No doubt President Trump will someday tweet his displeasure with National Public Radio and he will suggest it should be defunded. Before anyone responds with a call for impeachment or a presidential mental health test, let's examine the facts.
Presidents need opposition. Trump has CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC. Plenty of places to try to either hold the president accountable or just try to destroy Trump.
So, what's different about NPR? They use public money to spew their hatred and loathing. There's not a glimmer of fair and balanced. What's more, they are obtuse.
On the afternoon of October 19th, the local NPR (WAMC) aired a segment about a General Electric union worker from Erie Pennsylvania. Yes, that Pennsylvania that Mitt Romney dreamed of turning Republican, but Trump actually did with the help of the working class of Western Pennsylvania.
The interviewer explained that the union worker had been interviewed several other times including the day before the inaugural of Donald Trump. At that time, he had low expectations of Trump. Now, months later, his expectations have been met.
The interviewer asked if there was a renewed optimism. "There's optimism," he whined, followed by the proverbial "... but..." He then went on to explain how Trump promised to bring jobs back but his town has yet to see it. He wanted Trump to bring foreign businesses to town and here now, nine months later no new large-scale businesses have relocated. In fact, General Electric is still moving jobs out of Erie.
The interview ended and NPR switched to the news. The Dow Jones Industrial average is above 23,000. It was at 18,332 on the day of the election. Then they announced that new jobless claims were at their lowest level since 1973.
No irony. The Dow is up 26%. The 4-week moving average of unemployed Americans has been below 2 million for 21 straight weeks. At the time of the election, it was slightly over 2 million. When campaigning, Trump promised if he was elected, we would get tired of winning.
Stock market rising. Unemployment falling, yet after 8 long years of less than 3% annual GDP growth, America is not tired of winning. NPR would probably headline "Trump fails to deliver."
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