Andrew Bolt: ABC shows its blatant hatred of Donald Trump
ABC presenters and journalists have stepped up their frenzied attacks on Donald Trump. And worryingly, the broadcaster is hellbent on presenting him as a fascist intent on destroying democracy when in fact, the truth is far from it, writes Andrew Bolt.
Andrew Bolt
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In 40 years of journalism, I’ve never seen a TV station show such unhinged hatred as the ABC showed on Monday for Donald Trump.
Hating the US president now seems our national broadcaster’s policy, despite the law saying it must be impartial.
But what’s not for a Left-hijacked ABC to loathe? Trump is conservative. He’s a global warming sceptic. He’s against the new racism of the Left.
Indeed, Trump is despised to the top of the ABC tree, with deputy chair Kristin Ferguson two weeks ago tweeting that he was “immoral, criminal and selfish”.
With their bosses setting that example, ABC presenters and journalists have stepped up their own frenzied attacks.
On Monday came peak Trump derangement on the ABC’s flagship current affairs programs, starting with 7.30.
Presenter Leigh Sales interviewed commentators who were either Leftists who hated Trump, or Republicans who hated Trump – all with an almost lunatic intensity.
Anthony Scaramucci, sacked as Trump’s communications director almost before he started, claimed Trump was “like, the American Mussolini meets Dr Frankenstein”.
A Never-Trumper trembled: “I honestly fear for this nation.”
A former Obama campaign manager called him “the most polarising political figure of our lifetime”.
A former Obama Secretary of Defence, called Trump “an embarrassment to this country”.
Sales joined in the abuse, accusing Trump of “chaos”, appalling behaviour”, “compulsive lying and recklessness”, and sneered: “Can the President tell the difference between the truth and a lie?”
True, Sales dragged in a couple of Trump supporters, but only to suggest they were stupid.
One, she made clear, was just a Bible-bashing gun-nut, adding: “For these Americans, forget that more than 200,000 have died in the pandemic, forget the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and forget Donald Trump’s 20,000-odd lies in office.”
Viewers believing this vilification would never guess that Trump’s supporters include tens of millions of serious and sensible Americans.
But if that wasn’t enough Trump hatred on the ABC for one night, Four Corners added an hour of more.
It, too, showed commentators with an apocalyptic hatred of Trump.
“I could never envision a horror show like this,” said one.
“He’s an existential threat,” said another.
He’s told “tens of thousands of lies,” added a liar.
“He’s left a wake of destruction,” said a fourth.
And his re-election would cause “incalculable and perhaps irreversible damage … to American democracy,” added a fifth.
Again, a couple of Trump defenders were brought on for mere sport, and the presenter, this time Michael Brissenden, joined in the kicking.
Trump, he said, had “left America reeling” with his “chaotic leadership”, and had “failed to deliver for many ordinary workers”. His America was “deeply racist”, with a “schism fuelled and encouraged by the President”.
This is not just the ABC’s endemic bias on blatant show. This is also the cancel culture of the Left, gone wild.
ABC presenters are not only cancelling reasonable Trump supporters, but cancelling from their own minds the very idea that Trump may have virtues, and not only flaws.
Yes, Trump has lied and been erratic. Yes, he’s mishandled the coronavirus crisis, even if the states take most responsibility.
But Trump has also done unarguably good things. For instance, the US economy was booming before the virus hit, with record low unemployment for blacks and Latinos.
Trump is also the first President since Jimmy Carter not to fight a new war, and has brokered extraordinary peace deals between Israel and former enemies such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sudan.
What’s more, the ABC refuses to accept that it’s not all about Trump. He has an opponent, who also has flaws.
Joe Biden has a curious history of pawing women and girls. He faces serious allegations of involvement in his son Hunter’s cash-for-access schemes. He has been both for and against banning fracking. He and his running mate failed for months to condemn the wave of Black Lives Matter violence and looting.
What’s more, Biden is 77 and shows increasing evidence of forgetfulness, twice calling Trump “George” this week.
But none of that cuts ice with the ABC, which focuses maniacally on Trump’s faults, and luridly presents him as a fascist hellbent on destroying democracy.
Result: if Trump does win on Tuesday, despite the polls, the ABC’s trusting viewers will be shocked and amazed.
It will be a mystery, unless they accept the ABC’s fear mongering – and assume America has even more racists, gun crazies and fools than the ABC told them.
But only a fool would believe it.