Mona Charen is right

      Below is, first,  the text of my letter to the local newspaper in response to a reader's letter on the op-ed page. 

     The gist of the letter was that he disagreed with a recent Mona Charen  column, citing her belief in the absolute  propriety of the main stream media holding Donald Trump responsible for his falsehoods and defending themselves against the "fake news" allegations. The writer alludes to his own experience in broadcast local media news as proof of his high ground and the correctness of his point of view, which is, apparently, that the main stream media are the true purveyors of fake news, stating that, in his opinion, there should be no editorial response to Trump's lies and that they (main stream media) are the root cause and originators of fake news, not Trump or any Far Right Media source.  Implicit in his screed is his opinion that responding to blatant and public record lies, as well as a multitude of accusations against their integrity,  should be beyond the reach of mainstream media.  Ms. Charen is a conservative, but fair minded columnist, and on the editorial board  of the National Review, America's pre-eminent conservative main stream news and opinion magazine. My letter follows:

     "A recent letter took issue with  Mona Charen's  column of several weeks ago, written from a respected conservative writer's point of view, defending mainstream media and the legitimacy of editorial reporting, proffered as such. The writer disagreed however, stating that the media's job is only to "report facts", and cites his own media experience as proof of his bona fides. If he didn't then accuse mainstream media of "fake news" he might be semi credible. Blaming  mainstream media for the invention of the Trump and Breitbart propaganda machines, voids any claim to be simply a neutral observer.

      Reporting when the nation's chief executive tells demonstrable lies which are categorically  controverted by public record is, in truth,  precisely what the mainstream press should do. It is also factual. If mainstream media failed to report the more than 60 direct, deliberate and categorical lies (not to mention the over 800 gross distortions of reality (aka "fake news") which Trump has been caught in over just the first six months of his tenure, then and only then, would they not be doing their job.

      One is left to assume that the writer's media experience must have been with Breitbart, Fox News, or a similar organization. It is worthy of note that the current civility breach between the Executive Branch and media began with the Far Right press's stunned disbelief and angst surrounding Barack Obama's election and reelection, and rapidly spiraled downward into multiple ludicrous allegations, largely ignored by a President who understood his job wasn't to pick fights with the press, but to govern. The current holder of the nation's highest office, on the other hand, continues flailing aimlessly, firing staff who refuse to be sycophants, retaining those who toady appropriately, and generally behaving like a petulant 10 year old schoolyard bully."   

          What preceded is the letter to the paper limited to 300 words. Below is a prescient quote from one of the icons of late 20th century conservatism, William F. Buckley.  

'Look for the narcissist. The most obvious target in today’s lineup is, of course, Donald Trump. When he looks at a glass, he is mesmerized by its reflection. If Donald Trump were shaped a little differently, he would compete for Miss America. But whatever the depths of self-enchantment, the demagogue has to say something. So what does Trump say? That he is a successful businessman and that that is what America needs in the Oval Office. There is some plausibility in this, though not much. The greatest deeds of American Presidents — midwifing the new republic; freeing the slaves; harnessing the energies and vision needed to win the Cold War — had little to do with a bottom line.'

     Buckley is gone, and for the most part that's not all bad, since except for the dress and black pumps, he and Ann Coulter were virtually indistinguishable.  I'm not as  sure about other body part related issues. Yet, even this ultra conservative Far Right bellwether  (Buckley, in case you're still laughing about the Coulter comment) saw Trump as he was , and is. Sad, isn't it, that so many Americans for so many bad reasons , many of them character flaws, fell for the Trump travelling sideshow?"