The media are supposed to keep watch over our politicians – a responsibility so critically important, our Founders enshrined its protections in the First Amendment – but they are embarrassingly failing at that job when it comes to Donald Trump. Once again, Trump has pushed an easily-dispelled lie about an important endorsement, and the media were slow to apply the skepticism that is, by now, clearly warranted.
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Late Tuesday evening, Bloomberg reported that Speaker Paul Ryan was “ready to end” his impasse with Trump and endorse him, citing “two people close to the lawmaker” and Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort as sources. These sources claimed that Ryan was “worried the split has sharpened divisions in the Republican Party.”
Likewise, ABC cited “senior-level Trump campaign sources” in their story saying that a Ryan endorsement was imminent, possibly coming during a press briefing the Speaker had scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Bloomberg and ABC were far from alone in reporting that Ryan was planning to endorse Trump on Wednesday, and that the Wisconsin Congressman had expressed regret over his delay in unifying the GOP by endorsing Trump.
But a wave of updates slowly spread through these media reports as the day progressed, because Ryan’s press secretary AshLee Strong was diligently emailing the nation’s political press corps (including in response to Heat Street’s inquiry) the same message:
“There’s no update and we’ve not told the Trump campaign to expect an endorsement. He’s also not told anyone he regrets anything.”
Ryan himself held a press conference Wednesday afternoon in which he expressly stated that he was not ready to endorse Trump, and wouldn’t be rushed into it. “I have no timeline in mind,” he said.
In response to speculation that Trump was trying to put pressure on him to endorse, Ryan scoffed that “none of that stuff really gets to me…I’ve been around a long time.”
To recap: Ryan did not endorse Trump yesterday, refuses to be rushed into it, and is feeling completely Hakuna Matata about unifying the party behind Trump.
Instead, his office pushed out a one-minute video that slammed the “bitterness in our politics,” which he described as from both sides but that certainly includes swiping at Trump, and defined the solution as “leadership.”
Ryan told reporters that House Republicans will be rolling out a six-point poverty and opportunity policy agenda after the Memorial Day recess. Ryan also denied that Trump had any involvement in formulating this agenda, responding to a reporter’s question that Trump was “familiar” with what they were doing.
None of this sounds like someone who is fretting over falling in line to endorse Trump.
The way that the media rushed to report that Ryan would be issuing an endorsement without first checking with his office is especially embarrassing in light of other stories from just this month.
As Heat Street reported on May 6, Trump not only lied about Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wanting to be his vice president, he completely fabricated the phone call between them. Multiple sources told this reporter that Rubio was “absolutely not” interested in being Trump’s running mate, and that it was not true that Rubio had been supportive, because the two men had not actually spoken. Rubio had been busy on an official Congressional visit to the Middle East. Rubio himself affirmed that he was not interested in being Trump’s VP in an appearance on Jake Tapper’s CNN program.
Just a few days later, Heat Street reported that once again, Trump had not only lied about a fellow Republican being supportive, but had made up the conversation – this time about Speaker Ryan. Brendan Buck, Ryan’s chief communications adviser, emailed Maggie Haberman of the New York Times and denied the phone call had happened.
Covering Trump accurately does not require Sherlock Holmes level detective work. At bare minimum, it requires remembering that just within the past month, Trump has lied – repeatedly – not only about fellow Republicans offering their support, but has fabricated entire conversations that never even took place.
It’s embarrassing to see reporters rush to report that some big name Republican is going to endorse Trump without any of the skepticism that is so well-earned.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (“Who watches the watchers?” or “Who guards the guardians?”) asked the Roman poet Juvenal centuries ago, rendering a phrase that has been used in modern times to examine how we hold powerful people accountable. If a billionaire presidential candidate can habitually and blatantly lie without being questioned, then perhaps we need new watchers.
Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter: @rumpfshaker.