Trump’s criticism of The Washington Post is warranted

by Walid Phares

President Trump’s exposure of The Washington Post may be part of Washington’s politics nowadays. The once mainstream and centrist daily has changed. It has shifted toward the radical side while maintaining the appearance of professionalism and journalistic style. The Post, though traditionally on the center left, has been publishing political attacks which in the 1990s would qualify as “militant” or toeing the party line. Trump is definitely changing the political landscape with his tweets, but the Post also changed from centrist journalism to “activist website” mode. The form and format of the paper and its stories may resemble how they are traditionally known to be, but the substance has been radicalized. 

Last year The Washington Post opened its pages to hysterical smears against me after I was appointed as one of Donald Trump’s advisors. The smearing parties, known for their support of the “Iran Deal” and their sympathy to Islamists, used the same exact material as was used by pro-Iranian regime propagandists in 2011 when I was appointed as presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s national security advisor. But then it was Mother Jones, a far fringe radical weekly. Nothing from these 2011 attacks had any link to reality, and critics of Mother Jones, including individuals the publication wrongly quoted to attack me, decisively demolished the 2011 smear attempt. Stunningly, the “serious and prominent” Washington Post imported the exact same discredited Mother Jones piece and re-published it under a different name four years later after my new appointment. Unfortunately, the mainstream WaPo became a new Mother Jones in 2016. The paper has since, unsuccessfully, tried to obtain interviews and quotes from me. They lost access to significant analysis and assessments—even though they may not agree with the source—because they acted erratically and unprofessionally. 

I understand the frustration of President Trump when he labels the “fake news.” For I, even at my modest level, had to deal with their “fake news” hit piece last year. Unless the paper reforms and comes back to the serious and centrist positioning it was known for, they will be losing more and more access to real life assessment and diverse opinions. It should be beneath The Washington Post’s stature to cater to the Iranian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, two fascist parties unworthy of partnership with a so-called US mainstream daily.