The New York Times Smears Nikki Haley For the Obama Administration’s Interior Decorating

Joseph A. WulfsohnSep 14th, 2018, 1:02 pm
 

The Trump administration has been plagued with reckless spending scandals, most notably from EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, HHS secretary Tom Price, and VA secretary David Shulkin, all who have lost their jobs.

Now, it’s Nikki Haley who is being accused of such carelessness.

The New York Times ran a story with the headline “State Department Spent $52,701 on Curtains for Nikki Haley’s Residence.” Obviously, such a headline does not look good for the Ambassador to the United Nations as it clearly suggests she, or at best her staff, made the decision to splurge like royalty while the State Department experiences cuts.

But if you took the time to read the article, there is more to learn than what the headline offers.

This comes four paragraphs in:

A spokesman for Ms. Haley said plans to buy the curtains were made in 2016, during the Obama administration. Ms. Haley had no say in the purchase, he said.

It also appears the luxurious curtains serve an actual purpose:

Ms. Haley’s residence is particularly grand since it is used for official entertaining. But her deputy’s is also very nice, having served as the location for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s intimate steak dinner in May with Kim Yong-chol, North Korea’s top nuclear weapons negotiator. During the dinner, Mr. Pompeo used its sweeping views to point out various features of New York City’s skyline to the senior official from the world’s most reclusive country.

So, between those pieces of information — that the Obama administration ordered the curtains and that Haley’s residence is used to entertain diplomats — one wonders what exactly is so controversial. Because the only thing controversial is the headline.

And that’s enough to do damage. Let’s see how the story is being carried on Twitter:

Aggregators of the report are no less irresponsible than the Times:

In the age of social media, a misleading headline like the one used by the Times reaches millions who do not read past the first couple of paragraphs. A headline like “State Department Spent $52,701 on Curtains for Nikki Haley’s Residence” certainly arouses the #Resistance, and flies around social media faster than critics blowing the whistle. The author of the piece, Gardiner Harris, surely knew with the headline he used and burying the key facts about those curtains that it would cause unnecessary trouble for Haley as this story has spread like wildfire.

The question for Harris is that why would he purposefully stir up a fake controversy about one of the most competent and respected figures in the Trump administration, especially in such turbulent times?

Whatever his answer may be, this smear attempt is the latest example why conservatives and Trump supporters don’t trust the media.

It is disgusting whenever President Donald Trump calls the media the “enemy of the people,” but when they run misleading stories like this one or get bombshell reports completely wrong like we’ve seen time and time again, this hostile rhetoric resonates further with his base.

Despite the attacks from this president, The New York Times continues to be one of the most credible news outlets in the country. And if they want to preserve such a reputation, they shouldn’t publish these ludicrous hit pieces.

[image via Getty]

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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