I'm trying to imagine how this pitch meeting went: "North Korea has been in the news lately, and President Trump sometimes mentions their insanely evil dictatorship, so let's do a fun man-on-the-street segment and ask some average North Koreans how they feel about Trump." Yeah, but couldn't these people literally be killed or sent to the gulag for expressing how they truly feel, and isn't their news censored heavily by the crackpot regime? "I guess so, but let's do it anyway -- because 'news' or something." Sold! And thus this ridiculous segment took flight. Spoiler Alert: Every "average" Pyongyangian interviewed expressed basically the exact same sentiments, criticizing US "hostility" and praising the Dear Leader as CNN's "government minders" looked on. Go figure. This isn't fake news. This is farcical "news:"
For the life of me, I can't see the news value here -- and given the level of stifling oppression in that country, the whole premise feels like something of a sick joke. Luckily for CNN, it seems as though NBC News was determined to one-up them the non-news front. Mission accomplished:What do North Korean citizens think of US President Donald Trump? https://t.co/kswptcCCxO pic.twitter.com/VsmGsgo4Mo
— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2017
This Presidents Day, as thousands prepare to swarm the streets for “Not My President’s Day” rallies, the president will celebrate a milestone — he’s reached his 32nd day in office. That small victory means that, despite the demands of his detractors, President Trump will not have the shortest term in the Oval Office. That unfortunate honor rests with William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, who died from pneumonia just 32 days into his presidency, on April 4, 1841 — making him also the first president to die in office.
Allahpundit calls a spade a spade: "This is trolling, straight up, by a major American news bureau hoping to give Trump’s critics a giggle at the thought that he hasn’t been impeached yet but will be soon...It’s exactly the sort of thing the DNC press shop would put out to razz Trump, except that it’s coming from an 'objective' news outlet." Yup. It's pure smirky trolling delivered from one group of liberals to another -- and everyone who's in on the "joke" is smugly convinced that Trump can't possibly last four years, let alone eight. Just like they were certain Trump couldn't win the primary, or the general election, or...well, you get the point. One would think that their capacity for self-awareness, or at least an aversion to endless embarrassment, might kick in at some point. Alas, that lightswitch quite obviously remains stuck in the 'off' position for many. While we're at it, here's a question for NBC: In what possible sense does editing and publishing videos of uniformly anti-Trump school children airing their grievances qualify as "news"? Any chance you'd be willing to release the unedited raw footage, so we can see for ourselves how your crew may have "guided" these kiddos during the production process? And unrelatedly, since AP mentioned snarky DNC press releases, if this is the best they can do, they might want to consider just closing up shop.
One final point on the media: After they all had a good laugh at President Trump's invention of a fake terrorist attack in Sweden (something that he never actually said, but a great many journalists can't be bothered with such details these days), some of the coverage shifted to debunking the notion that migrants are leading to any significant social ills in that Scandinavian country. We've been treated to government statistics showing no measurable uptick in crime since the refugees started arriving, as well as quotes from indignant Swedish officials insisting that everything is fine, and that Trump's full of it. But has there been an increase in crime committed by foreign migrants in Sweden? We don't know because -- ta-da! -- the Swedish government stopped publishing those figures a little over a decade ago. What we do know is that sexual assaults appear to be on the rise, that male "minors" (who face virtually no vetting, leading to allegations of rampant lying about age) heavily outnumber females, and that so-called "no-go zones" are an increasing problem. And let's not forget that in neighboring Norway, things have gotten so bad that the government is paying to teach male refugees why forcible rape is wrong and not allowed. Anyway, just as the media was finishing up its "fact-check" victory lap having created a distinct impression that Sweden is more or less a refugee paradise, reality rudely intruded. This is perfect:
I hope your reporter stuck around. pic.twitter.com/JqMsIhVEcq
— Jimmy (@JimmyPrinceton) February 21, 2017
Swedish police say riots broke out overnight in a predominantly immigrant Stockholm suburb after officers arrested a suspect on drug charges. Spokesman Lars Bystrom said Tuesday that unidentified people, including some wearing masks, threw rocks at police, set cars on fire and looted shops in Rinkeby. One officer was slightly injured when hit by a rock. No arrests were made.
Perhaps Swedish officials were too busy serving up quotes ridiculing Trump to the international press to make any arrests for the violent riot in a Stockholm suburb dominated by migrants. I'll leave you with a flashback to this infamous segment that aired on Australia's version of 60 Minutes last year, in which the camera crew was attacked and harassed by migrants in broad daylight. All is well:
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