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from https://www.newsweek.com/guide-how-liberal-media-moved-goalposts-hunter-bidens-scandals-opinion-1820654

A Guide to How the Liberal Media Moved the Goalposts on Hunter Biden's
Scandals | Opinion
Published Aug 18, 2023 at 4:54 PM EDT
Updated Aug 20, 2023 at 11:51 AM EDT
By Stephen L. Miller
host, Versus Media Podcast on Substack

Something surprising happened early Thursday morning: The New York
Times' hit podcast, "The Daily," addressed the metastasizing Hunter
Biden scandal. Since the President's son left a laptop containing
damning evidence both personal and professional in a computer repair
shop, the liberal mainstream media has done its best to bury its head in
the sand when it comes to Hunter's crimes and misdemeanors. They
dismissed Hunter's laptop Russian disinformation. They argued that
Hunter's crimes of lying to acquire a gun and cheating on his taxes
would have been thrown out of court had they been committed by anyone
else. And they routinely ignored Hunter Biden's penchant for influence
peddling to America's foreign adversaries.

So it was surprising so see the liberal media take a turn this week,
admitting something that's been obvious to the rest of us for years
which they worked so hard to suppress. But the reversal, too, follows a pattern. The media is not only adept at hiding from the truth; when it
can no longer be denied, members of our legacy press simply move the
goal post.

The pattern has three steps: First, they call the story they don't like
fake news or disinformation. Next, they admit it's happening, but they
argue it's no big deal. Finally, they pivot to their favorite
whataboutism: But what about Trump.

You can see the media following this pattern on any number of issues
they've gotten wrong, but nowhere is it as clear as it's been with the
Hunter Biden scandals. Here is a breakdown of the media's evolution when
it comes to Hunter Biden.

Step One: It's Fake News

The media and the Democrats' first step whenever anything comes out that
paints their side in an unflattering light is always the same: This
thing isn't happening. It's fake news. It's Russian disinformation. It's
a conspiracy.

That's what Joe Biden told the country from the presidential debate
stage regarding Hunter Biden's laptop, which we now know was already in possession of the FBI for over a year when the President told that lie.
Biden called the laptop a "Russian plan" and a "bunch of garbage" that
"nobody believes."

And from Biden, the canard spread downward to legacy media outlets
across the nation: "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of
former intel officials say" was the headline from Politico in late
October of 2020. "50 former intelligence officials warn NY Post story
sounds like Russian disinformation," The Hill informed readers. So
effective was the media's conviction that 41 percent of Americans still
believe the laptop was Russian disinformation, despite the fact that the
people who made up the canard have been exposed as working hand in hard
with the Biden campaign.

Biden to this day has not had to account to the American people for
lying about the laptop—a key piece of evidence guiding the IRS and DOJ investigation against Hunter Biden. But it was far from the only lie.
President Biden also claimed he never spoke to his son regarding
Hunter's business dealings, which have now come under the lens of
federal prosecutors—another claim repeated ad nauseum by the liberal
media. In April of last year, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
stood by that claim, and despite what we now know, was given a cushy
hosting gig at MSNBC.

"The president has said that he never spoke with his son about his
overseas business dealings. Is that still the case?" Fox News
correspondent Peter Doocy asked Psaki at the time.

"Yes," Psaki replied.

Did you get that? It never happened.

Hunter Biden with his father, President Joe
Hunter Biden with his father, President Joe Biden. TERESA KROEGER/GETTY
IMAGES FOR WORLD FOOD PROGRAM USA
The problem for the Democrats and their media allies is that their
narratives are often undone by more evidence coming to light. This
happened in the Hunter Biden case recently when Devon Archer, a former
business associate of Hunter Biden, testified before Congress that as
Vice President, Joe Biden had been put on the phone 20 times with
Hunter's business associates connected with foreign governments. And
it's this kind of evidence that forces the Democrats to move on to the
next stage, moving the goalpost from "It's not happening" to "So what if
it is?"

Step Two: "So What?"

The "So What" stage, also known as the "Everyone Does It" or the "It's
No Big Deal" stage, is where the media starts to minimize the wreckage.
That's why in recent weeks, you've started to hear media pundits saying
some version of, "Okay, President Biden did talk to Hunter Biden's
partners, but he never discussed business with them." This is the hedge
you now get from White House Press Secretary Karrie Jean Pierre as well
as Democrat Party allies of the President. Rep. Daniel Goldman, for
example, made the false claim on July 31 that the President "never
claimed" he has not spoken to any of Hunter Biden's associates. He even concluded it would be a "preposterous premise" to not have
meet-and-greets with those associates.

