The Rutenberg Fake News Manifesto

Yesterday, watching Peter Stryzok testify, I was reminded of this excerpt from Klein's book. Stryzok has a philosophy shared by many liberals and members of the main stream media, If you substitute "FBI agent" for "Working Journalist," one can clearly see Jim Rutenberg's manifesto being acted out by an influential actor in the Hillary Clinton and Donald trump investigations . I wrote about this in my blog back in January 2018.

Edward Klein in his book, All Out War, The Plot To Destroy Trump, is must reading for anyone who wishes to look behind the scenes of all the political intrigue of the past year. While full of amazing insights, the one that struck me most was an article by Jim Rutenberg, the media columnist for the New York Times. What he penned was A Manifesto for the Fake News. Beginning on page 45 is a rationalization for doing wrong. It suddenly dawned on me that this is not only a Manifesto for Rogue Journalists but also applies to many top tier bureaucrats of the Deep State. Here it is....

"If you're a working journalist and believe that Donald J. Trump is a demagogue playing to the Nation's worst racist and nationalistic tendencies, that he cozies up to anti-American dictators and that he would be dangerous with control of the United States nuclear codes, how the heck are you supposed to cover him? Because if you believe all of these things, you have to throw out the textbook American Journalism (FBI rules and regulations) being used for the better part of the past half-century, if not longer, and approach it in a way that you've never approached anything in your career. If you view a Trump presidency as something that is potentially dangerous then your reporting (Investigating) is going to reflect that. You would move closer than you've ever been to being oppositional. That's uncomfortable and uncharted territory for every mainstream, non-opinion journalist (FBI agent) I've ever known, and by normal standards, untenable... But let's face it: Balance has been on vacation since Mr. Trump stepped onto his golden Trump escalator last year to announce his candidacy."

Reading this left me stunned, at first.., but upon reflection it only reflects Rutenberg's honest, albeit, distorted point of view. Everyone should be grateful that he expresses it with such openness and clarity.

If you watched Stryzok and listened to his testimony and observed his body language... you can't help but note the actions and mannerisms of someone who has become unmoored from time tested principles and operated in "Uncharted Territory" motivated by a set of ad hoc, freewheeling and "Untenable" standards. Anybody watching his perfomance, at the very least, must conclude... he's not someone you'd want investigating you.