The establishment media are parroting former President Barack Obama’s comments on the controversy surrounding Virginia’s embattled Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), which he dismissed as “fake outrage” and “trumped-up culture wars.”
“We don’t have time to be wasted on these phony trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage, the right-wing media’s pedals to juice their ratings,” Obama said while campaigning for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Saturday.
On Monday, a Virginia judge ruled that a male student at Loudoun County’s Stone Bridge High School is guilty of “forcible sodomy” after sexually assaulting a female student in a girls’ bathroom.
Since then, the establishment media appears to be doing Obama’s bidding, suggesting that the outrage in response to the sexual assault in Loudoun County is merely political.
In an article published on Wednesday, Business Insider referred to the sexual assault in Loudon County as a “GOP talking point” when reporting on Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)’s comments to Attorney General Merrick Garland during a recent hearing.
On Wednesday, Sen. Cotton blasted Garland upon permitting an FBI probe into parents labeled “domestic terrorists” after protests erupted against indoctrinating children with Critical Race Theory in Loudoun County.
“Cotton reiterated the GOP talking point on Wednesday by linking a prominent report of an alleged sexual assault at a school in Loudoun County, Virginia, to Garland’s directive,” reads the report by Business Insider.
Meanwhile, NBC News reported on the Loudoun Country controversy by giving a platform to people who claimed it was “created chaos,” and suggested it is only being talked about now because of Virginia’s upcoming gubernatorial race.
“Some in the school community say the voices at board meetings don’t speak for the majority of parents, and that some may be trying to sway the governor’s race,” NBC News reported.
Katrice Nolan, who reportedly ran for a seat on the school board seat, told NBC, “I would describe it as created chaos.”
“One Loudoun teacher saying while there should be accountability on the assaults, she questions the timing,” NBC reported.
The teacher told the outlet that the controversy “all came about all at once, and then exploded,” adding, “The election is so close.”
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NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt reported that the Loudoun County school board “is at the center of a firestorm” with “parents demanding resignations after they say a sexual assault on campus was covered up.”
Holt then immediately segued to stating: “Now, it’s a hot button issue in the state’s very tight governor’s race.”
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Washington Post reporter Justin Jouvenal described Monday’s sexual assault ruling by the Virginia judge as “a case at [the] center of political firestorm.”
Jouvenal also took to Twitter on Monday to proclaim that the victim had “met a classmate for consensual sex in the girls’ bathroom of a Loudoun County high school before,” but “was sexually assaulted” during a separate encounter in May.
Twitter users quickly took to the comment section of Jouvenal’s post to lambast the reporter over the manner in which he described the incident.
“Oh look… the Washington Post victim blames teens who were raped now,” wrote Washington Times columnist Tim Young.
“Are you implying only virgins can be raped? That consenting to one sexual encounter is automatic consent for another? What does this mean?” inquired YouTuber Lauren Chen.
“So what you’re saying is ‘she asked for it’?” asked Christina Pushaw, a spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). “Shame on you and shame on @washingtonpost.”
“Delete this now, unless you’re actually intending to blame the victim here. No means no,” another Twitter user advised.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.