In an August CNN appearance, a former CIA official, with whom I had once worked in my former job, became highly upset with me while discussing President Donald Trump’s revocation of the security clearance of former intelligence officials.
The segment went viral, even gaining the attention of President Trump, who tweeted about me, saying I had verbally “destroyed” the official with my on-air points.
That set in motion a coordinated attempt by faceless adversaries to destroy me personally and professionally.
Just five days later, we all watched the Washington Post attempt to torpedo my career through a grossly inaccurate and purposely damaging article about an old claim. Four years ago, while working for the McCain Institute at Arizona State University, I was investigated in connection with a claim of harassment. As hurtful as the claim was, I knew the truth would be on my side.
After an automatic and long internal investigation, I was found not to have violated the university’s sexual harassment rules.
The Post was intent on stifling my rising national conservative voice by publishing a story deliberately mischaracterizing the findings of the four-year-old confidential investigative report from my former employer, which was apparently leaked to the newspaper (in violation of the University’s own rules on confidentiality and Arizona law).
Even more reprehensible was the fact that the Post refused to show me the confidential human resources (HR) report I had never seen, even as they asked me for immediate comment about it. It’s hard to see that as a coincidence, and I don’t, because it wasn’t.
It was a political hit job.
Indeed, the Post reached a conclusion in its story that differed markedly from the conclusion reached in the report, upon which they relied. As a result, every published article in response to the Post’s false hit piece remains fruit from the poisonous tree, and in response, I was immediately suspended, without just cause, from various media organizations for which I was a paid contributor, including CNN. Let me be clear, I did not sexually harass anyone.
It was a political hit job.
The fake news doesn’t care about documented evidence clearing my name years ago, or that the Post claimed exactly the opposite of the confidential report’s findings and ran a story with a deliberate clickbait headline that also purposely mischaracterized the findings to besmirch my character.
CNN’s own “investigation” could not substantiate the Post‘s claims. But what was even more egregious than the Post‘s behavior was CNN’s blatantly disparate treatment of their only paid black, Republican, Trump-supporting political commentator — compared to a host of others who have never been immediately suspended and denied an opportunity to be booked on their network.
It was a political hit job.
In Washington, DC, there exists today a dangerously insidious underground ruling class of faceless, vindictive bureaucrats and heartless reporters who have joined hands to destroy anyone they cannot control. They trade in leaks and smears, to shame — falsely — their political targets.
This is nothing new, really. In 1991 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called out the vicious attacks on him, saying, “This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree.”
The more things change, the more they remain exactly the same. Just ask former presidential candidate Herman Cain, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, activist Candace Owens, and now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanagh.
I’ve been a Republican with a national platform since 2000. The deliberate politics of personal destruction and all-out character assassination is real, but their weapons of harm and pain formed against me, and against all the rest of those who dare to effectively speak out, will not prosper!
I will not be silenced, no matter what CNN, the Washington Post, or any other fake news story tries to imply through their own prejudiced actions.
In 2018, we cannot allow this strategic silencing to be the norm for conservative voices, especially Black conservative voices. We have to push back.
With my legal team, headed by my attorney, Jennifer J. McGrath, we have been doing just that and will continue to do so. I am pushing back through the legal system, and through social media, because we have to be heard, and we must take a stand against this evil.
It was a political hit job.
The truth — and the overwhelming support and prayers from my family, girlfriend, friends, and current and former colleagues — sustain me. I appreciate the kindness of complete strangers who reach out to me every day because they see through this thinly veiled attempt to intimidate and harass those of us who demand better for the American people.
We are a silent majority in America, and we are tired of being smeared with false claims through the politics of personal destruction I regularly talk about. We support the “MAGA” agenda of President Trump, and together, we will not be deterred or silenced.
We have the First Amendment. Our collective voices, and my political commentary, will continue.
Paris Dennard is a communications strategist and GOP political commentator. President Trump appointed Paris commissioner to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows. Paris worked in the George W. Bush White House and for the Republican National Committee. Follow Paris on Twitter: @parisdennard