The first two weeks of the Trump administration have been chaotic at best, the last four days have been a whirlwind of reports, retractions and corrections. But why is that? So much confusion in the news, the fog of an “ideological” war? I found a few things that have happened just since Donald Trump signed the highly publicized immigration executive order that make it easy to see why the public has zero confidence in the press.

Muslim Ban
There is not muslim ban. There never was. Donald Trump signed a travel ban to specific countries, but that is not how it was reported by the mainstream media. The seven countries selected were chosen by Barack Obama, prior to him leaving office. Another tidbit you won’t see widely acknowledged. However by using #MuslimBan they insured that those not paying close attention would find this to be a bigoted move. Even if it wasn’t true, it didn’t stop those in the media from spreading the false narrative until President Trump responded. Now they want to argue about the use of the word “ban“, not the word they intentionally put before it. It’s really a moratorium of 90 days. It was clumsily rolled out, without a doubt, there are many issues surrounding it, You can agree or disagree with Trump’s policy without being dishonest about it.

Uber Hates Immigrants
This one makes me the most angry. Because of course it was started by the Taxi Unions. Uber’s big sin? After the New York Taxi Unions decided to protest at the Airports, they canceled service for Saturday night. Uber drivers picked up stranded passengers at those airports. That’s it. Yet by Sunday morning, everyone with a keyboard was denouncing Uber and their drivers as sponsors of hate. A perfect example of how the narrative works really. NYC Taxi Unions were able to target their number one competitor on the back of the refugee situation, although they are not in anyway related. Still members of the media and celebrities demanded that people #DeleteUber from their phones. Again, the working Uber drivers only crime was picking up people stuck at the airport, when the Taxi Unions shut down service.

Trump Has Secret Plans for the Gays
Social Media has been aflutter for days, with rumors swirling that Donald Trump had a super secret plan to punish the gays. He was just waiting to unleash it. Nevermind that Trump is the most gay friendly president in the history of the country. It took Barack Obama until Joe Biden said they’d changed positions during their re-election campaign that he “evolved” to be support Same-Sex Marriage. Trump for all his faults, has never publicly opposed it. In fact he has been fairly vocal in his support of the gay community. Having Peter Thiel speak at the Convention, Caitlyn Jenner is a family friend, and of course Trump even took to the stage wrapped in a Gay Pride Flag, but this hasn’t stopped those hell bent on painting him as homophobic. The long awaited pronouncement was made that Trump would be continuing the policies put in place by Obama for LGBTQ protections against discrimination. The media’s response after nearly a week of ginning up outrage? Somewhere between a shrug and a snide “well that’s what he says, now”. No that’s what he’s been saying, the media needs to stop telling people Trump is going to put them in camps.

The Monday Night Massacre
For those longing to tie President Trump to Richard Nixon, the firing of acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she refused to her job, was the perfect opportunity to bring up the “Saturday Night Massacre“. Almost immediately “Monday Night Massacre” was falling off the lips of Chuck Schumer and then trending on social media. For those you that are my age or younger, that might not ring a bell. I wasn’t born when it happened, and clearly most reporters out the newsroom have no point of reference either. Nixon famously fired his AG along with the entire investigative team after they refused to halt Watergate investigations..into him. Baby Boomers do love their nostalgia, but firing one woman for refusing to do her job, isn’t a massacre by any stretch of the imagination, especially when she could have just as easily resigned, they are already interviewing her replacement on Capitol Hill. Expect more of the Nixonian comparisons as CNN has hired Carl Bernstein, I believe specifically for this purpose.

Trump’s First Casualty of War
Streiff covered the news of military deaths reaching the front page again, after Obama left office. One thing that he didn’t touch on, that I felt was worth mentioning was the death of Anwar Al-Awlaki’s daughter. She was just 8 years old and killed in the strike, along with several members of her family. Terrible sad story. Couple of things to remember, this strike was planned months ago, under the Obama administration, and the young girl was a casualty, because her family including her father are suspected terrorists, Al Qaeda allies. This story was presented as though Trump personally killed the girl himself. War is Hell as they say, but it’s the duty of the press to inform the public, not to shape their opinions.

All of these incidents could individually be brushed away as merely biased reporting, but these have all taken place over the course of four days. There is a reason that the American public doesn’t trust the media, fundamentally we know, the media is more interested in advancing their cause than they are in just reporting the facts. That’s activism, not journalism and it benefits no one in the long run.