The Washington Post’s Renewed Attack on Whistlblowers
The Washington Post’s schizoid approach toward whistleblowers continues unabated. On the one hand, its news staff has effectively used authoritative leaks to expose the bizarre and possibly illegal contacts between senior members of the Trump administration and high-level Russian officials. On the other hand, its editorial writers maintain an ugly campaign against U.S. officials who have kept the Post and the New York Times aware of the dangerous antics of Donald Trump and his senior staff. Post oped writer Michael Gerson has provided the latest example of the paper’s criticism of those whistleblowers who allow investigative reporters to do their constitutionally-sanctioned job.
First of all, some background on Gerson. In January 2002, President George W. Bush told Gerson, his chief speechwriter, that the U.S. public had to be prepared for war. Gerson immediately instructed David Frum to “provide a justification for war” by linking the 9/11 attacks to Saddam Hussein. Gerson and Frum drafted the most memorable speech of the Bush presidency, the 2002 State of the Union address, which falsely linked North Korea, Iran, and Iraq in an “axis of evil” that threatened world peace. Frum’s original draft referred to an “axis of hatred,” but it was Gerson, an evangelical Christian, who substituted “evil” for “hatred” in order to pander to Bush’s ideological orientation.
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