Cable news network MSNBC once christened itself “The Place for Politics” and proclaimed the slogan “Lean Forward.”
However, based on what we’ve heard from the network over the past several days, and truthfully, over the last two decades, MSNBC might as well call itself the “Crazy Conspiracy Theory Network.”
On Saturday, July 13, we were witnesses to what could have been one of the most heinous events in U.S. history: A former and likely future president, Donald J. Trump, was speaking at an outdoor Pennsylvania rally on a hot Saturday afternoon when a failed assassin’s bullet struck his right ear.
Only a perfectly timed, miraculous turn of his head to read a chart prevented the bullet from piercing Trump’s brain.
After grabbing his ear, Trump went down, and Secret Service agents threw themselves on top of him. A moment later, the world saw the former president rise and pump his fist defiantly to the crowd while urging his supporters to “fight, fight, fight.” His cheek and ear were streaked with blood.
Anyone watching — almost everyone in the world by this point — would only conclude logically — possessing a fragment of sanity, having hearing and eyesight, that Trump was thankfully not fatally wounded.
They would also like to know the crucial takeaway was that someone had just tried to murder him and almost succeeded. You would expect reporting on such a dramatic story — played out on national television — to be straightforward, lucid, and sober.
Over at MSNBC, it simply wasn’t going to happen. Sanity, integrity, and credibility be damned.
Earlier in the week, Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, now a Trump-despising MSNBC analyst, questioned on air if Trump had even actually been shot. Instead, he proffered the conspiracy theory that the bullet hit a teleprompter, shattering the glass. Hence, Trump was only struck with glass and not an actual bullet.
“What about reports that it may not have been a bullet that wounded him but glass from the shattered teleprompter?” asked Steele.
During the same rant, Steele also demanded Trump’s medical records be released immediately to prove that a bullet had hit his ear.
Two days after Steele threw out this theory, Snopes — a left-wing fact-check site — had already debunked the speculation about the teleprompter, noting they were all intact after the incident. The network should have pulled Steele from the air for such irresponsible talk; however, we’ve learned not to expect accountability from the network.
Enter Joy Reid, a primetime host with a lengthy, storied history of deceit and lies, who decided to take this step and further imply the whole attempt to take Trump’s life was choreographed and staged for Trump’s political benefit.
“I have many questions! Like where are the medical reports?” wrote Reid on X this week. “What caused Trump’s injury, and what was the injury? Shrapnel? Glass? A bullet? Where were the three attendees who were shot, seated, or standing relative to Trump?”
“Why was Trump allowed to stand and pose for photos?” Reid also asked.
You can see where all this is going: The network says Trump was engaging in false valor. They have completely lost the plot. Even if Trump was “only” grazed by a bullet, he almost died while the nation watched.
They are obviously not asking the right questions. Here are a few, in case they want to remember what actual journalism is.
• Why was the former president allowed by the Secret Service to take to the stage when they were well aware for an entire hour prior that there was an active threat near the rally?
• How did local police and the Secret Service not secure the only building with a direct line of sight to Trump? Any expert on firearms will tell you a headshot taken from 130 yards away with an AR-15 is similar to sinking a putt from two feet away. If Trump hadn’t turned his head, he would likely be dead now.
• Why were so many security resources committed to an event First Lady Jill Biden held when the threat level against the former president was interminably higher?
• Why hasn’t Kimberly Cheatle, Director of the Secret Service, been fired yet? Why hasn’t any commander or senior operation member been fired yet?
• Why has the Secret Service taken minimal questions about what happened that day?
Shockingly, these things are scarcely discussed on this alleged news network, even if it is MSNBC.
It is no secret that many MSNBCers are infested with an irreparable strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome and have been since he proclaimed his first presidential run in 2015. Their hatred has become so glaring that, amid one of the most significant stories of our lifetime, they have determined to sacrifice their honesty and integrity for the cause of taking Trump down in November.
MSNBC must finally tell the truth and pronounce itself “The Place to Lean into Conspiracy Theories,” not only now but for the conceivable future.
