Dan Rather Takes President Trump To Task - Again

Legendary newsman Dan Rather is making news again - this time, as someone who is taking the United States 45th president to task.

Rather, who left CBS in 2004 amidst a firestorm of accusations that he and producer Mary Mapes - herself a frequent Rather collaborator - were trying to bring down then-president George W. Bush by suggesting that he'd disobeyed orders to appear for a physical during his tenure with the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973. The "champagne unit" that Bush was a part of was so dubbed because of the suggestion that it sheltered the children of privileged individuals from combat in Vietnam. The vitriol piled on by the mainstream media on Mapes and Rather was so extensive that Rather left CBS and, according to Rather, has not returned to the building for over a decade and shortly after his departure, he launched a $70 million lawsuit against his former employers.

Now, Rather is making a name for himself again - this time, as host of an interview series on AXS TV, as the man behind a production company, and as a man determined to call out President Donald J. Trump on Facebook.

The news veteran, appearing on CNN's Reliable Sources noted that "journalists have a tendency to rally around powder kegs" and that while Trump is receiving applause for his recent airstrikes in Syria and Afghanistan, journalists need to keep their eyes on what they are potentially being distracted from. In this case, Rather believes that intentionally or not, the mainstream media has been distracted from stories about Russia meddling in the last presidential election as a result of the airstrikes.

Rather instead suggested that people should be looking at what the current president is doing to maintain global peace in order to determine just how effective Trump is as leader of the United States.

“There’s a natural inclination and an unhealthy one to immediately say, ‘boy that makes him presidential, that makes him strong,'” Rather noted, suggesting that keeping the peace is where the real challenge is. “What comes after that, even what comes in the wake of that, is much more difficult.”

Rather also said that the press had to exercise caution in how it discusses the recent airstrikes against Middle Eastern targets, as there are suggestions that Trump is being lauded for ordering the strikes. The newsman suggested that instead, he and his fellow journalists should ask the "right questions" - something he and other journalists believe they should have done more of when George W. Bush was president and had ordered the invasion of Iraq.

"Dropping bombs, having missile strikes, doesn't make one presidential," Rather said.

He also had advice for journalists who were eager to praise Trump in the wake of the missile strikes, suggesting instead that they approach any news coming from the White House with the proverbial grain of salt.

"What's best for the country is for journalists to be skeptical," he said. "Not cynical, but skeptical."

According to the Ethical Journalism Network, the five core principles of journalism are: truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity, and accountability. Both the American Press Associationand the Society Of Professional Journalists have the essence of these five principles - and sometimes more - in some shape or form in their Statements of Ethics.

Rather might be suggesting that rather than skepticism, journalists need to focus their energies on being impartial, rather than losing their objectivity. Whatever his belief, it's clear that he feels that the time has come to keep pressure on Trump for some of the things he's executed throughout his tenure thus far as president - and to take him to task, as he has done, if necessary.