In a recent interview by Republican former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on CBS’ Face the Nation, Gates gives a searing criticism of Trump foreign policy on China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, saying he has “no strategy”. Gates says he’s not sure he can support Trump. The interviewer then asks Gates about his criticism of Biden’s foreign policy in Gates 2015 memoir and asks Gates if he stands by his statement. Gates responds, ” I- I don’t know. I don’t know. I- I think I stand by that statement” and then proceeds to say he agreed with Biden on many things (Libya, Egypt) but disagreed with him on Afghanistan.

On air, Fox & Friends did some very selective editing. They took “I- I don’t know. I don’t know. I- I think I stand by that statement.” and just played “I stand by that statement”, which made Gates seem like he was certain in his criticism of Biden rather than wavering, as the full transcript clearly shows. They also took out Gates’ agreements with Biden on various foreign policy issues that followed his statement about Biden being wrong on foreign policy. (You really should read the full Face the Nation transcript yourself, which has at least 10 times the discussion against Trump foreign policy as the one brief mention on Biden: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-robert-gates-on-face-the-nation/ )

At any rate, I pointed out Gates’ sharp criticisms of Trump, including Gates’ explosive conclusion that Trump was deliberately fighting Russian sanctions because Russia helped Trump in the 2016 election and might help Trump again in 2020. This obviously displeased the host, who wanted to focus solely on Gates’ limited criticism of Biden (magnified by their selective editing).

People ask why I go on an obviously biased show that bends the truth through selective editing. I do it, because if I’m not there to get some truth out, it will all be bias and viewers won’t have anyone there to show where sound bites have been taken out of context.