(Win McNamee / Getty Images)
From mid-December 2018 through early March 2020, Mick Mulvaney, a former member of Congress from South Carolina, served as President Trump’s acting chief of staff.
On Mulvaney’s watch, the White House took a wrecking ball to checks and balances by vowing to defy all congressional subpoenas.
On Mulvaney’s watch, the Trump administration launched an unconstitutional attack against the process to conduct a fair census.
On Mulvaney’s watch, at least 25 administration officials received security clearances that should not have been granted based on the recommendations of intelligence officials.
On Mulvaney’s watch, Trump ignored numerous warnings from health experts about the severity of the coronavirus. More than 970,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
And yet, in spite of this record, CBS News made the decision to reward Mulvaney with a gig as a paid contributor. I’d expect this move from a Trump-aligned propaganda medium like Fox News. But from CBS News? Give me a break.
Exposing the American people to such pathological liars and despots is an act of journalistic malpractice. What allowed Trumpism to rise in the first place was the media’s misguided notion that “both sides” deserve equal airing and footing even when one side is flagrantly violating the law and lying.
(emphasis mine, RK)
CBS’ decision is even more disappointing when you consider the state of global affairs and the role that Mulvaney played in shaping them. As the Washington Post reported in the fall of 2019, “President Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to hold back almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine at least a week before a phone call in which Trump is said to have pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate the son of former vice president Joe Biden, according to three senior administration officials.”
CBS News is acting as the reputation launderer for a member of the White House Cabinet who was central to the scheme to extort from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Is that really the type of commentator or analyst that an audience can trust?