{"id":1621418,"date":"2022-08-25T18:35:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T22:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1621418"},"modified":"2022-08-25T18:35:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T22:35:23","slug":"rob-porter-on-experiencing-a-media-smear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rob-porter-on-experiencing-a-media-smear\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Porter On Experiencing A Media Smear"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frob-porter-on-experiencing-a-media-smear%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1621418&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Trump White House Official Rob Porter, who resigned from his job amid a dubious \u201cMeToo\u201d case,\u00a0said he waited years to tell his side of the story because he refused to take an expedient path to doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Friends familiar with Porter\u2019s marriages wanted him to immediately counter the claims and try to correct the egregious reporting. \u00a0He said that a crisis communications specialist told him to fight back as if his life depended on it. But the coverage was so intense and one-sided, Porter saw little upside to engaging with the media mob. \u201cMobs don\u2019t care about facts or context or even the truth,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou can\u2019t reason with people holding torches and pitchforks, all they want is destruction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said he was also approached by an agent to write a book, which in a moment of extraordinary demand for Trump tell-alls could have garnered a seven-figure advance. A longtime Washington veteran suggested doing so would provide a well-trod path to political redemption, but Porter said publishing a gossipy memoir of his time in the White House was incongruous with his view of public service.<\/p>\n<p>Others suggested defamation lawsuits to seek damages for false reporting, but the legal standard for proving \u201cactual malice\u201d toward public figures typically makes such cases <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-progressive-case-for-libel-reform-11617638828?mod=MorningEditorialReport&amp;mod=djemMER_h\">extremely difficult<\/a>, and it would have involved friends and family in years of litigation and continuing media attention. Even victors \u2014 like the actor Geoffrey Rush, who ultimately won a defamation suit over dubious #MeToo allegations \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/2019\/04\/geoffrey-rush-defamation-suit\">insisted<\/a> there are \u201cno winners\u201d in such cases and that the proceedings are \u201cextremely distressing for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the months after leaving the White House, Porter said he spoke several times with two New York Times reporters who seemed sympathetic that much of the true story remained untold \u2014 but he said their editors ultimately wouldn\u2019t devote resources to anything beyond an interview focused on Trump. Porter said the same thing happened after working with a writer for a top political magazine. \u201cIt became obvious that most of the media didn\u2019t care about the truth,\u201d he told me. \u201cIt was all just political to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Porter began to wonder if he had erred in rebuffing calls and texts from a primetime Fox News host who he said encouraged him to come on TV and \u201ctell your side.\u201d But partisan cable news didn\u2019t seem an appropriate venue to respond thoughtfully and \u201cwould have only further politicized things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>After many dead ends, an acquaintance in the media suggested he simply \u201ceat a s*** sandwich\u201d and offer emotional public apologies in a televised interview. Admitting to things that were untrue, however, was a non-starter for Porter. \u201cI care a lot more about my integrity than what some people may think about the tabloid stories,\u201d he told me. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t sacrifice that for some PR ploy, even if I thought it might help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At some point in the months that followed, Porter decided that he needed to make peace with the injustice and move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Prioritizing his family and close friendships, as well as re-engaging with his faith, provided consolation and perspective. \u201cThere\u2019s so much more to life than politics,\u201d he told me. He eventually joined an economic consulting firm where he could work on substantive issues without the divisiveness of partisan politics.<\/p>\n<p>He also volunteered at a local women\u2019s shelter, tutoring women who wanted to get their GED and teaching a weekly SAT prep class for disadvantaged students. In 2020, he was asked to join the shelter\u2019s board of directors. Friends say such service has little to do with the allegations and reflects who Porter has always been, but by his own account the experience provided new insight and greater empathy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After more than four years since the media frenzy, his energy seems directed toward the future. Of course, he\u2019d like to correct the public record \u2014 anyone in such circumstances would\u00a0 \u2014 but he hopes his experience will serve as a lesson and reminder: \u201cThat mob justice is often profoundly unjust. That salacious, politicized narratives divide society and really destroy trust. And that the only answer to tribalism and toxic public discourse is goodwill and civility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/the-extraordinary-smear-of-rob-porter\">RELATED: The Extraordinary Smear Of Rob Porter<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Trump White House Official Rob Porter, who resigned from his job amid a dubious \u201cMeToo\u201d case,\u00a0said he waited years to tell his side of the story because he refused to take an expedient path to doing so. Friends familiar with Porter\u2019s marriages wanted him to immediately counter the claims and try to correct the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1621421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1621418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1621418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1621418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1621418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1621418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}