Ryan Felton and Kaveh Waddell wrote a piece for a glossy magazine that prides itself on “unbiased product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy.” Titled “How to Handle Post-Election Misinformation, Even With a Presidential Winner Declared,” the writers were not only incredibly biased but dead wrong. Who knew Consumer Reports would play a significant role in revisionist American history?
The editorial, peppered with the “debunking” of facts, promoted big tech’s tireless efforts to censor conservatives. Additionally, it explained why voter fraud, allegedly, does not exist.
Sen. Mitt Romney
Felton and Waddell appear to have invented constitutional amendments and states’ laws, bullet-pointing said inventions to make it easier for the low-information portion of their readership. They merged falsehoods and misinformation, almost as if they had no idea of what they were trying to convey. Perhaps because both investigative journalists are of the radical left variety, having written for several hardcore progressive outlets, reality isn’t their thing.
Proving the lack of realism, they resorted to quoting the ultimate RINO Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who tweeted: “The President is within his rights to request recounts, to call for investigations of alleged voting irregularities where evidence exists, and to exhaust legal remedies.” The authors must have assumed that their bases were covered, then, to claim nonpartisanship.
Has Any “Journalist” Consulted The Constitution?
The article begins with a broad-brush stroke of mendacities designed to set the stage for a more leftist opinion. Assigning authorities to third parties – where none legally exist – the boys claim Trump has no footing for a voter fraud election do-over. Then they doubled down, inventing credibility for the media, specifically: “even after news outlets including the Associated Press, Fox News, and NBC called Joe Biden the winner in the presidential race Saturday morning,” the pair opined.
Again, it appears as though these two individuals ditched civics class for a venti skinny caramel-mocha-latte at the corner coffeehouse. News outlets do not have any authority to declare any candidate a winner — from the United States president to dogcatcher in the tiniest of towns.
The United States Constitution does, however, confer that authority in words that even a fifth-grader can comprehend – namely, Article II. There are 538 people who determine the winner:
“Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress … The Electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.”
Seriously, this is the way it’s done – and has been for well over 200 years – whether the millennial crowd understands or appreciates this process or not.
Cutting The Truth From The Herd of Misinformation
Under the sub-heading of “False Claims of Ballot Errors,” Waddell and Felton imply conspiracies are running amok and permeating media platforms. They list one or two posts where folks got it wrong or were “discredited” by a left-leaning politician.
The writers forgot to point out that voter fraud incidences have been well documented. And the software used in many counties across the country experienced glitches that reversed the winner when rectified.
Conveniently, it wasn’t mentioned that in Pennsylvania, 10,000 ballot requests were from folks 95 years of age and older – like way older – and requested online. Obviously, the Keystone State is a hot mess when it comes to election day.
The article’s main focus was upon Facebook and Twitter’s heroic efforts to stop the spread of what they deemed misinformation. The reader is instructed to “double-check sources!” And yet the authors again forgot to point out the use of anonymous sourcing that the elite media tends to use when dealing with rumor and innuendo.
Beyond The Constitution – Responsibility
For a magazine founded on bringing honesty to the American consumer, Consumer Reports should get unsatisfactory grades in factual reporting.
The Fourth Estate is no longer the esteemed ferreter of facts or trumpeter of truth. Long gone are the days of Walter Cronkite who reported the news and not his opinion, the Woodward and Bernstein duos, the prestige of the Gray Lady. Not in the age of Trump.
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