The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page offered a feisty Boxing Day piece on Wednesday lashing into the Washington Post over coverage of President Trump’s Christmastime visit to the troops.
The Journal focused on this piece by the Post’s Philip Rucker and Paul Sonne, citing the opening two paragraphs and accusing it of needlessly working in unrelated Trump scandals into a piece that did not call for it.
“Can anyone reading those opening two sentences wonder why millions of Americans believe Donald Trump when he tells them that he can’t get a fair shake from the press?” the Journal asked. “The point isn’t to feel sorry for Mr. Trump, whose rhetorical attacks on the press have often been contemptible. The point is that such gratuitously negative reporting undermines the credibility of the press without Mr. Trump having to say a word.”
“These reporters can’t even begin a news account of a presidential visit to a military base without working in a compilation of Mr. Trump’s controversies, contradictions, and failings,” the paper added.
The offending paragraphs were quoted verbatim by the journal:
“President Trump touched down Wednesday in Iraq in his first visit to a conflict zone as commander in chief, a week after announcing a victory over the Islamic State that his own Pentagon and State Department days earlier said remained incomplete.
“The president’s visit to Al Asad Air Base west of Baghdad, which was shrouded in secrecy, follows months of public pressure for him to spend time with troops deployed to conflicts in the Middle East and punctuates the biggest week of turmoil the Pentagon has faced during his presidency.”
The story with the passages cited was subsequently picked up by several local news sites like The Oregonian but no longer appeared to exist in any version of the story on the Post’s own site Thursday morning. A look at the Internet Archive’s WayBackMachine reveals the piece was edited after publication, though the original language cited by the Journal appears to have been removed before being archived.
When asked for comment, reps for the Post told TheWrap: “The story was updated as news developed over the course of the day. It presented facts that were accurate and context that was clearly relevant, as evidenced by the president’s own comments to American troops regarding Syria and U.S. military commanders.
“As for President Trump making the trip after criticism for not previously visiting a war zone, the Wall Street Journal’s own news story makes the same point,” the statement added.
Wall Street Journal editorial chief James Taranto also did not immediately respond to an inquiry from TheWrap about the matter.
Happy Birthday, Robert De Niro: Here Are His 10 Harshest Trump Insults (Photos)
Robert De Niro turns 75 today. The celebrated actor has won two Oscars and several other honors. But today, we aren't celebrating his acting; we're celebrating his history staunch disdain for President Donald Trump. Here is a timeline of De Niro's Trump insults, dating back to 2011.
In April 2011, De Niro spoke with NBC's Brian Williams in an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival. This was at the very beginning of Trump's political career, when he was championing the "birther" movement against President Barack Obama.
"I won’t mention any of the certain people on the news in the last couple weeks," De Niro told Williams. "But what are we doing? This is crazy. They’re making statements about people that they don’t even back up. Go get the facts before you start saying things about people."
Though De Niro danced around saying Trump's name explicitly, it's clear from the interview who he was talking about.
"You think you’ve got it bad, [LGBT] community? I don’t think you know what it’s like to be really discriminated against," De Niro joked while accepting an award for Excellence in Media. "I recently turned on the television news and saw this odd guy with little hands, and he was, like, raving. Turns out the ones being discriminated against are straight, middle-aged white men."
GLAAD
During the summer of the 2016 presidential campaign, the revered actor again weighed in on Trump at the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival, where he was receiving a lifetime achievement award.
"I don’t know, it’s crazy that people like Donald Trump... He shouldn’t even be where he is, so God help us," said De Niro
"I think people now are starting to really push back. The media, they’ve given him all this attention and finally they’re starting to say, ‘Come on, Donald. This is ridiculous. This is nuts. This is insane,’" De Niro said. "Cause what he’s been saying is really, totally crazy, ridiculous stuff…he’s totally nuts."
"He’s so blatantly stupid," he said. "He’s an embarrassment to this country... He talks how he’d like to punch people in the face? Well, I’d like to punch him in the face. This is somebody that we want for president? I don’t think so."
Vote Your Future
After the 2016 presidential election, De Niro was angry and shocked -- along with much of America -- that Trump beat democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Last January, De Niro spoke at an anti-Trump rally outside of Trump Tower in New York. "I’m very happy to be here tonight with all of you and all of my overrated friends," De Niro said, referencing Trump's tweet that Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep is "overrated."
De Niro went on to make fun of Trump's tweeting with a series of imagined Trump tweets: "First: ‘De Niro’s career is a disaster. He was passed over for Godfather 4 and Magnificent Seven. Pathetic!'"
De Niro went on to say "[Trump is] a bad example of this country, this city."
"I said that because he said that about somebody, that he would like to punch them in the face," he said. "How dare he say that to the crowd? How dare he say the things he does? Of course I want to punch him in the face … It was only a symbolic thing, anyway. It wasn’t like I was going to go find him and punch him in the face. But he’s got to hear it. He’s got to hear that, you know, that's how he makes people feel."
ABC
Last May, De Niro called Trump's America a "tragic, dumbass comedy" during a visit to Brown University.
And during his acceptance speech at the Film Society of Lincoln Center for the annual Chaplin Award, De Niro called out the Trump administration for its position towards art and other policies.
"The administration’s mean-spiritedness towards art and entertainment is an expression of their mean-spirited attitude about people who want that art and entertainment," he said. "People also want and deserve decent wages, a fair tax system, a safe environment, education for their children, and healthcare for all."
WPRI
At this year's Tony Awards, De Niro used his platform on stage to criticize Trump -- and drop plenty of F-bombs in the process.
"It’s no longer ‘Down With Trump,’ it’s ‘F— Trump," he said. He also referred to the president as “the jerkoff-in-chief” who “has put the press under siege.”
CBS had to later release a statement saying his explicit language was "unexpected."
Getty
Just a few days later, De Niro apologized to Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau for Trump's "idiotic behavior," calling it "a disgrace."
The apology came after the G7 summit in Quebec, which happened days before Trump's historic summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore. The president widely treated the meeting with traditional allies as an afterthought, arriving late to sessions and leaving them early. Disagreements with Trudeau sparked a Twitter tirade from Trump as the summit concluded.
Getty Images
All of De Niro's statements about Trump finally made their way to the White House after the actor's Tony Awards speech got a response from the president.
“I watched him last night and truly believe he may be ‘punch-drunk,'” Trump tweeted. “I guess he doesn’t……realize the economy is the best it’s ever been with employment being at an all time high, and many companies pouring back into our country. Wake up Punchy!,” POTUS went on say in a separate tweet.
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The celebrated Oscar winner turns 75 today
Robert De Niro turns 75 today. The celebrated actor has won two Oscars and several other honors. But today, we aren't celebrating his acting; we're celebrating his history staunch disdain for President Donald Trump. Here is a timeline of De Niro's Trump insults, dating back to 2011.