A Washington Post article published Monday afternoon broke a record for most concurrently viewed story, and, in a pleasant twist, the story is hard news, rather than a viral distraction. What is not pleasant is the content of the story, a report by Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe that says President Trump revealed classified information about an Islamic State terrorist plot to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and ambassador Sergey Kislyak in a meeting last week.
Nearly half the country still only reads or watches news that comforts them, so lets see if this has any effect at all. Sounds like a pretty big story, right? Yet many conservative outlets simply portray this as another example of the mainstream media picking on Trump. (This story is an eye opener about how even the president gets his news that way: How Trump Gets His Fake News)
Okey doke.
If we're going to be honest, we also have to point out that the mainstream press must have a love/hate relationship with Trump. On the one hand, he's potentially causing real damage to this country and possibly the world. On the other hand, his crazy antics sure are creating legendary scoops and is making people consume news at a record pace, which in turn, lines the pockets of the mainstream media. This is a golden era for the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Notice that Donald doesn't call 'em the "Failing New York Times" anymore.