inflammatory reaction to losing the last election, and I’m frightened by his weakness in the defence of Ukraine.

But I admire his courage, I respect the working people he’s fighting for, and I’d trust his strength against China more than I do Biden’s.

I predict more haters will change their minds about Trump, just like JD Vance – if the media stops lying about him.

Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Media’s demented demonisation of Donald Trump is pure deceit