Simon: Trump Derangement Syndrome Caused CNN Mistake

A top conservative writer told “The Ingraham Angle” on Friday night that hatred of President Donald Trump caused CNN to make yet another big mistake.

“I think there is a real psychological component in this,” said Roger Simon, the former CEO of PJ Media. “Why do intelligent people make so many mistakes? The reason, I think, is Trump derangement syndrome. These people hate Trump so much they will grab a fact like that, that is bad for Trump, and just accept it, without doing the normal due diligence that any intelligent reporter would do.”

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On Friday morning, CNN reported that Donald Trump Jr. tweeted about stolen documents, made public by WikiLeaks, on Sept. 4, 2016. CNN’s Manu Raju reported breathlessly that Trump Jr. got an email on Sept. 4, 2016, that offered a decryption key for hacked documents.

The revelation seemed to show coordination between WikiLeaks and Donald Trump Jr. on the same day.

But the email Trump Jr. received was on Sept. 14, 2016, about a trove of hacked emails made public (and tweeted about) the day before, on Sept. 13, 2016.

It was a huge blunder CNN made. Simon said there is an intense anxiety to “get” President Trump on the issue of “Russian collusion” because the media, at large, despise Trump.

“They are so anxious to get him,” said Simon, a former Academy Award nominee for Best Screenplay. “I think we all know that hatred does bad things to everybody’s head … Every time I hate somebody, I can’t write or think well. I think that is a factor here.”

The rush to get scoops on Trump is a big problem, said James Warren, the chief media writer for Poynter Institute, a journalism watchdog.

“Hatred does bad things to everybody’s head … Every time I hate somebody, I can’t write or think well. I think that is a factor here.”

“I do think there is a primacy on speed, which can trap many of us,” said Warren, a longtime journalist, who then defended the media. “We’re also forgetting the spectacular work … done every day of late on the whole issue of sexual harassment by The New York Times and The Washington Post.”

But host Laura Ingraham noted the bevy of mistakes major news organizations have made on the issue of President Trump and the ongoing “Russian collusion” investigation. The collusion theory maintains the Trump campaign and the Russian government colluded to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Ingraham noted the suspension of reporter Brian Ross at ABC News for reporting on December 1 that Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, was going to testify that Trump ordered him to make contact with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. In fact, Trump asked Flynn to make contact during the presidential transition, after the election.

And Ingraham noted both Reuters and Bloomberg walked back claims that the Justice Department’s special counsel had subpoenaed Trump’s financial records at Deutsche Bank.

“It always seems the mistakes go one way,” Ingraham said to her guests. “It always seems to go against Trump.”

PoliZette White House writer Jim Stinson can be reached at [email protected].