Pence Hammers the Establishment Media for Ignoring One of the Most Important News Stories in Months
In an interview with “Fox & Friends” that aired Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence criticized news networks that didn’t break into programming when the remains of soldiers killed in the Korean War were returned to American soil from North Korea.
Pence was in Honolulu on Wednesday to mark the return of 55 possible U.S. service members, part of an agreement brokered during the Singapore summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
“Some have called the Korean War the ‘forgotten war,’” Pence said at the ceremony, according to a statement from the White House.
“But today, we prove these heroes were never forgotten. Today, our boys are coming home.”
While the president wasn’t able to attend, he marked the event on social media.
Incredibly beautiful ceremony as U.S. Korean War remains are returned to American soil. Thank you to Honolulu and all of our great Military participants on a job well done. A special thanks to Vice President Mike Pence on delivering a truly magnificent tribute!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2018
“Incredibly beautiful ceremony as U.S. Korean War remains are returned to American soil,” the president tweeted.
“Thank you to Honolulu and all of our great Military participants on a job well done. A special thanks to Vice President Mike Pence on delivering a truly magnificent tribute!”
However, according to the Washington Examiner, only Fox News decided to cover the event live. The other two major cable networks, CNN and MSNBC, did not.
That rankled Pence, who thought that the ceremony was given short shrift by a media that doesn’t think outside the Beltway.
“I think there’s a lot of people in the so-called mainstream media that would do well to spend a little bit more time traveling across this country and listening to the American people,” Pence said during an interview with “Fox & Friends.”
“‘Cause frankly, as I travel on behalf of this administration, meeting with groups large and small, I sense a great enthusiasm across the country,” the vice president continued.
“People see when it comes to President Donald Trump, it really has been a year and a half of promises made and promises kept.”
While the remains still need to be verified and represent just a fraction of the 5,300 Americans still considered missing from the Korean War, it does represent an important first step. In Honolulu, Pence said that repatriation of the rest of our soldiers from North Korea remains an important goal for the Trump administration.
“We will never stop striving until every hero lost in the Korean War is home,” Pence said.
No matter how you feel about the agreement brokered in Singapore or the Trump administration, this was an important moment — one that meant a great deal to a great number of aging veterans who fought on the Korean Peninsula.
This was something that deserved significant media coverage — and the fact that two of the three major cable news networks passed on it says a great deal.
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