There was a wild scene in the Rose Garden yesterday at the White House.

After Trump gave his remarks on the census backdown following his much ballyhooed social media summit, one CNN and Playboy “reporter” decided to act out in a ridiculous manner by heckling the crowd and challenging Sebastian Gorka to a fight.

That reporter is Brian Karem, who you may remember from just a few months ago after he pushed false accusations that Trump was holding a blank sheet of paper while touting his Mexico deal (which turned out to be very real). As you can tell, he’s a really credible journalist and all that. CNN only hires the best.

Yesterday’s incident was initially reported in the media and by anti-Trump figures exactly as you’d expect. Namely, they selectively edited the video and blamed the wrong side for starting the altercation. Sound familiar?

WH officials invited Trump's social media allies to sit in the Rose Garden. But after the event was over, West Wing aides did nothing when those social media figures began to verbally abuse reporters who were trying to do their jobs. A good snapshot of how press is treated by WH. https://t.co/j0Ys542dok

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 11, 2019

Social media summit convened supposedly to protect free speech rights ends with calls for violence against reporters https://t.co/oz0SqcGO3i

— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 12, 2019

I can’t imagine why the media has almost no credibly with most Americans these days. So what really happened?

It turns out Karem, who presents himself with all the vigor of a disheveled drunk in the video, started the entire thing by heckling the crowd with the accusation that they were “eager for demonic possession.” When Gorka confronted his out of line comments, Karem then responded to Gorka by saying “we can go outside and have a long conversation,” which to anyone not being purposely obtuse is clearly a challenge to a fight.

Here’s the full, in context video.

You may not like @SebGorka, but facts matter, and reporters (@Acosta) & commentators (@DavidFrum) shouldn’t share an edited clip implying Gorka made threats, rather than showing the full clip showing @BrianKarem instigating by challenging Gorka to a fight.pic.twitter.com/9eEWJh9n0K

— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) July 12, 2019

There were some NeverTrump figures on Twitter actually trying to make the argument that a grown man in a heated exchange telling another man “we can go outside and have a long conversation” in a snarky, hostile tone was not actually asking to fight. You see, Karem just wanted to go do an interview or something.

Others also shared the deceptively edited video much in the same way they rushed to share the Covington Catholic kids video. Those were accompanied with the typical “look what Trump has turned the White House into” snark when in reality it was Karem, the supposed journalist, who started the entire thing.

I get that some conservative commentators don’t like Donald Trump and Sebastian Gorka. That’s fine, but it’s not an excuse to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend the sky isn’t blue. Karem was trying to play tough guy and it blew up in his face after someone actually called him on his nonsense.

These are the kinds of people CNN employ. They aren’t journalists. They are hacks and cowards. Karem was content to heckle the crowd from the safety of his rope line but when someone actually took him up on his challenge, he folded like the cheap suit he’s seen wearing.

I’ll note that Brian Stelter, who’s job is to critique the media, and CNN haven’t condemned Karem’s behavior. Try to imagine the outrage they’d be spewing if a Fox News reporter heckled a crowd and challenged someone to a fight during the Obama administration. But because CNN is simply a dumpster fire at this point, they’ll either say nothing or defend Karem.

Luckily, Jim Hanson (who produced the full, in context video linked above) was there to film the thing in its full context or many might still be lying right now about what really happened.

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