As RedState has covered extensively, the latest hit piece against Donald Trump has largely been debunked. Not only have over a dozen sources gone on the record to say it didn’t happen, even John Bolton, fresh off his anti-Trump tell-all book, has said it’s “simply false.” Meanwhile, Gen. Kelly, who was mentioned specifically in the accusations, has not confirmed anything either. Given his history with Trump, if he had the goods to get involved with and further embarrass the President, there’s no doubt he would.

That hasn’t stopped The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg from making the rounds to defend his garbage, fake story. He went on CNN with Brian Stelter, because where else would you go if you wanted to have an honest conversation and be held accountable, right?

This is the kind of snowflake, beta-male consternation we got out of the interview.

STUPID: Brian Stelter and Jeffrey Goldberg pretend that Trump tweeting "call or write the publisher" of The Atlantic is somehow an ominous authoritarian threat! https://t.co/PWsgpnvQ59 pic.twitter.com/uETXoD1zWO

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) September 8, 2020

Trump is now an authoritarian for (checks notes)…telling people to write complaints to the publisher. My God, he’s practically Hitler. What’s next? The gas chamber for Wolf Blitzer?

Pro-tip to Tater and his friend: Authoritarians don’t ask people to write letters. They throw people in jail. Trump is not an authoritarian by any definition.

This is incredibly stupid stuff, but the reason I’m writing on this is because it’s a good example of just how cowardly the media are. They want to be able to ruin lives, reporting via any anonymous sourcing they want, but if you dare to criticize them, you are suddenly a threat to the free press. It’s a nice racket when you think about it. Everyone would love to be free from the consequences of their own actions. The press want to be free of being held accountable when they knowingly make up stories or report based on anonymous sources without any real confirmation of what’s been told to them.

Stelter wants to be able to sit in a glass tower without rocks ever being thrown through the window. But that’s not how life works. These people better get some thicker skin because even if Trump loses, the mask is off and the pressure on the media isn’t going away. Republicans are going to continue to batter them for their dishonest hackery, as they should. In fact, I would expect the fight from the right to grow even stronger. One of the biggest positives of the Trump presidency has been his exposure of the media for what they are. The days of Mitt Romney bending the knee being the symbol of the GOP are over.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)