Conservative media decry Capitol riot, but grievances remain
Violent protesters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)NEW YORK – Media outlets that appeal to conservatives offered condemnations, explanations and deflections following the U.S. Capitol riot by President Donald Trump's supporters, but little introspection. Several figures in conservative media suggested liberal politicians and mainstream media outlets are more outraged when Trump supporters are violent than they were about civil rights demonstrations last summer. “Were left-wing provocateurs leading the way into the Capitol?” questioned Thomas Lifson of American Thinker. Many conservative media figures have sold themselves as truth-tellers and admitting error isn't good for business, said Brian Rosenwald, author of “Talk Radio America” and a scholar in residence at the University of Pennsylvania.
Does Electoral College end election for conservative media?
“As conservative media proliferated, it put a lot more pressure on the hosts to move to the right and embrace warfare politics,” Rosenwald said. This is a business.”Hemmer said she expects the Electoral College vote will begin to shift the narrative from “the election is undecided" to “the election was stolen.”The difficulty of that transition was evident in coverage of the Electoral College voting. With Congress meeting Jan. 6 to formally count the Electoral College vote, Kelly said, “the way I read it, we won't have a president-elect until then.”CNN treated it like a second election night, keeping a running tally of Electoral College votes on the screen. The Electoral College vote led Bret Baier's newscast, which was not a given considering COVID-19 vaccinations began Monday. Meanwhile, daytime anchor Bill Hemmer's hourlong newscast didn't even mention the Electoral College.
Trump, still not conceding defeat, trumpets vaccine progress
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, said Trump is “not even at that point yet” when it comes to conceding to Biden. Trump spoke with conservative media on Friday, including Fox News' Geraldo Rivera, suggesting he would acknowledge the loss only after exhausting his legal options. “While we are not there yet, we are close to the objective” to having a vaccine ready for deployment by the end of the year, he said. “The governor will let us know when he’s ready," Trump said. Others at the party also have tested positive, including White House political director Brian Jack, former White House aide Healy Baumgardner and Trump campaign advisers David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski.
Documentary tries to prove existence of dead Lincoln photo
“I've seen enough of these things to know that this is a whole lot of hysteria about something that is not Lincoln,” said Harold Holzer, whose 1984 book, “The Lincoln Image: Abraham Lincoln and the Popular Print,” traced the 130 known photographs of the former president. Braun goes through a lengthy process herself, consulting with facial recognition experts, medical experts, a ballistics expert, Lincoln scholars and descendants of Ulke. The facial experts said the man in the image had a slight scar under the lip consistent with one Lincoln had. The image has been seen by several people in the community of Lincoln experts and is not believed, Holzer said. In one of the last photographs of Lincoln taken alive, his once-full beard was wispy, almost a goatee, he said.