There is no story here. Nothing to see. Nothing to tell. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team asked the current administration for a list of federal programs and workers that his White House would be overseeing. This is completely routine practice.
Not to CBS' Scott Pelley and Margaret Brennan, however, whose Thursday evening news narrative assured viewers that "gathering names in this manner bears striking resemblance to dark chapters in our history marked by enemies lists and political witch hunts."
And that, my folks, is how fake news is created in the spin factory. Newsbusters provides a video and transcript to showcase just how this latest tall tale unfolded:
SCOTT PELLEY: The Trump transition team has been sending questionnaires to cabinet departments, not at all unusual, but some of the questions sent to the State Department are raising concerns. And Margret Brennan is following this.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The memo shared with CBS News requested details on “existing programs and activities to promote gender equality, such as ending gender-based violence…” As well a list of jobs that handle those issues. It did not state why the information was needed, but raised concern that the Trump administration might want to cancel State Department initiatives championed by former Secretary Hillary Clinton. Spokesman John Kirby:
JOHN KIRBY: Look, I can't discount the notion that in all aspects of a change in leadership here that there's going to be anxiety.
BRENNAN: The memo did not ask for the names of officials who work on these programs, unlike a controversial questionnaire sent by the Trump team to the Energy Department earlier this month. It requested a list of programs and staffers "Essential to meeting the goals of President Obama's climate action plan." The questionnaire prompted House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats to urge Secretary Kerry, in a letter last week, not to single out his employees.
“In our view, gathering names in this manner bears striking resemblance to dark chapters in our history marked by enemies lists and political witch hunts.”
Today, Kirby said there is a limit to the help the State Department will provide.
KIRBY: Obviously, we would have concerns if-- if, for instance, the-- there were issue-specific lists of names that were being provided. [Cuts back to live]
BRENNAN: And Kirby also said the request for organizations and names and details were normal.
So in other words, even to Kirby, such requests are completely normal. But the mainstream media can't have that, now, can they? Not when there's fake news to craft. Better to paint a post-apocalyptic landscape in which transgenders and those who champion them are placed on Trump's "enemies lists" so that their civil liberties can be stripped away as they're thrown in internment camps.
Welcome to the mainstream media spin-zone folks! Step right up and get yourselves a nice cold glass of Kool-Aid!
