Interviewed by former Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod on CNN, actor Tom Hanks offered his sage wisdom regarding President Trump’s labeling of left-wing media institutions as “fake news.”
Axelrod commented, “… the president has targeted news organizations that have printed things that he finds inconvenient, unflattering — “
Hanks interrupted, “I believe he called CNN ‘fake news.’”
Axelrod concurred: “He did indeed. And The Washington Post.”
Hanks, echoing: “And The Washington Post.”
Axelrod: “And other news organizations as well. How much does that concern you?”
Hanks, noted Constitutional expert:
Well, as an American, it concerns me, because it’s monkeying around with our Constitution. It’s relatively obvious, I think, as what is trying to go forward. When you tear down these institutions to a level and say you can’t believe anything that is in any of them, that raises the stock of those agenda-filled other institutions and what not so that if you can’t believe them, well that means you get to believe some of the other stuff that is in these and so what is happening is that dilution, the dilution of the great … they’re throwing dirt and oil into a bucket of water. So it all becomes undrinkable after a while.
Of course, in positing that the claims of “fake news” were utilized so that that other media would gain credibility at major media’s expense, Hanks was ignoring examples like these:
ABC News’ Brian Ross alleging incorrectly that Donald Trump “as a candidate” directed Michael Flynn to reach out to the Russians; Joe Scarborough tweeting a misleading quote from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); the media trumpeting that poor Americans will be hurt by higher taxes from the GOP tax reform plan; MSNBC’s Joy Reid falsely claiming that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies claimed that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, and TIME claiming Trump made it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns.
But then, if you’re on the Left, everything from left-wing media sites seems on the up-and-up.