For 15 years I worked at the Washington Post, and I can say without hesitation that I have never met a more talented group of journalists who are relentless. I was in the Post newsroom when Jayson Blair was pushing out fake pieces for the New York Times about the Washington, D.C., sniper, and Post brass were going nuts believing that an out-of-town reporter was beating them in their own backyard.
It was Post reporters and editors who steadied the ship and assured the higher-ups that the stories Blair was producing weren’t where their reporting was leading them. Those reporters and editors worked long hours, stayed later and came in on days off to make sure that everything put into print was right.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has been tireless in his attack on the media. He’s called the media and the stories they’ve produced “fake media” and claimed to be “failing” any news outlet that pens a piece he doesn’t find flattering about him or his administration. I can’t speak for all journalists, but I can say that the people I know at the Washington Post and the institution itself don’t take kindly to this presidential bashing of who they are and what they represent. To date, the Post is the only newspaper in the country that has taken down a president, and I can assure you that those reporters covering the White House would love nothing more than to do it again.
Late Thursday, the Post released a scathing report that not only are Trump and his team trying to undercut special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, but they are also literally Googling for whom Trump can issue pardons and how.
I’m not sure how The Root got this photo, but we have actual footage of Trump Googling “pardons”:
The Washington Post story notes that Mueller is looking deep into the Russia rabbit hole and wants all of it: Trump’s taxes, Trump’s business associates, his dealings with and in Russia. He wants to lay to rest the claims that Trump and/or members of his Cabinet colluded with Russia. The obvious question here is, if Trump has nothing to hide, then why is he so bothered by Mueller’s investigation?
Those of us who didn’t vote for this large orange mass of hate know the answer in full: Trump and Russia are fucking! Like a spouse who’s been cheated on, non-Trump Americans know full well when something doesn’t smell right. We know that when Trump started staying late after work and trying to lose weight, he was dating Russia. We know that when Trump got a second credit card that didn’t have our name on it, he was meeting Russia at a hotel downtown. We know what cheating looks like.
But make no mistake about it: Trump has brought this on himself with his boisterous tweets and his “I don’t have a care” attitude. The walls are closing in on this wasted administration, and hopefully we can get this marriage annulled because we haven’t been together that long. The lesson here is, don’t poke the bear, especially when the bear has brought down a presidency much stronger than yours.
Read more at the Washington Post.