wader
Well-Known Angler
'Remarkably poor judgment': Wall Street Journal takes a critical eye to start of Trump's 2nd term
Amid all of the enthusiasm in conservative media for President Donald Trump's first week back in office, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has notably applied some brakes. The Journal has editorialized against Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, called presidential appointee Robert F...
'Remarkably poor judgment': Wall Street Journal takes a critical eye to start of Trump's 2nd term
Amid all of the enthusiasm in conservative media for President Donald Trump's first week back in office, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has notably applied some brakes.
The Journal has editorialized against Trump's pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, called presidential appointee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “dangerous to public health,” suggested Trump give up the effort to end birthright citizenship and twice said he was wrong to strip protection of former officials under threat from Iran.
The newspaper also said that Trump showed “remarkably poor judgment” in selling $Trump brand crypto coins and described as “illegal amnesty” the president's order delaying implementation of a law that would have forced TikTok's shutdown in the U.S.
It stands in contrast to the excitement shown about Trump at some outlets popular with conservatives, including the Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel, which had a segment on Monday about whether Trump's likeness should be carved into Mount Rushmore.
“Trump in four days has cemented his status as the G.O.A.T. — the greatest Republican president of all time, better than (Ronald) Reagan or Abraham Lincoln,” Wayne Allyn Root wrote in World Net Daily. “And I'm writing this on his fifth day!”
There's still some muscle left in newspaper editorials
The Journal is also showing that there is muscle left in the idea of newspaper editorials, after decisions by owners of The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times last fall not to endorse a candidate in the presidential race between Trump and Kamala Harris.
The Journal is a respected legacy news organization. Its news pages are not driven by a political point of view, but its editorial pages have long been a leader in conservative thought. Its editorial writers have praised some of Trump's early moves, including dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and attempts to open Alaska to more development.
On Inauguration Day, the Journal wrote that Trump “delivered a message of aspiration and optimism that most Americans will welcome. If this captures his real plans, he has a chance to leave office in four years as a success.”
But in the details, the Journal has found some of Trump's action wanting. The pardon of Jan. 6 rioters “is a rotten message from a president about political violence done on his behalf, and it's a bait-and-switch,” the newspaper said, pointing to earlier Trump comments that he would be looking at individual cases.
Trump's decision to strip government-paid security from his former aides Mike Pompeo, John Bolton and Brian Hook — all threatened by Iran — “looks like a new low,” the Journal said. “Decisions about security details are supposed to be based on neutral assessments of the danger, not some vindictive whim,” an editorial published on Jan. 24 said.
Fox pointing out the obvious with these machines is what they were guilty of and what you are referring to. The digital trail to who can get into them is hard to prove but they “Fox” really didn’t lie.
