Gayle Trotter is furious that Beltway media is not giving Donald Trump more praise for the assassination of Soleimani, going so far as to complain that it is not being called the "anti-Benghazi."
She even calls the attack "surgical" and does not like the description of the whole thing as chaotic, even though Trump: (1) took this action without consulting Congress; (2) almost 60 Iranians were killed at the funeral due to Trump's actions; (3) 10 missiles were fired at U.S. military bases just days later; and, (4) 170 innocent Canadians, Ukrainians and Iranians were killed when a plane was shot down. All of this is due to Donald Trump's CHAOTIC action. But you know, "ant-Benghazi" or something.
Oh, and Beltway media is "shilling for Tehran."
Here is what was said:
TROTTER: I would say not. They're continuing to portray it as chaotic and that there's no long-term strategy. The most important thing in reviewing the media coverage of what transpired this past week is that the media has not shown, hasn't reflected this is the anti-Benghazi. 1 Our embassy was attacked. We responded with lethal force immediately in a very surgical attack, and unfortunately in this week, we've seen that the mainstream media has been shilling for Tehran's autocratic regime --
KURTZ: Wait, wait, stop you on that, shilling for Tehran's regime?
TROTTER: The Washington Post called Soleimani the most revered military leader. The New York Times had similarly flattering reports about Soleimani, and they talked about -- The New York Times in particular talked about Soleimani dedicating his life to the iranian national security, and yet this is a man who's responsible for the deaths of 600 Americans and injuries of thousands --
KURTZ: I would just say some of that was trying to portray how he was viewed in Iran, although obviously there were mixed feelings in Iran.
To be clear, stating that Soleimani was the most revered leader IN IRAN by IRANIANS does not mean the Washington Post views him this way. The NYT posting "flattering" reports from the perspective of Iran does not mean they are taking that position. It means they are reporting on different perspectives. From the view of many in Iran, he was revered. Not by all Iranians, because like America, we have different groups and different perspectives. But his death DID unite the country, as was apparent at the funeral when millions took to the street.
1Editor's Note: Gayle Trotter has been a charter member of Ginni Thomas' Groundswell messaging effort and as far as we can tell, still is. Given that the Groundswell group was largely responsible for the framing of Benghazi as some dreadful failure of Hillary Clinton's, it's unsurprising that they have a strong desire to frame Trump's assassination as the anti-Benghazi.
