| ‘BLOODBATH’ COVERAGE QUESTIONED |
| America’s corporate legacy news organizations told their viewers and readers former President Donald Trump threatened the country with a “bloodbath” if he isn’t reelected. Media critics think they may be putting words in his mouth with the coverage. |
| At a rally for Republican Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Trump said there would be a bloodbath in the country when speaking about the importation of automobiles manufactured in Mexico. |
 Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images) |
| “We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those guys—if I get elected,” Trump said. “Now, if I don’t get elected. … It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.” |
| National outlets, such as the New York Times, ABC News, and MSNBC, reported the remarks were an implicit threat of political violence. |
| Jon Nicosia of News Cycle Media said the breathless coverage shows the mainstream press is both obsessed with dumping on Trump and losing its commitment to objective reporting. |
| “The media has a hatred for him that is so deep that … they are going to do everything they can to not see him win again,” he told The Epoch Times. |
| Nicosia said both the left and right-leaning media are guilty of editorializing and covering their pet issues in an effort to serve their political ends. |
| “If you wish to step back … and look at the art of journalism, you might come to the conclusion that basically journalism, especially the mainstream, has just morphed into political advocacy groups for either side,” he said. |
| A darker reason for the politicization of the news may be a desperate search for a way to shake shrinking confidence in the media. In 2023, leading public opinion firms Gallup and Pew Research Center found public trust in news has never been lower. Moreover, the readership and viewership of leading print, broadcast, and online media are shrinking. |
| —Austin Alonzo |
| TRUMP-BACKED MORENO WINS |
| Trump’s rally last weekend to bolster entrepreneur Bernie Moreno’s GOP Senate primary bid was a success, as Moreno decisively defeated state Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in the primary election for the U.S. Senate. Ohio is a deep red state President Trump won in 2016 and 2020 by eight points. |
 Bernie Moreno, Republican Senate candidate, speaks at the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County in Independence, Ohio, on March 19, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times) |
| Moreno’s win set up a general election clash with incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was first elected to the post in 2007. |
| It was a vicious Republican primary marked with mudslinging and arguing about each candidate’s commitment to Republican values. |
| During his victory speech, Moreno echoed a view shared by Dolan and LaRose. |
| “We have one mission, and that is to get rid of Sherrod Brown. As Republicans, we have spirited debates. Sometimes, too spirited. But we will now be united to defeat Sherrod Brown, regain control of the U.S. Senate, return Donald Trump to the White House, and make sure the America First agenda moves forward.” |
| Moreno noted that Brown votes with President Joe Biden “99 percent of the time.” |
| Sen. J.D. Vance, who endorsed Moreno, agreed that “Republican primaries are slugfests, like mine was in 2022, but like we did then, we will now regroup for the purpose of winning in November.” |
| Read more takeaways from last night’s primaries here. |
| —Jeff Louderback |
| AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL ‘STRATEGIC FAILURE’: MILLEY |
| The State Department delayed the order to evacuate Afghanistan, according to retired Gen. Mark Milley, who served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the withdrawal. |
| “It is my assessment that that decision came too late,” Gen. Milley told the House Armed Services Committee on March 19. |
 Retired Gen. Mark Milley (L), the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, former commander of the U.S. Central Command, speak to the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, at the Capitol in Washington on March 19, 2024. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo) |
| Much public attention has focused on the military’s preparation and conduct during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the order to withdraw and oversee that operation is legally the responsibility of the State Department. |
| The State Department went so far as to prohibit employees from using the term “emergency evacuation” during the tense weeks leading up to the nation’s scramble out of the country, according to Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas). |
| Gen. Milley said that he warned the situation in Afghanistan was untenable more than a month prior to the State Department’s formal evacuation order. |
| “Without this support, it was my view at the time, it was a matter of when and not if the Afghan government would collapse and the Taliban would take control,” he said. |
| Gen. Milley called the U.S. withdrawal a “strategic failure,” and said that U.S. attempts to establish a free Afghan nation had crumbled. |
| “At the end of 20 years, we the military helped build an army and state, but we could not forge a nation.” |
| Retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who served as the commander of U.S. Central Command at the time, similarly said that the Pentagon “struggled” with the State Department’s embassy in Kabul to access the evacuation plan. |
| “If there is fault, it lies in a policy decision that placed the joint force in this situation, and exposed the force over time to the possibility of these kinds of attacks.” |
| “It was my judgment that it was far too little, far too late.” |
| —Andrew Thornebrooke |
| WHAT’S HAPPENING |
- The Congressional-Executive Committee on China examines ways to stop the Chinese communist regime’s rampant crime of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, most of whom are Falun Gong practitioners.
- House Republicans on the oversight and accountability committee hold the first public hearing to examine their findings in the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.
- Biden speaks about his economic agenda in Phoenix.
|
| BOOKMARKS |
| The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Texas can enforce a law allowing law enforcement to arrest people suspected of being illegal immigrants, The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reports. The decision leaves the broader fate of the law to be decided in lower courts. The Tuesday (March 19) ruling comes after the Supreme Court temporarily halted enforcement of the law on March 18—a move met with defiance by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott before the Court allowed enforcement of the law to continue. |
| A progressive group is planning to infuse $120 million into President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, The Epoch Times’ Austin Alonzo reports. The group, called the League of Conservation Voters, cited Biden’s climate agenda as motivating the decision. |
| Trump says he may have to hold a “fire sale” of his New York properties, The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reports. The comments come as Trump continues to fight to overturn a $464 million verdict against him in his New York fraud case. |
| Former White House adviser Peter Navarro reported to prison on March 19 to begin a four-month sentence after being convicted of contempt of Congress, The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg reported. Navarro, who was charged after defying a summons from the defunct House Jan. 6 panel, appeared defiant ahead of surrendering himself. He’s the first former White House adviser to face a penalty for refusing a Congressional summons, which in the past was protected by the principle of executive immunity. |
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