Elizabeth Riviere

Usually, I'm a devoted admirer of the NewsHour but I'm very disappointed and affronted when conservative Republican talking heads like Chris Buskirk, who has the temerity to call himself the Editor of "American Greatness", are invited on the show and allowed to spout off what sounds like talking points from Fox News. Most of the time when you have Republicans on, they are smart but misguided people who eloquently articulate their own distorted world views.😉I cite David Brooks, who is a prime example of this genre of conservative who does represent his own actual point of view, rather than reciting someone else's talking points. At the same time you have on a very intelligent journalist, Connie Schultz from Kent State University, and you force her to face off against this buffoon spouting propaganda. Which, by the way she did admirably, parrying his false news disinformation with truth and anecdotes from the real endangered lives of journalists. As he sat there lying, he had the nerve to call her and the press out for supposedly repeating rumors and making errors in the Mueller investigation, saying that they needed to admit they got it wrong and to go do the digging to restore trust with people. (As though he has any clue what it means to work in the interest of other people and hold their trust, given that the man can't go a minute without a blatant lie.) All this while he was also saying that the President was exonerated by the Mueller Report, which he says we don't need to see because we have Barr's memo. According to Buskirk the press are supposed to dig more thoroughly, unless he says so, in which case, they are supposed to take Attorney General Barr's word for it. Even though Barr never wrote that Trump was exonerated: "'while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.'” -As quoted from The Mueller Report by Attorney General Barr But exoneration is Trump & Fox News top talking point, so that's what Buskirk is saying and now, apparently, that is what The PBS NewsHour is airing as news. Even though It is clearly not news. The whole thing just makes the NewsHour look terribly weak. Judy Woodruff was strangely mute during all Buskirk's disinformation: she didn't call him out on any of it. Instead, she served him up a softball about the Administration's project to create distraction from the Mueller Report, i.e. changing the healthcare system (which is really just another attempt to do in Obama care). But she lobbed it to him like it was a fascinating, legitimate story. Oh Judy, you are so brilliant, so accomplished. Why ever are you putting up with this schmuck? You can do better: you usually do. We expect more from the gold standard in TV journalism. Sincerely, Elizabeth Riviere