For the past year, our great nation has enjoyed an historic stock run. Record highs continue to be broken, and there’s no end in sight currently to the abundance. All of that came to a sudden end last week. A sudden and sizeable dip reversed weeks of gains in less than an hour, and while stability and recovery are at hand, it will take weeks more for the full extent of the losses to be recovered.
The mainstream media has refused to acknowledge the key event that caused the dip, and its source is equal parts infuriating and terrifying. The stock market stumbled for no other reason than the publishing of a single fake news story.
The Story
On December 1, ABC published a story that claimed Michael Flynn was ready to testify against President Trump. Supposedly, the testimony would reveal that Trump ordered Flynn to contact Russia during the campaign—before he was elected president. It could be powerful evidence that deliberate collusion did occur between Trump and Russian officials.
The only problem is that it was completely untrue. Flynn never planned any such testimony, and the unnamed source for the tip didn’t say anything close to what ABC reported. The actual story was that President-elect Trump ordered Flynn to figure out how to get in touch with Russia to discuss a joint effort against ISIS.
On the surface, this distinction might not be obvious, but it is everything. If Trump intentionally contacted Russia before he was elected, it could be construed as collusion. But, he only pushed for contact after he was confirmed to be the next president. Contacting Russia during this period wasn’t just allowed; it was expected. ABC jumped the gun and published a highly misleading article that was meant to undermine the president. Shocker.
Fallout
The problem with fake news is that it isn’t harmless. Manipulating large sections of the voting masses is bad enough, but this report highlighted a more disturbing component of media influence. Within 20 minutes of ABC publishing their fake story, the Dow Jones fell 350 points. This represented tens of millions of dollars in immediate losses. ABC later retracted the story, but the damage had already been done. The original story saw 25,000 retweets. The correction saw only 3,000.
Check out this news clip showing just how much damage this fake news story did to our stock market, aka our retirement accounts.
Even in the waning hours of mainstream media influence, they can still cripple our economy. Mostly, this is because stock market success is still hinging on Trump’s leadership. When a compelling story suggested that he really could be out of office, stocks tanked immediately, and this is the crux of the problem. Half of the nation still listens to mainstream media as a reliable source of news. If they can repeatedly convince those masses that Trump’s Presidency is in immediate danger, they can continue to crash stocks. What better weapon could they have against a president who was elected largely on economic promises?
As for ABC
They have faced vocal backlash, but nothing has really changed. The story was pushed by Brian Ross. He was suspended without pay, but he’ll soon be back at work within ABC’s ranks. They’ve promised that he won’t work on Trump stories, but we can’t trust that. As a left-leaning media outlet, ABC has no news to publish except attacks on Trump. They might remove Ross’s name from the reports, but if he still has a job, it will inevitably include digging for dirt.
The real problem is that ABC has no plans to change. We know that they’re biased, and we know that they don’t care about the truth. They’ll issue retractions and corrections when public backlash forces it, but like all of the other major outlets, their only desire is to undermine the right and promote the stupidity of the left. It seems no matter how many times we catch these organizations pushing blatant lies, their core audience refuses to shut them down.
Maybe it’s time to embrace Trump’s ideas as a nation. A free press is important, but an unrestricted, flagrantly biased press is dangerous — especially when they abandon any pretense of caring about the truth. An effective media is dependent on journalistic integrity, and that is a concept that has fallen so far, you probably snorted in derision when you read the words. It’s time to reign in the liars, and if the government can’t do it, then it is our patriotic duty to bankrupt these corrupt institutions.
~ American Liberty Report
