Our news media – as always – remains light years behind the curve on the biggest story any of them will ever cover. Unfortunately for us, it’s also the same story we are living through. You’d think a story about treason would inspire journalists to heights of greatness. Alas, Donald Trump befuddles them and always has. Look how long it took them to call him a liar even after he’d lied to them every day. Trump was openly criminal most of those days, too – at the very same time. This, too, now is slowly dawning on our news media. But, Trump couldn’t pull it off alone. Nearly the entire GOP still has his back. Especially Kevin McCarthy. This goes way beyond mere criminality. What’s bizarre is, the press reported it years ago! Kevin McCarthy can’t be Speaker Of The House because he’s a traitor!

Here’s a Letter To The Editor I just sent the Washington Post.

In it, I demanded that they revisit a story they published on May 17, 2017 wherein current GOP Leader – and Speaker Of The House candidate Kevin McCarthy expressed his belief that Trump – their about to be potus nominee – posed a grave national security threat to a ROOMFUL OF REPUBLICAN LEADERS.

People Putin Pay…

“There’s two people I think Putin pays,” said McCarthy upon entering a meeting of GOP leaders, “Rohrbacher and Trump – swear to God!”. The date – JUNE 25, 2016 – a month before the Republican Party will go on to NOMINATE Trump to be their candidate. McCarthy had just left another meeting where they discussed Russia’s ongoing attempts to undermine Ukraine’s fragile, burgeoning democracy. McCarthy’s gut told him Trump was dirty beyond words. He’d pose a massive, incalculable national security threat. How could he not if there was even the slimmest possibility that “Putin pays Trump”?

And yet…

No one in that room doubted McCarthy or his accusation. It stood unchallenged. Hell, McCarthy threw in the “Swear to God” because his accusation drew a bunch of nervous laughter. McCarthy hadn’t just said something absurd. He’d spoken out loud a dirty secret.

Then Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan asserted what passes for “leadership” in the GOP. He insisted they all keep this terrible secret a secret – from the rest of us. They knew – at the very least, they suspected – that their presidential nominee was corrupt and a traitor to boot!

Kidding…

I don’t know… call me crazy. That sounds fairly explosive – even more so in hindsight. Events fairly scream from the rooftops: “Kevin McCarthy is a traitor!”

And yet…

The WaPo has, in essence, NEVER FOLLOWED UP its question. Oh, sure, at the moment the WaPo’s story dropped, a few “intrepid” reporters asked McCarthy about it. “I was kidding,” he told them. And that was that. Even in the moment, it was crap journalism and even crapper storytelling.

This paying news consumer has had enough!

Does our news media not know how to aggregate a story? Why do they think they have to re-set the meter every day back to “Square One”? Does “press neutrality” mean “press amorality”? It ain’t the same thing. Or has “both sides do it” brand journalism corrupted their sensibilities completely?

The Letter…

“Dear Washington Post:

This subscriber demands to know why you don’t read your own coverage. Do yesterday’s stories fail to exist in your heads? Do you not know how to aggregate stories? I don’t know how else to explain your refusal to revisit one of your own stories when, clearly, circumstances DEMAND that you do so!

On May 17, 2017, you published a story by Adam Entous: “House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump”. In it, Entous reported having heard A RECORDING of a conversation held nearly a year before – on June 25, 2017 – between GOP leaders.
Current GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy left a meeting wherein he learned Putin was actively working to undermine Ukraine’s fragile, burgeoning democracy. He entered a meeting of GOP leaders with “There’s two people I think Putin pays – Rohrbacher and Trump – swear to God!”

None of the GOP leaders there questioned McCarthy – or demanded to know why he said such an outrageous thing about their POTUS nominee. They laughed nervously before then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan put the subject to bed for good. They were not going to discuss the accusation that their potus-pick posed a grave national security threat. As Ryan says IN YOUR ARTICLE – “No leaks. . . . This is how we know we’re a real family here”.

No leaks about a terrible secret.

In your defense, a few “intrepid” reporters did question McCarthy in the aftermath. They accepted McCarthy’s “I was kidding” explanation. Oh dear – is that what passes for journalism? It must be so because he said it was so? In retrospect, I don’t think McCarthy was kidding. Or knows how to kid. Here’s a thought – while McCarthy’s preening and pitching to become Speaker Of The House, ask him. Follow up on your question and then refuse to accept obvious lies for an answer.

This reader demands that you revisit this story if only to demonstrate a modicum of journalistic integrity. It’s the reason I subscribe to you (in theory). Please set this right. You owe it to us – and to the Constitution that says you owe it to us.

Alan Katz

Please demand that the Washington Post follow up their story. If Kevin McCarthy really wants to be Speaker Of The House, first, he needs to clear up this piece of “old business” – the part where he started of KNOWING that Donald Trump was a traitor.