On Wednesday morning, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is set to release a new episode of its "Real America" podcast series.
Ari Fleischer, press secretary to President George W. Bush, joins host and Republican National Chair Ronna McDaniel to discuss a wide range of topics — from Fleischer's mother, Martha, who escaped from Hungary in 1939 just before the Holocaust, to the former White House spokesman's new book about media bias, titled "Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias: Why the Press Gets So Much Wrong — And Just Doesn't Care."
Republican Fleischer, who is now attacking what he calls liberal media bias, started out as a Democrat.
During his time behind the world's most famous podium at the White House, Fleischer was charged with communicating with the press and public during the tragedy of 9/11.
"It just felt like you were carrying the world on your shoulders every day you showed up to work," he said, "because in some ways you were."
McDaniel recalled the time of 9/11, telling Fleischer "you were meeting the moment of helping our whole nation mourn."
More than 15 years after he left the Bush administration, Fleischer, who now is a Fox News contributor, is still a voice that is widely heard.
When asked about the current administration and the issues facing the nation, he said: "Well, you're pointing out the fundamental fact that they don't have a message problem. They have an everything's-going-wrong problem."
Fleischer described how the Biden administration is much more progressive than how Biden as senator (1972-2008) would have run the country. He also voiced optimism that a Republican "Red Wave" was coming in the upcoming midterms elections.
"The direction of the country is wrong," he told McDaniel. "People still have the hangover from COVID, where things didn't go right, and all of it adds up to a massive repudiation election."
Between discussing his career and the upcoming elections, the onetime voice of the Bush administration described his new book about what he feels is a major problem facing America today — media bias.
"They [the liberal media] are no longer capable of doing their job well," he told McDaniel. "They have become activists for a cause instead of people dedicated to the truth, whether it helped President [Donald] Trump or hurt the Democrats."
Through a research company, the author found that in June of 2021, the first day the White House was open after the COVID-19 lockdowns, out of the 49 reporters, the ratio of political registration was 12 to 1 for Democrats compared to Republicans.
Fleischer said the media now faces a battle with the general public, who "have lost faith and trust."
McDaniel agreed, declaring; "They [the media] don't understand people like me. And actually, it's more than that. They look down on people like in the middle of the country, they look down on people who go to church every Sunday. I almost felt that way, like there's disdain. And it's disheartening to feel that way — that you don't have a home on news media."
Fleischer's solution to the problem spelled out by McDaniel is that "[the media] needs to welcome people into newsrooms who hunt for a living, who grew up with guns, who go to church every week. They need to bring people in who grew up in rural areas. But, you know, the press defines diversity as your sexual orientation or your gender or your race."
Micah Hart, a Newsmax intern, is studying politics and journalism at Hillsdale College in Michigan.
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