Fake news makes 2018 feel like Orwell’s 1984

We are living in the end times – or so you might think, if you believe the alt-left broadcast and cable-news networks.

Just consider what life must be like now in Washington, D.C. – dark clouds perpetually “looming” over the White House, “bombshells” full of “explosive revelations” continually going off.

Of course, most of the bombshells turn out to be duds – remember NBC’s scoop about the FBI wiretaps on Michael Cohen’s phones? But you almost never see the correction or retraction, because there usually isn’t one.

Most outlets just quietly delete the fake news and pretend it never happened.

It’s 1984 in 2018. Orwell seems more prescient than ever, and he never even heard of CNN or MSNBC. And by the way, have you ever seen any fake news that made Trump or Republicans look good, as opposed to bad?

So, do you consider yourself up to speed on the canons and clichés of fake news? Could you be the next Joy Reid, or Mark Halperin, or Brian Williams? Can you concoct anti-Trump “news” out of thin air and run with it, breathlessly, for hours on end? Do you watch Michael Avenatti and think, “I could make up bleep on TV too, just like him?”

Well, let’s test your cable-news cliché acumen with this little quiz.

If Trump fires Mueller, what kind of crisis will it provoke? (A constitutional crisis.)

If Mueller is fired, what will people take to? (They will take to the streets.)

What kind of lawyers has Mueller hired? (Career prosecutors.)

At the State Department, who is appalled by the new administration? (Career diplomats.)

For extra credit, write me a Washington Post-like sentence spinning the Deep State line about what will happen if the FBI is forced to admit that it corruptly engaged in illegal domestic police-state spying on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.

“Information being sought by the Republican Congress could risk careers, I mean lives, by exposing top-secret Russian-connected dirty tricksters – er, dedicated career intelligence sources, by crossing a red line and compromising vital national security about Democrat smear campaigns, according to a source, uh multiple sources, who gave thousands of dollars to Obama and Clinton and are now worried about being indicted and losing their phony-baloney hack jobs texting back and forth with their plain-Jane girlfriends and pretending to be cops and spies blah blah blah….”

Left-wing agitprop being peddled by the media’s Democrat coat holders is nothing new. How long have teachers’ unions been demanding more money “for the children?” When hasn’t the infrastructure been “crumbling?” Illegals always live “in the shadows.” When the Democrats are in power, the homeless disappear. Gas prices only rise under the GOP. Any bad economic news under the Democrats is “unexpected.”

When a Republican politician is arrested, his party affiliation is included in the lede, if not the headline. If he’s a Democrat… no mention until the 10th paragraph, if at all.

But it’s gotten worse since Trump Derangement Syndrome became an epidemic. The country is closer than ever to full employment and the Democrat operatives with press passes are complaining that Trump’s economic policies are causing… labor shortages.

Or consider the North Korea story. A month ago, the plagiarists, tax deadbeats and sexual predators of MSNBC were warning us that Trump’s bellicose rhetoric about Kim Jong-Un as Little Rocket Man would lead to World War III.

Then Trump gets the hostages released and Sen. Chuck Schumer starts thundering that the president is being too polite to dictators. This is the same Schumer, by the way, who railed against the Iranian nuclear deal, until Trump deep-sixed it, after which Schumer blasted him for doing exactly what he’d recommended that Obama do.

Back to the quiz:

What kind of compass does Trump lack? (A moral compass.)

Where is the president’s sanity being questioned? (Globally.)

What kind of past is Trump trying to return the nation to? (An ugly past.)

What is it called when Republicans cave to Democrats? (A compromise.)

What do you call Democrats screaming at Trump voters and calling them every name in the book? (A national dialogue.)

How do you describe a Republican who attacks Trump? (Thoughtful. He evolved… he grew.)

What do you call enforcement of immigration laws? (Racism.)

Is that who we are? (That’s not who we are.)

What kind of immigration reform is Trump opposed to? (Comprehensive.)

What kind of gun control is Trump determined to stop? (Common sense gun control.)

In the so-called investigation of the non-existent Russian collusion, what must we get to? (We must get to the bottom of it.)

What about all the positive news coming out of Washington – how would you describe it? (A distraction, a deflection from the really important stuff, you know, like Stormy Daniels.)

How underfunded are government programs under Trump? (Chronically underfunded… starved for revenue.)

Describe the Trump administration in one word. (Embattled.)

What condition is the White House staff in? (Turmoil, chaos.)

How do you explain away hypocrite racist Democrat pervs like Eric Schneiderman? (Who?)

What are all these polls showing Trump as more popular than Obama? (Outliers.)

After all these years, and millions of dollars, where does Mueller’s fake investigation stand? (The investigation continues.)