Opinion

KERNS: Media Uses President Bush’s Death To Throw Shade At Trump

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Jen Kerns Contributor
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Even in death, the mainstream media just can’t contain themselves.

In promoting a story about the passing of former President George H.W. Bush, the Associated Press highlighted Bush’s loss to Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992, while omitting Bush’s World War II service. By day’s end, the AP succumbed to public outrage, deleted the tweet and issued an apology.

However, the media’s biased reporting didn’t end there.

It was only beginning.

Since then, the mainstream media has used the occasion of the elder Bush’s death to slam President Trump.

In a snarky piece titled, “George H.W. Bush was everything Trump isn’t,” The Los Angeles Times reported that “the traits that defined Bush’s one term in office are scandalously absent from the way Donald Trump has approached the highest office in the land.”

In remembering Bush, CNN’s Chris Cuomo threw shade at the current president by mentioning “bombast” and “locker room talk.”

“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert “honored” the late Bush, also by cheaply slamming Trump.

CNN also reported that the elder Bush was a “humble and gentlemanly statesman, whose life and service was seen to stand in direct contrast to the vitriol and partisanship” of the Trump era.

The Washington Post contributor Daniel Drezner took the occasion of Bush’s death to suggest that Trump ought to lose his next election. In what seems like a stretch, he tied Trump to the elder Bush by writing, “Hopefully, however, there is one way that Bush and Trump will be similar: They will both be one-term presidents.”

It leaves one wondering: are these eulogies, or a campaign mail pieces?

Of course, The New York Times’ Peter Baker wasted no time going for the jugular.

“For his part, Mr. Bush was never impressed by Mr. Trump,” Baker wrote. “I don’t like him,” he recounted Mr. Bush telling an author in May 2016. Bush had reportedly called Trump “a blowhard” but oddly enough Bush also admitted in the same breath, “I don’t know much about him.”

Even historian Douglas Brinkley took the occasion of the elder Bush’s death to take a swipe at Trump.

Brinkley pointed out to People Magazine that Bush found Trump — or at least his social media activity — to be “gauche.” He even went so far as saying that the real reason Trump wasn’t in attendance at former First Lady Barbara Bush’s funeral was simple: she didn’t want him there.

Even in The Washington Post’s official obituary, Karen Tumulty took a swipe at Trump by saying Bush’s “currency of personal connection was the handwritten letter — not the social media blast.” Clearly a dig at Trump’s active voice on Twitter.

So, why the snark?

For the media, giving credit to a Republican is a zero-sum game.

For the mainstream media to compliment one Republican, they must tear down another. The same was true after Arizona Sen. John McCain’s passing. They couldn’t simply laud McCain for his ow heroism and years of service — it would be far too dangerous to admit a Republican’s goodness. They chose to make a mockery of the nearest rival Republican in the process.

It is true that Bush was a loyal public servant; but so is Trump, who puts up with more than his fair share of attacks on himself, his children and his spouse.

As for their childish behavior in the wake of the death of George H.W. Bush, the media are once again demonstrating that their news reporting belongs in the opinion section.

The media also missed the lesson the heartfelt letter Bush left for Clinton before leaving office, in which he honored the peaceful transfer of power in America: “You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.”

Jen Kerns (@JenKernsUSA) served as spokeswoman for the California Republican Party; spokeswoman for California’s Proposition 8, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court; and as a Fox News writer for the 2016 U.S. presidential debates.


 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.