The “Wrap Up Smear”

Made Possible By Dead-on Arrival News Media

A CSPAN video from 2017 that surfaced in early October depicts Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi explaining how to defame someone via the “wrap up smear.”

“You smear somebody with falsehoods and all the rest, and then you merchandise it.”

“The difference,” Pelosi continues, “is we don’t engage in the politics of personal destruction.” While she suggests this is a Republican Party tactic, her own party is the most  prolific source of late in the “wrap up smear’s” deployment.

This manipulation of public opinion toward a specific object is  accomplished in de facto coordination with a news media that simply don’t check the facts or circumstances surrounding allegations.

The Brent Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination is among the obvious recent examples of how the wrap up smear in action. However, the US presidential incumbent is routinely bated to state something outrageous (which he often does) that can then be quoted and “merchandised,” as Pelosi puts it, toward inflaming public sentiment by the defaming party.

Today with a flagrantly dishonest media that fail to investigate complex events and take official press releases at face value, calling an individual raising questions a “conspiracy theorist” is enough for  state actors to derail any critics. This is because media outlets repeat the accusation as a truism while turning a blind eye to the factual information that might vindicate the person who’s questioning, for example, an official narrative.

In the lead up to the 2018 Midterm Elections the wrap up smear technique has gone through a transformation to match Democrats’ desperate attempts to generate their “Blue Wave.” Entire events are now arguably being produced for media to report on, from the Khashoggi death, to the “immigrant caravan” and attempted bombings of Democratic Party figures already under investigation. These surreal episodes almost seem as if they’re designed to bring the president’s positions on immigration and media bias full circle–that his words have wrought consequences–or to at least prompt him to overreact, thereby consummating the accusation.

At this stage it appears the Dems have bent the stick too far. A growing segment of the public is no longer buying these tricks, and their exposure indeed makes it easier to “walk away.” It would be encouraging if America had more than the the two major political parties from which to consider alternatives and offer leadership. At this rate the GOP may soon be the only one left.