Dan Rather Puts The Media To Shame By Asking 2 Questions That Can End Trump's Presidency

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Legendary journalist Dan Rather is asking the two vital questions whose answers have the capability of ending Donald Trump’s presidency.

Rather asked four vital questions on his Facebook page:
1. What did Mr. Trump know and when did he know it about Russian efforts to influence the U.S. Presidential election? The President and those around him are engaged in a furious fight to prevent the American people from knowing. What are they hiding? If, as they say, there’s nothing to hide, why are they working so hard to conceal what they know?
Republican led House and Senate investigations are–purposely or not– bogged down. While the FBI investigation (also led by a Republican) is said to be rigorous and far-reaching, who can say with certainty? We do know that the FBI was slow and unsteady at the start.

A truly independent, bi-partisan investigative special commission (with maybe a special prosecutor?) would seem to be a must, but so far there is no significant movement to establish one.

2. Given indications so far, the President appears to have plenty to hide in his tax returns. Again, if he has nothing to hide why is he fighting so hard to keep them secret? How much taxes he has paid (if any) is not the most important part of this. More important is finding out how much he owes–how much he is in debt to–other people, who they are and where they are (foreigners, foreign powers?)

3. What is the President’s strategy to deal with war and peace challenges such as North Korea, Russia in Eastern Europe, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan. One-off missile attacks and mega-bomb droppings are tactical moves, in and of themselves. If they fit into a large strategy in any or all of the major threat areas, what is that strategy?

4. What is happening behind the shadows with our immigration policy? For all the talk of how the President has struggled in his legislative agenda, the reporting coming out of the Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions and multiple local communities suggests that there has been an active change in how the nation is dealing with this issue.

Now more than ever, America needs great journalists and reporters. Dan Rather is a broadcasting legend, but he is more than a broadcaster. Rather is using his decades of journalistic experience to give the press a roadmap for the questions that they need to be asking.

Dan Rather has been through this before. He knows that what Trump is doing is not new. Unfortunately, most members of the press have not been down this road in the past. They have been either steamrolled or perplexed by how to cover Trump and his administration. With the exceptions of Rachel Maddow and some reporters at The New York Times and Washington Post, the press has not been up to the challenge that Trump is presenting.

Rather is cutting through the news as entertainment smokescreen that is Trump’s oxygen, and shining a light on the real questions. If the press learns from the legend, they will begin to ask the kinds of questions whose answers are capable of ending Trump’s presidency.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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