Maybe Geraldo Rivera never did have any ethics, but was just saying and doing what would get ratings. At least back in the day, he did appear to be on the right side of history, facing down holocaust deniers and overt racists. There was some semblance of morality. However, with one fell tweet, Rivera swept all that to the side.
Never mind; outsmarted myself in conjuring false flag operation designed to hurt @realDonaldTrump & #GOP. Actual alleged perp 56-year old #CesarSayoc is apparently stereotype most media assumed: a middle-aged, rabid, extreme right winger w a troubled past & long criminal record.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) October 26, 2018
Calling the MAGABomber a “false flag operation” reduces Rivera to the deepest pits of RWNJ depravity, right next to Alex Jones, but apparently, that’s where he wants to go. Washington Times:
“At the risk of sounding like a far right-wing lunatic, I have to say that I believe that this whole thing was an elaborate hoax,” Mr. Rivera said Thursday on Fox Business Network. “I believe that those bombs were never intended to explode. I think those bombs were intended to further divide the American people.”
He went on to say it was “entirely plausible” that the person responsible was “someone who wanted to embarrass President Trump” or “somebody who wanted to affect American political life. It could have been a Russian invention.”
Mr. Rivera doubled down on the theory on Twitter, asking why a “rabid” supporter of Mr. Trump would choose right before the midterm elections to commit such a crime.
Put aside hatred of @POTUS & ask, with 12 days until a critical mid-term election-would a rabid fan/crazed supporter of @realDonaldTrump really pick this time to kill off the president’s enemies in a way guaranteed to make him look complicit in mass murder on the world stage?
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) October 26, 2018
This was bad enough, then he doubled down on it with the tweet the next day, saying he’d “outsmarted himself.”
Here’s Rivera’s moment of glory, from the mists of 1988. See if you can square this person, who had these beliefs, or at least superficially proselytized them, with the tweeter of today.
Now Rivera’s on the same side with these guys. Simply incredible. But maybe not so much from a guy who discovered Al Capone’s vault. One thing is certain, Rivera didn’t fall from grace overnight. The journalistic standards have been on the decline for quite some time with this one.
