The Media Is Brutalized in Thread Contrasting Coverage of Biden's Afghanistan Announcement Versus Trump's

Stories about the mainstream media’s inarguable liberal bias may come across at times to many conservatives as “dog bites man” pieces. The feeling is understandable, but it’s still vitally important that they are documented for the record, for the inevitable moments on down the line when some supposed “media expert” on the left (like CNN’s Brian Stelter, for example) comes at you later with the predictable “what bias?” line.

One notable recent example was from just last week when CNN “Newsroom” anchor Poppy Harlow morphed into a proponent of boycotts on live TV in a segment with Lyft president John Zimmer, in a discussion on the Georgia voting law. Harlow badgered Zimmer six ways to Sunday in inquiring about ways Lyft could do their part to inflict more economic harm on states like Georgia’s and others that were pushing similar voting laws.

There was also the thoroughly debunked “60 Minutes” hit piece on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

This week’s example comes courtesy of pretty much all major media outlets regarding their coverage of President Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal announcement. People who remembered how the press critically and negatively covered similar statements from former President Trump on the issue of withdrawing from Afghanistan were none too pleased with what looked to be a media “about-face” on the topic.

One person in particular who was incensed by the media’s change in tone on Afghanistan withdrawal was Twitter user Drew Holden, who proceeded to drop an epic thread that compared and contrasted their reports on Trump’s Afghanistan position versus their reports on Biden’s.

It was a lengthy thread, so much so that I won’t post all the tweets here. But it absolutely was a case study in how the media frames their coverage from the outset based on who is in charge. If it’s a Democrat, the framing is to make the Democrat appear to be doing the right thing. If it’s a Republican, the framing is to make the Republican appear to be ill-informed and going against the better judgment of those around him:

When Trump said we were leaving, @CNN quoted the NATO Sec Gen with a “stark warning” about how “dangerous” the move would be.

But Biden’s decision? Well, on that one, we just get to hear from his people. pic.twitter.com/b8KHDPNrmN

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

One of the things I’ve discussed before is how outlets can frame the narrative they want by focusing on people who support or oppose a certain policy. It’s misleading, but also a calling card of @CNN. pic.twitter.com/sypGhatZdZ

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

Once upon a time, @nytimes told us that Trump’s decision was a capitulation to the Taliban where we would get nothing in return – as if blood not shed and treasure not spent means nothing.

But Biden’s call? Well, for some reason these concerns seem to have evaporated. pic.twitter.com/1eYzfFv8uA

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

For Trump, we hear about the “fears” of Afghan officials from @nytimes.

Biden, on the other hand, gets a sympathetic write up despite being the second most powerful man in the country during the height of US forces. Just incredible memoryholing here. pic.twitter.com/2vu2GdBqxR

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

So much of today’s coverage reads as if nothing had ever been said to the contrary by anyone on @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/qSNnMg0k09

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

This one from @TIME might be the most egregious of them all. I mean. Cmon. pic.twitter.com/z54ICzgGi9

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

@washingtonpost presented without introduction. pic.twitter.com/T4vzeov2cG

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) April 14, 2021

Trust in the media is at an all-time low for many reasons, the main one being their persistently inconsistent framing through the “Democrats good, Republicans bad” lens. Though “experts” like Stelter and his ilk will stick their heads in the sand and blame a lot of it on the supposed “misinformation campaigns” from Republicans and Fox News regarding media bias, the receipts Holden presented tell the real story. In short, this is who they are.