Remember those pesky syllogisms from high school? Here's a reminder:
All Welsh Corgis shed fur.
Holly is a Welsh Corgi.
Holly sheds fur.
A logical syllogism is pretty easy to follow. But this week the American media came up with an astounding syllogism that went something like this:
Elizabeth Warren lied about her heritage.
Donald Trump mocked Elizabeth Warren.
Donald Trump is a despicable racist.
Any sentient person can see that the above syllogism is absolutely fallacious. It actually goes beyond fallacy into the realm of ridiculous. But not to many of our esteemed purveyors of "news."
This week's dustup began when President Trump honored three Navajo code talkers in the Oval Office. These are amazing men who helped American forces in the Pacific by creating a complex and unbreakable code based on their language.
Let's stipulate that it was the wrong time and the wrong place for President Trump to get in a dig at Senator Elizabeth Warren. But the president's mind works in mysterious ways: He is in the presence of Native Americans, he thinks of Elizabeth Warren, and he mocks her as "Pocahontas."
It was a joke, and not a great one at that. But Senator Warren, in her customary high dudgeon, immediately described it as a "racial slur." CNN's Don Lemon, who has more anger than viewers, described it as a "racial slur." ABC's Matthew Dowd described it as a "racial slur." Notice a pattern here?
Now, in what alternative universe is "Pocahontas" a racial slur? Is it an insult to all Native Americans? Did the president offend the Navajo code talkers? Apparently not, because after the ceremony one of them pointed out that the Marines made them yell "Geronimo" when they jumped out of planes. No one was offended, no one called it a "racial slur."
But one thing is indisputable: Senator Elizabeth Warren lied about her heritage. In fact, she lied repeatedly on her way up the academic ladder, the top rung of which was Harvard Law School, where she was paid $350,000 to teach a single class.
Warren listed herself as a Native America, claiming she was 1/32nd Cherokee. And she most certainly didn't argue when a publication described her as Harvard Law's "first woman of color."
A simple question: What would you do if you were accused of lying about your ethnicity in order to advance your career? Most people would immediately release all their records to prove they had never made such a claim. Or they would take a DNA test to prove their claims were accurate.
Elizabeth Warren has done neither, and the only conclusion is that she knows she has been caught in a huge lie. High cheekbones or not, the woman has as much Native American blood as President Trump.
Of course, the liberal media love Elizabeth Warren and are very eager to forgive all her past trespasses against honesty. So in yesterday's dustup, she was cast in the role of beleaguered heroine, while President Trump was the scowling bully.
By the way, some media types also took great offense because President Trump honored the code talkers near a portrait of Andrew Jackson, who signed the notorious Indian Removal Act in 1830.
Do they really think the president chose that location in the Oval Office to make some kind of racist statement? It's the same spot where he honored survivors of the USS Arizona. It's where he introduced Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson to the public. Was he sending some kind of subliminal message about hating Indians? No, it's just a place in the Oval Office where ceremonies are conducted.
It has often been said that President Trump is kind of like the guy who gets great joy from teasing his cat with a laser pointer. The man points, the cat runs around helplessly and hilariously in pursuit. In this case, the cats are the media, who eagerly chase after every one of the president's faux pas. Or is it faux paw?
How long can this continue? Either the president's laser pointer will run out of batteries or the media felines will finally give up and take a nap. Neither seems likely to happen any time soon.
We also have some very bad news for the White House press corps. Those pointers come with plenty of spare batteries.
