The "Facts" of the Matter

It was only yesterday that I wrote a blog titled “Just the Facts, Ma’am” suggesting that we needed to be careful about what we hear, the words we say, what we read, etc., for it matters and it matters a great  deal.   It was only yesterday that we heard from several people who sat together in the same room in the same meeting with a half-dozen others and came away with different stories of what transpired there.  President Trump said he “did not use this language.”  Senator Durbin reported in person that the President said things that were “hate-filled, vile and racist.”  Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue wrote a statement saying, “In regard to Senator Durbin’s accusation, we do not  recall the President saying these comments specifically…”  Senator Graham, in a written statement said, “I said my piece,” to whatever it was that he heard the President say at the meeting.  There you have it—the “facts” of the matter.

It was reported by CNN and other networks yesterday that the ambassador to Panama had resigned over differences with the Trump Administration.  CNN and others clearly stated the resignation had been announced in December 2017.  An MSNBC producer mistakenly tweeted that the resignation was a result of Trump’s alleged profanity in Thursday’s closed-room meeting, and then deleted the tweet after learning the facts.  FOX News reported on the MSNBC blunder.

Former President Obama told David Letterman, “One of the biggest challenges we have in our democracy is the degree to which we don’t share a common baseline of facts…If you watch Fox News, you are living on a different planet than you are if you are listening to NPR.”  Fox News reported, “The response got a big round of applause from the presumably liberal crowd…Obama has a long history of taking shots at Fox News but the recent comment marks his first public attack on the network and its views since leaving the White House.”  Isn’t that an interesting fact?  

Fox News reports House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes told Republican colleagues in two closed-door  meetings this week that he has evidence that shows clear  and major “abuse” of government surveillance programs by FBI and Justice Department officials.  Have you heard this from any other source?  Is it true?  Where is the evidence?  Nunes promises to share it with all members of congress soon.  There you have it—the “facts” of the matter.