The last couple of days have been fascinating to watch.
As someone who grew up around journalists, it's a surreal experience watching reporters and commentators all weigh in on a story with zero actual evidence.
I am of course referring to the allegation that Donald Trump disparaged America's World War I dead while in France more than two years ago.
Yes, breaking news from two years ago!
The curious thing is that no one will go on the record about it. Not only are the allegations from "anonymous sources" so are the supposed confirmations.
Meanwhile, the documentary evidence says it never happened. Even Trump's arch-enemy John Bolton called the allegation absurd. He rightly notes that if it had happened, he'd have done a whole chapter about it in his tell-all book.
This is supposed to damage Trump's standing with veterans, but the actual effect is to further wreck the press' credibility. Trump's veneration of the military and especially wounded veterans is beyond question. Yet the press (and their handlers in the Biden campaign) seem to think this will crater that support.
This is of course nonsense because in order to make the case that Trump disrespects the military, the press must itself disrespect the military.
The pilots, aircrew, command elements - all of these people who can attest to the truth must necessarily be denounced as corrupt liars with no sense of honor in defense of sources who may not even exist.
I've seen some stupid moves, but this is a strong contender for Dumbest Line of Attack Ever.
Indeed, Biden is leading with his jaw on this, because Trump can rightly counterattack by asking where Slow Joe was as American troops were being slaughtered in Benghazi, or why did the Obama administration fix the VA?
Thousands of veterans died due to the Obama administration's ineptitude and their response was to simply cover it up. Add into it the number of military members killed on Biden's watch without achieving a single strategic gain and you have an excellent issue for the Trump campaign.
Finally, if the press must go all-in on a coordinated lie, to do so this early - so that the outrage is fresh in the public mind well before October - is a colossal blunder.
I'm sure there will be more where this came from, though. These people learn nothing.
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