Media Shamelessly Advances 'Trump's America' Lie From Biden Campaign | Opinion

For months, the national media has largely ignored the sustained violent activism plaguing Democrat-run cities. When they do cover these events, it's portrayed the same way Democratic lawmakers—and the Biden campaign—have chosen to describe them: as "peaceful protests."

But after four effective days of coverage from the Republican National Convention (RNC), shining a spotlight on what's actually happening, suddenly Democrats are striking a different tone.

Now, the Biden-Harris ticket, along with their surrogates, claim the violence in Portland, Kenosha, Seattle, Chicago and the nation's capital are President Donald Trump's fault. This is happening, they argue, in "Trump's America."

The leftists in national media, of course, happily forward the very same dishonest talking point. It will gloriously backfire.

On NBC's Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd finally tackled the rioting after a deadly night in Portland that left dead someone who appears to be a Trump supporter. He asked Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, if Trump should bear responsibility: "This in Donald Trump's America. How much responsibility should voters be giving the president for his inability to...keep the streets safe?"

Over at CNN, they do much the same. Struggling to make his point, perhaps because he knows how dishonest it is, host Anderson Cooper stumbled his way through the same "this is Trump's America" talking point. He then used the same talking point the following morning to set up a softball question to Biden, who responded that the "video [of violence] being played is video being played in Donald Trump's America."

This talking point is transparently dishonest and offensively dumb.

Literally all of the sustained rioting and other violence has occured in Democrat-run cities. The federal government does not have jurisdiction to always send in the feds to wander rioting streets and quell the civil unrest. If Trump did always have such authority and if he acted upon it, he'd be called a fascist. Indeed, Democrats already call him just that. Trump has offered help many times to cities and states that are dealing with these issues.

In Portland, feckless Mayor Ted Wheeler bragged about smugly rejecting Trump's assistance in an August 28 letter that he posted to Twitter. He told the president, "We don't need your politics of division and demagoguery."

That night, activists gained entry into Wheeler's condo, where they occupied the lobby. The next night, after trying to forcibly stop Trump supporters from protesting, a man in a conservative Patriot Front hat was shot to death.

This is Trump's fault?

After the president's RNC speech, mobs of far-left activists harassed and assaulted cops and conservatives leaving the White House. Other mobs spent Saturday night harassing D.C. diners who are supporting restaurants struggling to stay open amidst a pandemic.

This is Trump's doing?

Trump has not just been rebuffed by progressive mayors. His offers of help have been met with insidious claims that Trump is really just practicing a dry-run for martial law, in the event he were to lose the election. And the media has been there to dutifully forward that dangerous claim.

To be fair to national outlets, not everyone got the memo that Biden-Harris is shifting from "peaceful protests" to "Trump's America." Naturally, there will be some lag and confusion.

On CNN, liberal analyst Kirsten Powers ludicrously claimed that "there's very little rioting" and this is all just a narrative fabricated by Trump and Republicans. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow asked Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to fact-check claims about Seattle.

"I mean, [Trump] tried to make it sound like there were mobs rampant throughout Seattle. That's not the case," Durkan said.

Two nights prior to those comments, a mob used quick-dry cement to seal closed the door to a police station while then trying to set it on fire in an attempt to burn alive the officers inside. About two hours after Durkan's interview, there was a mob of activists destroying businesses, with one vandal caught by police with a Molotov cocktail.

So, which is it? Is it "Trump's America," or is everything fine in our cities?

When Trump has gotten involved, there have been results. That is Trump's America. After a deadly night in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers finally accepted Trump's offer of help. The result? Peaceful protests and a mayor who credited federal law enforcement for its help.

But it's not just about federal law enforcement. It's about prosecutions.

Many areas, including Portland and Seattle, have local prosecutors who seldom prosecute crimes associated with anarchist criminal activism. Under the Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. attorneys have stepped up. In Seattle alone, there have been five recent federal charges (two in the last week) brought against criminal rioters in a county and city that almost never prosecutes activist crimes.

These successes don't get much—or any—airtime by most national outlets. In Biden's America, as Trump argues, the offers of help would not be made and the DOJ would not prosecute. The very activists out on the streets committing acts of domestic terrorism would be the ones influencing Biden about his political appointments to positions of power.

Voters are smart enough to realize that Trump and Republicans were virtually the only ones decrying the rioting, looting, property destruction and murder. Biden-Harris and almost every Democratic politician completely ignored it. The few who didn't—like Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)—encouraged more unrest. As for the media? It pretended it wasn't happening even as the American people saw endless footage on social media.

Jason Rantz is a frequent guest on Fox News and is the host of the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH Seattle, heard weekday afternoons. You can subscribe to his podcast here and follow him on Twitter @jasonrantz.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.