It has become obvious over the years that some prominent members of the establishment media have nothing but disdain for their fellow Americans who adhere to religious beliefs, and those media figures have become increasingly emboldened in displaying that utter contempt for all to see.
You can count Chuck Todd of NBC’s “Meet the Press” among that dishonorable group, as he decided on Sunday morning to mock Christians who accept the Biblical account of Noah’s Ark as believing in “fairy tales” and therefore being susceptible to believing the supposed many lies told by President Donald Trump, The Blaze reported.
Todd’s remarks came during a discussion with the executive editors of The New York Times and The Washington Post as he read portions of what he described as a “fascinating” letter to the editor from a Lexington, Kentucky, newspaper that sought to explain why some voters still believed the things that were said by a purportedly dishonest president.
Conservative media watchdog Newsbusters took note and shared Todd’s recitation of the letter, tweeting, “Chuck Todd plucks a Letter to the Editor to make the point that voters want to be lied to…especially numbskulls who believe fairy tales like Noah’s Ark. If it’s Sunday, it’s contempt for religious people.”
Chuck Todd plucks a Letter to the Editor to make the point that voters want to be lied to…especially numbskulls who believe fairy tales like Noah’s Ark. If it’s Sunday, it’s contempt for religious people. pic.twitter.com/l022cz8p9l
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) December 29, 2019
Todd read, “Why do good people support Trump? It’s because people have been trained from childhood to believe in fairy tales. … This set their minds up to accept things that make them feel good. … The more fairy tales and lies he tells the better they feel. … Show me a person who believes in Noah’s ark and I will show you a Trump voter.”
The host added that the letter reminded him of something his producer used to tell him, which was, “Hey, voters want to be lied to sometimes. They don’t always love being told hard truths.”
Both of Todd’s guests — executive editors Dean Baquet of The Times and Martin Baron of The Post — seemed to push back against the assertion that voters wanted to be lied to, with Baron even suggesting that the president’s supporters deserved more respect than they have received from “so-called elites” in the media and political establishment, like Todd.
Baquet said, “I’m not quite sure I buy that,” and noted that history is full of politicians lying to people. He further stated that he believed people didn’t want to be lied to but rather merely “comforted” by politicians, and that he viewed it as the media’s job to interject itself into those moments to point out that sometimes those comforting things were also sometimes untrue.
Baron was a bit more to the point in pushing back against Todd, and said, “I think we have to be careful. I don’t want to be dismissive of people who support the president. I think they are owed our respect, and they certainly have mine.”
“They feel that the so-called elites in Washington have not paid attention to them, that they don’t understand their lives, they don’t understand their concerns — and they’re not being heard,” he said.
“And they feel that the president is actually listening to them and addressing their concerns, and so they tend to believe him and they’re deeply suspicious of so-called elites, like us — at least people who are described as elites — and so they turn to him.”
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Setting aside the somewhat surprising commentary from the newspaper editors (for what it is worth, Baron seems to get why Trump’s supporters stand up for him) the remarks offered up by Todd seemed to fit the bill of the Washington elitist who ignores the beliefs and desires of his fellow citizens who happen to vote differently than he does.
Rather than take the time or expend the effort to try to understand why people voted for Trump and still continue to support him — in spite of constant smears launched by Todd and his media comrades — they would rather diminish and mock those people’s fervently held beliefs as mere “fairy tales” and characterize them as naive fools susceptible to blatant falsehoods that make them feel good.
Todd apparently needs to be reminded that just because somebody holds different ideological or religious beliefs doesn’t make them less of a person or worthy of being mocked and dismissed.
Perhaps if Todd would descend from his ivory tower, exit his liberal bubble and actually engage with people with divergent views, he might come to understand that for himself. It also wouldn’t hurt if he had just a little bit of his own faith in something greater and higher than the almighty progressive state to which he has apparently pledged his undying allegiance.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.