The media is letting Trump off the hook

Once more, Trump's enemies in the media are actually his best advantage. They're letting him off the hook for the Stormy Daniels affair because they prefer the salacious to the troubling substance.

Thread on the #StormyDaniels affair, and why it's another teachable moment as to why @realDonaldTrump often escapes accountability BECAUSE of the media hunting him.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Much of the coverage of this story, or at least much of it that has gone viral, has been of a salacious nature. From CNN visiting a strip club where Daniels was performing, to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell basically pleading for penis pics on the air.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

This tactic is ineffective at best, and hypocrisy at worst.

Here's why.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Since the Clinton years, these same networks -- and some of these same anchors -- have been working feverishly to convince the American people the private morality of their politicians no longer matters.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

So in many respects, they are victims of their own success here. It's an effective tactic to try and hang your opponent by a standard you have already defeated in most of the culture. Most Americans are yawning at this because this same media conditioned them to.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Furthermore, it's hypocritical to attempt to judge someone by a standard you aren't willing to be judged by. That's actually what Matthew 7 (otherwise known as every post-modernist's favorite Bible verse) is really about. Trump is just living out the sexual revolution here.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Now, if Obama or any other Democrat president were mired in such a scandal, would every Christian pro-family group in America be birthing a cow right now? Golly, I don't know. Does a bear poo in the woods?

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Except, again, how is a hypocritical media going to effectively call out Christian hypocrisy (or vice versa)? Beelzebub cannot cast out Beelzebub. Therefore, this story's only impact is to reinforce each side's negative perceptions of the other.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

However, that doesn't mean this isn't a potentially damaging story for the president, though not in the salacious way it's mostly being pursued.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

There are two unsettling questions here that need to be investigated, because they go right to the heart of the rule of law. Not to mention entanglements that could be used as leverage against elected officials.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

1) By being the president's private attorney while he was campaigning, Michael Cohen is essentially a campaign operative. He even appeared on TV as a surrogate during the campaign.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Therefore, could his admitted hush money payoff to Stormy Daniels be considered a campaign contribution of some kind? And if so, was it disclosed? And if it wasn't, does that mean POTUS filed a false disclosure(s) with the FEC?

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

2) Without looking it up, I have to believe it's likely Cohen may have run afoul of attorney ethics laws/rules by paying off someone threatening to expose his client -- whether the client knew or not. And again, Cohen has admitted he paid her.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

Of course, a Congress operating a bi-partisan slush fund, paid for by taxpayers to keep sexual misconduct allegations quiet, may not be eager to investigate such a matter -- regardless of who's in control. Skeletons, closets, etc.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

But as long as most of the media wants to essentially act as Stormy Daniels' agent, nothing will come of this story and he remains Teflon Don.

— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) March 11, 2018

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