Media bias infects coverage of Republicans in general and President Trump in particular a couple ways:

1. Outright lies that may or may not be quietly corrected later [Ivanka receive $1,000,000 just like the Clinton Foundation]
2. Vague innuendo and damning implications from unnamed sources [Anything Russia]
3. Distorting facts or situations [Melania Trump won’t be a real First Lady]
4. Taking statements or actions out-of-context or not reporting context [PTSD with soldiers]
5. Over-emphasizing a small, throwaway story and making it huge [Donald Trump’s ketchup on steak]
6. Not reporting positive stories at all…

It’s this last category of  media bias that’s affecting the Trump overseas trip.

Donald Trump gave a solid, compelling speech in Saudi Arabia. He was welcomed warmly. He was treated respectfully. Both Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump made cultural inroads with their dress, communication, and connection to people there.

On Twitter, the habitat for media bottom-dwellers, it was nigh unto silent. Because there wasn’t anything negative to say, the media said nothing at all. There were no gaffes to jeer. There were no missteps. There was grace, competence, and a relatively dignified exchange there.

Today, the children who call themselves journalists got distracted by a literal shining orb. The advantage of talking about the orb is that the media doesn’t have to report the positive substance that happened in Saudi Arabia.

The children are also making memes out of President Trump saying a prayer at the West Wall. It’s easier to do that than to acknowledge that this was a historic trip by a United States president.

Where President Obama was promoted as a god of diplomacy and regality, President Trump is reduced to a cartoon.

And so it goes.

I had dinner with some Republican friends Friday night who voted for but didn’t particularly like Donald Trump. Today, far from being fed up with the President, they’re livid with the press. White hot hatred might be too mild an assessment of their rage toward a media they feel is hypocritical, unfair, and overtly biased. These folks are mild political followers. Yet they’re furious.

Why is it that the media cannot just cover the President straight? Why must the reporting be shrill, nasty, biting, and all-too-often, false?

Through his unconventional candidacy then presidency, Donald Trump has provoked the media into revealing themselves for the bitter partisans they are. While all of D.C. enjoys the chaos and fomenting distrust, Americans are disgusted with the media.

The media believes they’re in the driver seat again. Their nasty ways are helping Trump even as they seek to destroy him.