Mainstream Media Refuses to Label Biased Judges and Prosecutors as Democrats 

Sharp-witted conservatives will notice that whenever Democrats or the media mention the House Oversight Committee, there’s always a reference to it being a “Republican-led” committee. The practice echoes back to Clinton-era investigations when the name of Kenneth Starr, the conservative lawyer who compiled the Starr report used to impeach former President Bill Clinton, was rarely uttered without the dismissive term “Republican Independent Counsel” in front of it. 

Words are powerful, and what is left unsaid can affect an audience as much as what is said. By refusing to label President Donald Trump’s legal persecutors as Democrats, the media can blanket the entire circus as a legitimate process.  

Conservatives know what lies at the foundation of Trump’s legal battles. Liberals don’t care, and even more alarming, don’t care that they don’t know. But they willingly consume the news about the latest Trump court case, feeling vindicated that a man they dislike is losing everything. They have no idea that a corrupt Democratic machine is running the entire fiasco. 

And that’s exactly the way liberal news organizations prefer it. 

According to a recent study from the Media Research Center, most Americans are unaware that Trump’s courtroom is stacked with anti-Trump, anti-Republican judges and prosecutors with serious conflicts of interest in the cases. Letitia James, the New York Attorney behind the Trump “fraud” conviction, is a Democrat who campaigned entirely on a promise to destroy one man. 

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan refuses to recuse himself from overseeing Trump’s hush-money case despite glaring conflicts of interest arising from his daughter, Loren Merchan, and her connections with Democratic entities. She is the president of Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm representing top Democrat clients like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and the Senate Majority PAC, a major party fundraiser. These Democratic clients have raised at least $93 million in campaign donations from the trial. 

Fanni Willis made headlines with her affair and payouts to fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade. Trump’s lawyers have raised concerns about a previously unknown conflict of interest between E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer and the judge presiding over her defamation case against Trump. And the list goes on. 

For those paying attention, it’s a story of weaponizing the justice system to remove a political rival from the arena. For those not paying attention, it’s an unbiased comeuppance for an arrogant Trump. 

The second scenario has been encouraged by a duplicitous media that refuses to characterize Trump’s persecutors and judges as what they are – Democrats bent on Trump’s destruction. The only way they can downplay the importance of politics in these legal battles is by refusing to acknowledge them as politically charged in the first place. 

NewsBusters’ executive editor Tim Graham explains that how news outlets talk about the legal actions against Trump often makes it seem like those involved are impartial public figures. But really, it’s Trump being challenged by elected Democrats like the New York Attorney General or the Manhattan District Attorney. “They’re not just Democrats. They’re elected Democrats, building a career on taking down Trump,” he said, adding, “Leaving that out of the story is irresponsible.” 

A case in point is the nightly news coverage of District Attorney Fanni Willis. Out of almost 150 news blurbs from NBC, ABC, and CBS, only 5% of the coverage identified her as a Democrat. Per MRC’s recent studies, 95% of the networks refused to mention her party affiliation. 

The hush money case, regarded among Democrats as the first real Trump case with “teeth,” is another glaring example of news organizations white-washing the truth. The majority of evening news coverage across ABC, CBS, and NBC omitted the fact that District Attorney Bragg is a Democrat. Out of 163 stories, only 17 mentioned Bragg’s party affiliation. ABC mentioned it once, while CBS failed to disclose it in its 48 stories. NBC mentioned Bragg’s party affiliation in 16 out of 59 stories, or less than 30% of its coverage. These omissions occurred in nearly 90% of the evening news stories about Bragg’s indictments against Trump. 

Likewise, New York Attorney General Letitia James was seldom referred to as a Democrat. The MRC study revealed that out of 105 stories across ABC, CBS, and NBC, James was identified as a Democrat only nine times, one of which was a quick on-screen note that ABC displayed for less than two seconds. 

To the average uninformed and trusting Democrat, it might seem that Trump is facing his fall at the hands of an impartial justice system. For those paying attention, however, it’s an unprecedented Soviet-styled persecution of a political rival. The power of the narrative lies in the media organizations tasked with covering it, and they prefer to keep the truth hidden.