Ari Fleischer served as White House press secretary for President George W. Bush. Now, as a consultant and political commentator, he is shining a spotlight on the media in his latest book, “Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias: Why the Press Gets So Much Wrong ― and Just Doesn’t Care.” He joined Liz Collin Reports to discuss the book and his upcoming visit to Minnesota.
On the book he said:
“Not only has our country become more polarized, the press has become more polarized. When I was press secretary, the press was always liberal. Everybody knew it. They were liberal and you sort of just had to do your best and deal with liberal reporters. But they held themselves up to a standard that their jobs were still supposed to be fair and independent and down the middle and they would be tough on both sides. Well, that’s been abandoned. You now have a mainstream media which consists of the elite, New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, certainly MSNBC, all of whom have become activists for a cause.
“My book has example after example of where, when the two parties do identical things, the press covers the Democrats with sympathy and they cover Republicans with a sledgehammer. Republicans get it. It’s one of the reasons why the press is in such an amazing, huge decline everywhere. The mainstream media is dying. They really can’t change and it’s why they don’t care.”
On his predictions for the presidential election next fall, he said:
“I think … a number of Republican candidates are going to start to drop out in October, November. So, the Republican field will shrink. Then, I think you’re going to have either Nikki Haley, Tim Scott or Ron DeSantis. I don’t count Ron DeSantis out yet … the key for anybody who wants to see if Donald Trump can be defeated is, will enough drop out after New Hampshire? That’s a one-on-one race. If Tim Scott and Nikki Haley stay in, it’s a dream come true for Donald Trump. Any one of those three could be in a fair fight and defeat Donald Trump. Donald Trump could defeat any one of those three, but at least it’s a fair fight. That is going to be a changing landscape on the Republican side.
On the Democratic side, I think the Democrats are committing political malpractice by not having any viable alternative if Joe Biden trips, falls, or gets ill. He’s going to be 82 in the election year and I would think the Democrats would want a primary to have a new generation and let the Democratic voters pick. They’re seriously one injury, one problem away from saying we’re stuck with Joe Biden and he’s their weakest candidate they could put up. So, I’m amazed at the political malpractice they’re committing.”
Fleischer will be the keynote speaker at the MN GOP Elephant Club Fall Dinner on Monday, Sept. 18 at the Radisson Blu, Mall of America. More information can be found here.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
