A smear, the dictionary says, is a word or statement applied to a person in order to degrade, blacken, or make unjust or unfounded accusations. The lead in today’s New York Times, a story titled “How Tulsi Gabbard Became a Favorite of Russia’s State Media,” is a textbook example of a smear. Relying on guilt by association, reading into similarities between her opinions and those of U.S. adversaries, assuming the worst of her while taking her enemies’ statements at face value, and twisting reality into a pretzel to normalize insanity and marginalize the facts, the Times piece shows you how state-sponsored media propaganda works in the real world, in this case as part of a concerted effort to sabotage President-Elect Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence. Missing, by the paper’s own account no doubt in order to avoid another costly libel lawsuit, is any evidence that Gabbard is a “Russian asset” or has done anything wrong at all. Times editors obviously assume that few readers will read beyond the headline or, if they do, will read with the skeptical eye of a veteran journalist.
On today’s The TMI Show, co-hosts Ted Rall and Manila Chan dissect the smear campaign against Gabbard in order to showcase how “mainstream” corporate media outlets undermine reputations and lives.
During the campaign, President-Elect Donald Trump promised to bring a rapid conclusion to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that began in 2022. But most Americans aren’t aware of how or why the war began in the first place. Now the waters are getting further muddied by a decision of President Biden, a lame duck with just two months left in his term, to allow Ukraine to fire long-range American missiles deep into Russia itself.
The world of politics, as well as the globe writ large, was shaken to its neoliberal foundations this week by the surprise victory of Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who did not qualify for debates and was accorded little media coverage, in the campaign for American president. Stein, a 74-year-old physician, will mark a trifecta of history as the nation’s first woman, Jew and third-party victor since 1860 to become commander-in-chief.
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