If anyone is wondering why Americans’ trust in corporate media to report the news fairly and accurately is at the lowest level in recorded history, then watch PBS Firing Line host Margaret Hoover’s interview with retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Released last Friday, the roughly half-hour-long exchange was supposedly intended to focus on Kennedy’s recently released memoir about his life and time serving on the nation’s highest court. It’s very clear after watching the discussion, however, that Hoover had other plans in mind.
From beginning to end, it’s glaringly apparent that Hoover’s entire goal in speaking with Kennedy was to use the conversation as an opportunity to discredit the current Supreme Court and try and bait the retired justice into attacking Donald Trump, whose presidency she falsely portrayed as an authoritarian regime with no respect for the rule of law.
In her first query, Hoover asked Kennedy how he sees his “role” as a retired justice at a moment “when the rule of law is being tested and the courts are under attack.” The “question,” of course, isn’t really a question, but an accusation dressed up as a question.
Borrowing a trick used by fellow media hacks like CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, Hoover is dishonestly insinuating that it’s Trump who is “testing” the law like no president before him, and that his criticisms of lower courts for issuing overreaching edicts represent an unprecedented attack on the judiciary. It’s probably safe to assume that this insinuation doesn’t include Democrats like Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer actually threatening SCOTUS, left-wing anarchists picketing outside Republican-appointed justices’ homes, or a trans-identifying leftist attempting to assassinate Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
While this was only the first “question,” feigning ignorance about Democrats’ egregious conduct and actions would go on to become a prominent feature of Hoover’s style throughout the rest of the interview.
While quoting from Kennedy’s book about the need for all branches of government to exercise their powers in accordance with the Constitution, the CNN contributor said matter-of-factly to Kennedy, “In recent weeks, we have seen the Department of Justice indict two of the president’s political enemies after he publicly demanded it,” and “We’ve seen National Guard troops be sent to states over governors’ objections. The president has repeatedly pushed the limits of the law.”
“Is the executive branch exercising its powers to the extreme?” Hoover asked, while completely ignoring how Biden’s Justice Department attempted to imprison Trump before the 2024 election, sought (and acquired) jail time for former Trump officials, targeted and arrested Christians and pro-lifers, and much more.
The Firing Line host similarly lied by omission when she asked Kennedy about what would happen “if one of the branches — for example, the executive branch — doesn’t choose to follow the Supreme Court?”
“I don’t know that we’ve ever had this,” Hoover said, insinuating that Trump is going to “defy” SCOTUS if it rules on a case in a way he doesn’t like.
Well, as much as it would disappoint Margaret to learn, America actually has “had this” happen — under Biden. When the Supreme Court declared the Biden administration’s student loan bailout to be unconstitutional, the administration tried time and again to sidestep the ruling, disregarding the high court’s decision without a second thought.
Yet, for all her supposed newfound respect for the Supreme Court, Hoover tried her best to discredit it.
Throughout her exchange with Kennedy, Hoover — a self-styled “gay rights activist” — fomented fears that the current court could cause widespread chaos if it were to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, a 2015 decision authored by Kennedy that paved the way for so-called “gay marriage.” She also posed a hostile “question” to the justice about his 2009 decision in Citizens United v. FEC regarding campaign finance spending.
Equally notable, Hoover pushed the narrative that the Supreme Court is suffering a crisis of confidence among the American public. Citing a prior Firing Line interview with former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Hoover noted that Gonzales “said that he believes that the justices know that they’re losing public confidence.”
“Do you think they know and are aware?” Hoover asked, later telling Kennedy, “It’s gone down dramatically since you left the bench.”
Once again, Hoover is being dishonest by omission. It’s true that the Supreme Court has suffered a loss in favorability in recent years. What she doesn’t tell her viewers, however, is that that decline has been driven almost exclusively by Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents, whose views of the court turned sour following its 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, as The Federalist reported.
To his credit, Kennedy largely didn’t take the bait Hoover was casting. The retired Reagan appointee instead took the time to emphasize the importance of civility and civic engagement in maintaining a free society.
“You can’t be uninterested in what your government is doing. You must know about it, and you must insist that your views be respected,” Kennedy said. “And that comes both from voting and from the ongoing communications you should be having with your political leaders. … You can’t be indifferent.”
There’s a reason why the American media’s credibility is in the toilet. And it’s because of fake journalists like Margaret Hoover, who have spent years pretending to be “objective” and “nonpartisan,” all the while acting as mouthpieces for the left.
It’s clear from Hoover’s “interview” with Kennedy that the legacy press has no intention of abandoning the despicable conduct that got them to this low point. Which is why it’s all the more important for Americans to continue calling it out until they change course.
Read the full article here
