Daily Kos: The New York Times' impeachment coverage devolves into Republican talking points [View all]

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Firmly adopting Republican spin as the best way to view the House impeachment of Donald Trump, The New York Times in recent days appears to have forfeited much of its news coverage to the GOP. Adopting Republican talking points that impeachment is "a political plus" for Trump; "risky" for Democrats; that the White House’s impeachment war room is humming on all cylinders; Democrats are in danger of devaluing impeachment; and that nobody can really tell which party has the facts on their side, the Times is doing the GOP an incalculable favor by refusing to be aggressively honest with readers about the historic events that are unfolding.

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The case of impeachment is even more incendiary because not only are Republicans stuck in obstruction mode, but they've dived headfirst into the swamp of conspiracy and lies and refuse to engage in a public debate on the facts. Remember, Trump has admitted to pressuring the Ukraine government to launch a bogus investigation into Trump's political rival at home, yet Republicans now routinely parade in front of microphones categorically denying Trump ever made any such public admission. Given that behavior, you'd think the dominant media narrative would be about how radical and detached from reality Republicans have become, and what the deep and lasting implications are for our democracy.

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Wallowing in Both Sides journalism, the Times recently insisted impeachment is playing out against a backdrop where "conspiracy theories are everywhere and conspiracy theorists are in the White House and Congress." But of course, the Times cannot point to a single "conspiracy theory" at the heart of the Democrats' fact-based impeachment claim against Trump. Indeed, most of the wrongdoings that Democrats claim are things that have happened in plain sight, or have been reported by officials in Trump's own administration. By contrast, the entire so-called Republican impeachment defense is built on a completely debunked lie about how Ukraine worked on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.

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With the House poised to impeach President Trump on a mainly party-line vote and Republicans already threatening retribution, fears are mounting that presidential impeachment might, like the filibuster, become a regular feature of America’s weaponized politics, with members of the party out of the White House but in control of the House routinely trying to oust a president they find objectionable.
That's literally a Republican talking point—Democrats are “normalizing” impeachment—which the Times typed up in the form of analysis.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/16/1905944/-The-New-York-Times-impeachment-coverage-devolves-into-Republican-talking-points?detail=emaildkre