Fake News Connoisseur Dan Rather Argues Trump, Sessions ‘Can’t Handle the Truth’

August 8th, 2017 3:59 PM

He’s the gift that keeps on giving, folks. On Saturday night and Tuesday afternoon, legendary liar Dan Rather declared that President Trump and Attorney General Sessions “can’t handle the truth” while both the Russia investigation and the administration’s positions on climate change mark arguably the biggest scandals in American history.

“With all due respect, Mr. President and Attorney General Sessions, it appears you can't handle the truth,” Rather began in his Saturday meltdown before moving onto complaining about the Justice Department’s crackdown on government leakers.

Instead of dealing in reality concerning who’s going to be investigated (leakers), Rather decided to engage in fear mongering:

I understand that the press has been a mighty check on the lies, inconsistencies, and cynical ploys that have been coming out of this White House. I understand that it has led to public outcry and a wide ranging criminal investigation by a Special Counsel. I understand that much of this reporting has been based on leaks and unnamed sources...The exercise of a free and independent press has been the exact bulwark against a government in need of accountability - just as our Founding Fathers envisioned. I shudder to think where we would be without it today. 

Hilariously, the man who’s done more damage to the media than he could possibly imagine whined that the media will now “take a naked threat such as this...to dig even harder to expose the truth” because, in his book, the “news” is simply “what the powerful want to keep hidden.”

By that logic, shouldn’t that also include the collusion between liberals and the media to bury the story of Debby Wasserman Schultz and Imran Awan? Or what about the ObamaCare exchanges? Just a thought. 

Shifting to Tuesday, the man shown reverence by the likes of Don Lemon and Brian Stelter stated with glee:

The Russia investigation has the potential to be the biggest scandal in American political history. But even if it ends up bringing down a presidency in spectacular fashion (and I think we are still a long, long, way from that happening), historians may look back at it as a blip compared to to a scandal that has the ability to damage our planet irrevocably - a process that is already well underway.

Rather also brought up global warming following The New York Times working with liberal government workers to make public a report favorable to the left’s points about the Earth’s future.

It was here that the lunacy dam burst, with Rather warning that “the inability of many of our nation's elected officials to take climate change seriously is a scandal of epic proportions.”

He argued that such a position is akin to “seeing hostile troops massing at our borders and saying ‘nevermind’” and “‘[n]o need for alarm’” because “‘[t]hat’s just fake news.’”

“We are in danger of being attacked, our cities flooded and hit by hurricanes, our crops parched by drought or swept away by floods, our forest fires intensified, our anger and exasperation rising with the temperatures,” Rather added.

Making up for Al Gore’s doomsday scenarios from years ago that never came to fruition, Rather did his part as a member of The Resistance by sounding the alarm that’s been reduced to wind chimes:

Now it has emerged that the best of American scientists have prepared a terrifying report that rings the alarm bells once again. Climate change isn't something our grandchildren will have to worry about. It's already here. It would be great if we could dismiss these dire warnings as alarmist, except they are backed up by real hard data. That's what makes it so scary.

Now this report arrives in an administration that seems not only allergic to science, but to the truth (of course that's two symptoms of the same disease). This report has been leaked to the New York Times in fear that it would be buried. Let Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump rail against leakers all they want. Mr. Sessions complained that leakers and the press who report on them "cannot place lives at risk with impunity.” That's a charge that is far better suited for those who deny climate change and the need to act immediately.

Here’s the transcript of the Facebook posts by Rather from August 4 and 8:

Dan Rather’s Facebook Page
August 4, 2017
7:06 p.m. Eastern

DAN RATHER: With all due respect, Mr. President and Attorney General Sessions, it appears you can't handle the truth.

I understand that the press has been a mighty check on the lies, inconsistencies, and cynical ploys that have been coming out of this White House. I understand that it has led to public outcry and a wide ranging criminal investigation by a Special Counsel. I understand that much of this reporting has been based on leaks and unnamed sources, from inside the Administration and from especially the intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The exercise of a free and independent press has been the exact bulwark against a government in need of accountability - just as our Founding Fathers envisioned. I shudder to think where we would be without it today. 

So the news that the Justice Department is devoting significant resources to tracking down leaks and changing the rules to target the press is a chilling development. There are certainly times when an issue of great national security should not be shared with the public. And most of the journalism organizations I have known or been a part of take that responsibility very seriously. There are some cases where prosecuting leakers may - may - be warranted. But that is not what is going on here. The goal is very clear. The President has complained bitterly of leaks because he doesn't want to be questioned, even when he has been caught in lie after lie.

“We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” Mr. Sessions said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity.” That is true. So the question is, what lives have been put at risk with all this reporting? And with impunity? Please save us the disingenuousness.

The free press is performing exactly as it needs to. And the proof of that is how seriously those who wish their actions remain undetectable consider the press to be their enemy.

Most reporters I have known take a naked threat such as this as further inspiration to dig even harder to expose the truth. News, as I have said, is what the powerful want to keep hidden.

(....)

August 8, 2017
12:29 p.m. Eastern

RATHER: The Russia investigation has the potential to be the biggest scandal in American political history. But even if it ends up bringing down a presidency in spectacular fashion (and I think we are still a long, long, way from that happening), historians may look back at it as a blip compared to to a scandal that has the ability to damage our planet irrevocably - a process that is already well underway.

Make no mistake, the inability of many of our nation's elected officials to take climate change seriously is a scandal of epic proportions. It is the equivalent of seeing hostile troops massing at our borders and saying "nevermind. No need for alarm. That's just fake news." We are in danger of being attacked, our cities flooded and hit by hurricanes, our crops parched by drought or swept away by floods, our forest fires intensified, our anger and exasperation rising with the temperatures.

Now it has emerged that the best of American scientists have prepared a terrifying report that rings the alarm bells once again. Climate change isn't something our grandchildren will have to worry about. It's already here. It would be great if we could dismiss these dire warnings as alarmist, except they are backed up by real hard data. That's what makes it so scary.

Now this report arrives in an administration that seems not only allergic to science, but to the truth (of course that's two symptoms of the same disease). This report has been leaked to the New York Times in fear that it would be buried. Let Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump rail against leakers all they want. Mr. Sessions complained that leakers and the press who report on them "cannot place lives at risk with impunity.” That's a charge that is far better suited for those who deny climate change and the need to act immediately.