The Media’s Dangerous Game of Gaslighting: From Biden to the LA Riots
The American public has grown weary of being told what to believe, especially when their own eyes and ears contradict the narratives pushed by mainstream media. We’ve seen this play out before, most notably with the media’s handling of Joe Biden’s mental decline. For years, outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and The New York Times dismissed concerns about Biden’s cognitive health, labeling videos of his stumbles and gaffes as “cheap fakes” or out-of-context clips. Now, with Los Angeles engulfed in unrest, the same media is at it again, downplaying riots as “peaceful protests” and ignoring the chaos unfolding on the ground. This isn’t just sloppy reporting—it’s a deliberate attempt to shape public perception at the expense of truth.
Let’s rewind to the Biden saga. When The Wall Street Journal published a detailed report in June 2024 titled “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping,” it was met with a firestorm of criticism from media allies of the former president. Pundits like Joe Scarborough and Joy Reid called it a “Trump hit piece” or “conservative propaganda,” despite the report’s reliance on over 45 sources, including those directly involved in meetings with Biden. The media’s refusal to engage with the story wasn’t an oversight; it was a calculated effort to protect a narrative. Even after Biden’s disastrous debate performance, where he struggled to form coherent sentences, some outlets clung to the excuse that they “missed” the story. This wasn’t a miss—it was a choice.
Fast forward to today, and the same playbook is being used to mischaracterize the Los Angeles riots. Videos circulating online show burning cars, looted businesses, and violent clashes, yet major news networks insist on calling these events “mostly peaceful demonstrations.” Sound familiar? It’s the same language used to whitewash the 2020 riots following George Floyd’s death, where destruction was downplayed to prop up a preferred political narrative. Posts on X have called this out, with users pointing to undeniable footage of chaos in LA while media outlets stick to their sanitized script. This isn’t journalism—it’s propaganda designed to obscure reality.
The hypocrisy is glaring. In 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, the media condemned it with no hesitation, demanding arrests and accountability. Yet, when riots tore through cities like Portland and Seattle in 2020, outlets like Vox argued that such unrest could “lead to serious social reforms,” effectively excusing the destruction. Now, with LA in flames, the media’s reluctance to call a riot a riot echoes their refusal to acknowledge Biden’s decline. It’s a pattern: when the truth doesn’t serve the Democrats’ narrative, the truth gets buried.
Why does this matter? Because trust in institutions is crumbling. When the media gaslights the public—telling them that riots are peaceful or that a visibly struggling president is sharp as a tack—it erodes faith in journalism itself. Polls already show trust in media at historic lows, and for good reason. People aren’t blind; they see the disconnect between what they’re told and what they witness. The Biden cover-up cost Democrats credibility, and the current spin on LA’s unrest risks further alienating a public already skeptical of elite institutions.
The solution isn’t complicated, but it requires courage: tell the truth, no matter how inconvenient. If riots are tearing through Los Angeles, call them riots. If a politician is struggling to lead, report it honestly. The media’s role is to inform, not to manipulate. Until they stop gaslighting the public, they’ll continue to lose the trust of the very audience they claim to serve. The American people deserve better—they deserve the truth, unfiltered and unspun.
