Pollak: The Stunning Synergy

[Ubiquitous]

The Atlantic published a story Thursday evening that claimed President
Donald Trump called the fallen American soldiers in a World War I
cemetery “suckers” and “losers” in 2018. The author, Jeffrey Goldberg,
cited four anonymous sources.

Nearly a dozen current and former Trump administration officials
disputed the story. One, notably, was John Bolton, the former national
security adviser who says he will not vote for Trump. “I was there,” he
said, and “I didn’t hear that.”

Other claims in The Atlantic story are refuted by documentary evidence.
The article claims, for instance, that Trump refused to visit the
cemetery because the rain would ruin his hair. Bolton’s tell-all book
said otherwise; so do official documents.

What is more interesting than the details of the story is how it was
produced, and how it was rolled out. It has the appearance of a well-
coordinated, well-executed campaign of disinformation, utilizing the
full toolbox available to the Democratic Party.

The article was published Thursday evening. By Friday morning, a left-
wing group called Vote Vets had not only produced an ad based on the
article, but had aired it on Morning Joe — MSNBC’s early-morning
flagship news and opinion show.

Meanwhile, the article spread across social media like a brush fire in a
derecho. It trended at the top of Twitter; it was shared widely on
Facebook, all without any of the “fact checks” that typically accompany
disputed news reports on such platforms.

The Biden campaign issued a statement Thursday night — “If the
revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true” — and held a press
call Friday morning. The call featured, among others, Khizr Khan — the
Gold Star father who attacked Trump in 2016.

A short time later, Biden himself held a press briefing on the U.S.
economy. Though he was expected to discuss the August jobs report —
which came in better than expected, at 1.4 million jobs added — he led
with an angry tirade about the article.

At the end of his presentation, Biden turned to his campaign staff, who
chose which reporters would be allowed to ask questions, and in what
order. The first question went to Edward-Isaac Dovere, who writes for —
surprise! — The Atlantic.

Dovere asked, “When you hear these remarks — ‘suckers,’ ‘losers,’
recoiling from amputees — what does it tell you about President Trump’s
soul, and the life he leads?” It was a setup for Biden to attack Trump
over The Atlantic allegations again.

None of the other questions asked were challenging in any way; all
appeared to be setup questions for Biden to attack Trump or to clarify
some lingering problem — whether he had been tested for coronavirus
(yes), where his running mate was (busy).

No one asked Biden whether it was appropriate to attack Trump based on
an unconfirmed report. No one even asked Biden about his economic
policies.

What we witnessed Thursday night into Friday morning was the deployment
of the Death Star — the full Democrat-media complex on display,
coordinating journalists, outside political organizations, tech
platforms, and unnamed military sources.

It may be no coincidence that retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal — who was
fired, ironically, because he had disparaged President Barack Obama and
Biden — now advises a firm using military technology to help Democrats
produce propaganda.

It took weapons-grade skill to produce a story that, while unprovable,
had the ring of truth to those eager to believe it (it “resonates,” said
NBC’s Peter Alexander, whether it was true or not) and to make it the
dominant story of the news cycle — on a day when the jobs market
rebounded and Trump brokered a historic deal between Israel and Muslim-
majority Kosovo.

Goldberg — the unofficial stenographer of the Obama White House — was
just a vehicle. The real story is much bigger.

The same machine that created and promoted The Atlantic piece will be
sure to produce others.

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"It took a worldwide pandemic. It took a 35% plunge in the stock
market. It took quarantining. It took many small businesses closing. It
took canceling practically everything, to bring the USA economy back to
the Obama high mark."