This is the normalization process they turn to when someone on their
side is caught out misbehaving: Everyone does it, it's no big deal, who wouldn't do it? In other words, "This thing we told wasn't happening
actually is happening and everyone does it."

Thus, former Vox journalist and TwitterX clip editor Aaron Rupar
tweeted, "I can't believe the children of famous and powerful people
never thought of cashing in on their family name until Hunter Biden".


The goalpost has been moved from "This isn't happening" to "Everyone
does it, it's a nothingburger!" Washington Post's Philip Bump offers a masterclass in this with recent headlines like, "Where's the bribe,
James Comer?" and "The GOP 'bribery' allegations against Biden remain transparently thin" from this past June.

But sometimes the evidence is too strong even for "Everyone is doing
it," like the latest revelations that as Vice President, Joe Biden
apparently use of the pseudonym "Robert L. Peters." That's when they
turn to the last stage: Trump.

Stage Three: "But Trump"

When every goalpost has been moved as far as they can move it, the media
and the Democrats will simply settle on "But Trump," the last refuge of
their gaslighting. They do this rather than concede any character flaws
of the current president, who was specifically elected to not be Donald
Trump.

Which brings me back to the New York Times podcast. In finally
acknowledging that a plea deal to keep Hunter Biden out of jail over his crimes, the host and his guest immediately pivot, arguing that Hunter
Biden wanted immunity as part of his plea deal "because if his father
loses re-election and Donald Trump becomes President, Donald Trump has essentially said he will use the Justice Department to prosecute his
political enemies," says Times journalist Michael Schmidt. Trump wants
to use the DOJ to pursue his political adversaries, you see. "One of the
most important things that I think gets lost in the shuffle of Trump is
his desires to use the powers of the federal government proactively
against those he doesn't like," says Schmidt, in one of the greatest
acts of journalistic projection perhaps ever performed.

Because of course, it is President Biden who has been using the DOJ to
pursue his leading political adversary, with the help of the media. Make
no mistake about it: The wall to wall coverage of Trump's endless indictments—each of which came on the heels of a Hunter Biden
revelation—is the manifestation of stage three of moving the goalposts.

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The DOJ Announced New Charges Against Trump—to Distract From Hunter Biden When it comes to President Biden and his ties to his son's business
dealings, the media for now has settled on the fact there is no smoking
gun pointing directly at the President, even as his son and extended
family members collected millions of dollars from Russian, Ukrainian,
and Chinese state entities. The existence of emails, WhatsApp messages,
text messages, witness testimony under oath, and whistleblowers
testifying to Congress has forced them to move from "Russian
disinformation" to "So what" to now "But Trump," which they're going
hard at.

It's all they have left. The timing of the Trump indictments should
remove any doubt that Trump's primary role now is as a distraction for
the Democrats and their obedient liberal press.

Stephen L. Miller has written for National Review, The Spectator, the
New York Post and Fox News, and hosts the independent podcast Versus
Media on Substack.

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

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Stephen L. Miller
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charliehorse
20 August, 2023

Extraordinary blindness is required to believe that there isn't enough
evidence to implicate the entire Biden Crime Family. History is being made.


Emmanuel Goldst
19 August, 2023

So in other words, the conspiracy that the media was actively lying to
the country was fact all along, got it.


USA
20 August, 2023

Lost is the fact that leftists don’t care. Obama knew of Biden’s plagiarism, his corrupt son, and his bribery schemes. Obama saw the
video where JoBi got the Ukrainian prosecutor fired. Obama knew not only
was Hunter on the Burisma board but so was John Kerry’s stepson. Obama
knew of HRC’s Russian hoax. But you see, the “fundamental
transformation” of America came first, just ahead of the Obama’s
amassing a huge fortune. Greed, jealousy, and hatred are the left’s
great motivators, and the left is encountering only tepid and futile
resistance in the wanton destruction of what used to be America.


Djaymick
20 August, 2023

Everything the media says is a lie. It’s time to hold their feet to the fire. The American public should demand who all the “unnamed sources”
they used to perpetrate the “Russia collusion” hoax. They are liars and don’t get anonymity from the press. They used their positions in the government t...


USA
20 August, 2023

Let’s do this:

Try Trump for 91 felonies in DC

Try Joe and Hunter, as well as all other Biden’s who received money, for treason, bribery, tax evasion, money laundering, and racketeering in
Oklahoma


K Hodges
21 August, 2023

You just need some EVIDENCE first.


jim
20 August, 2023

Trump had the chance to use the Justice Department to prosecute his
political enemies when he took office, yet he did not lock Hillary up.
It woud have been very easy to do, and turns out to be his biggest
mistake as POTUS. He vastly underestimated how evil the swamp is.

Instead, by the time he aske...

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