In keeping with my recent "the hypocrisy of the left knows no bounds" theme, let's revisit CBS Evening News anchor John Dickerson's Monday faux-moralistic editorial from his ridiculous “Reporter’s Notebook” segment, which closes out "CBS Evening News Plus." Hypocritical? To the max.
At issue for the veteran "journalist" were the executive powers of the presidency, which are outlined in America's guiding founding document, the United States Constitution. It should be noted that the Constitution also lays out what the executive branch cannot do.
Let's jump into Dickerson's editorial in chunks (emphasis, mine)— with commentary as we go.
"Give me liberty or --" you likely know how it ends. 250 years ago yesterday, Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, a pure defiant cry for freedom stamped in speeches, textbooks, and our national memory. July 4th, 2026 will mark America's 250th birthday. [...]
So far, so good — then... Trump.
In a proclamation, President Trump quoted Thomas Jefferson: "Henry was before us all in maintaining the spirit of the Revolution." Like many founding stories, this may not be what Henry actually said. The version we know was written down 42 years after the speech, revealing more about how we choose to remember our history than what actually happened.
OK, stop the tape.
"May not" is neither definitive nor does it rule out the possibility that Henry did indeed make the statement as history has recorded it. And while I won't waste time or space by including a multitude of examples of the left not only manipulating (or lying about) the language and intent of the Constitution and its Amendments to justify their beliefs or twisting of history, those examples abound — from bastardization of the First Amendment to the Second Amendment and beyond.
More hollow spiel from Dickerson:
Unlike the mythic glow of the American Revolution, there are real-time accounts of Henry's speeches during another pivotal moment: the ratification of the Constitution. He was not on the winning side. He didn't even go to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, reportedly saying: "I smell a rat in Philadelphia, tending towards monarchy.”
Rich. While I'm an unaware of a "monarchy" coming anywhere even close to power in America, the left has called (and continues to call) Donald Trump "Hitler, a "fascist," and worse, and continues to warn of some mythical "oligarchy" America's 47th president is creating before our very eyes.
What evidence do Dickerson and his ilk have to make such nonsensical claims? Zero.
[Henry] opposed the Constitution with the passion he once used to ignite revolution, this time fearing the presidency itself could become an absolute tyranny. "If your American chief be a man of ambition, how easy it is for him to render himself absolute. What have you to oppose this force?"
Let's assume, for silly argument's sake, that Trump did plan to become a tyrant, an oligarch, or even worse, a modern-day Hitler. How exactly would he — or any president from either party — go about doing so?
Yeah, I'm familiar with most of the ridiculous conspiracy theories about how a president would do this or that to become an absolute ruler — a veritable king, if you will — but guess what? It ain't ever gonna happen.
...Quotes from the Founders are used to pierce the cloud of the present with moral clarity from the past. 250 years later, as presidential powers have expanded far beyond the Founders’ vision, and as the current occupant seeks ever more, Henry’s words are not a quotation FOR The White House, but a warning about it.
Finally, Dickerson employed one of the tactics the left has perfected: he catastrophized something that doesn't exist — and won't.
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The Bottom Line
It serves us well to remember that leftist elitists don't believe half of the nonsense they spew. They don't care if we know it's nonsense; they only care if low-information rank-and-file Democrat voters believe it.
The mainstream media doesn’t tell you the truth.
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