Opinion — Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded his extensive 300-plus-page report on whether or not the Trump team colluded with Russia and/or obstructed justice with no new charges against President Donald Trump’s associates.
The Trump team did not immediately react to the report and stayed quiet on Twitter, which he uses quite often.
Political comedian Lee Camp, host of Redacted Tonight, outlined just how harmful the media has been on the Russian collusion issue by treating Trump and Russia’s guilt as a foregone conclusion for two years. The collusion narrative was spurious in spite of being repeated relatively often by the media. It’s so much worse when it receives round-the-clock coverage and all of the hype was based on very little.
Camp explains the harm done by the mainstream media: MSNBC, especially Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd, have been on the warpath pushing this Russiagate conspiracy theory, at the expense of countless actual news stories. He tactfully points out:
I’m not saying that Trump isn’t corrupt, but by creating this laughable and baseless conclusion about Russian collusion, that has now been completely and utterly refuted, the Democrats, the faux resistance and our media have caused deep harm.”
Camp laid out several additional points about how the media has been a complete failure in covering Russiagate:
They have made it appear as if Trump has the moral high ground and has been the victim of a witch-hunt, for two years. This gives him a great platform for re-election.”
If Trump getting another term as president isn’t bad enough, Camp’s next point is far more disastrous for mankind as we know it.
Number 2: They have put the two most heavily armed countries in the world at the brink of nuclear war. Two minutes to midnight, according to scientists [referring to the doomsday clock put out by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists].”
This is legitimately scary. We are at the same level of a threat of nuclear war as we were during the height of the Cold War. Camp has more points about how this type of reporting is harmful:
Number 3: They took all airtime away from how Trump, the GOP and the corporate Democrats are destroying this country, extracting the resources and ensuring our environmental collapse.”
To bring it all home, Camp refers back to point one but with added commentary:
Number 4: They have made Trump’s endless lies seem legitimate, because his claims that he has been targeted by a lying media have been proven completely correct. But most importantly, they have made it super awkward for me to show off my Anna Kornikova tattoo I have on my inner thigh…”
He motions towards his crotch and speaks of how people may think he’s a Russian agent when really he “likes tennis and [is] a creepy old man.” There’s nothing like a good joke during a news show. It’s important when watching the news to be able to tell the facts from fictions.
Which is not true of U.S. cable news media. They just tell a lot of fiction, or fake news as we know it.
Camp moves on to explain the real issues of the 2016 election that led to Trump’s presidency and Hiilary Clinton’s loss:
It boils down to the point that Russia hacked the DNC servers. Which has not been proven at all. In fact…former head of the DNC, Donna Brazile, said that they destroyed the servers before the FBI could examine them….does it mean they’re under investigation? Nah i think they just like to destroy servers…”
He continues a tirade about the laughable ad and influence campaign supposedly funded by Russia. The summation of his argument should be enough to shake any “true believer” out of their cold desolate Siberian fever dream:
Trump has sucked for Russia. He bombed Syria. He’s trying to create a coup in Venezuela, he’s expelled Russian diplomats, he backed out of the INF treaty [Intermediate Range Nuclear Arms Treaty], sent weapons to the Ukraine. He’s sanctioned Russia more than Obama ever did… If we’re going to survive climate change and continued environmental collapse we’re going to need cooperation with other countries…not punching each other in their dingle sticks.”
Both Venezuela and Syria are key Russian allies.
It’s stuff like the artful use of the phrase “dingle sticks” that gets viewers to watch Camp’s show. The other comedians with news shows, like Trevor Noah and John Oliver, have donned their one-size-fits-all tunics adorned with corporate logos and have tried to nab the best seats at the seance of Mueller.
When only Mueller’s arm appeared holding a 300-page report with the phrase “no collusion” stamped on it, the comedians and media personalities cursed their former idol for doing his job and Meet the Press moderator and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd had to shave his goatee because he lost a bet. That seems like a pretty light bet, unless you know what’s under Chuck Todd’s goatee.
Top photo | A screenshot from Lee Camp’s Redacted Tonight.
Nick Rehwaldt is a MintPress News intern. He is an author, artist, and standup comedian focused on political issues, with much of his material ripped from the headlines on any given week. He’s also a proud non-voter and global citizen who happens to live in the U.S.
