Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Biden confronts campus protests; Trump hedges on accepting election results

Americans are more likely to oppose than support campus protests

The grinding familiarity of the jocks-vs.-hippies proxy fight

The New York Times, alone in its outrage over access to Biden

The ‘Access Hollywood’ video cemented Trump’s air of invincibility

Wait, what is Stephen A. Smith talking about? Find out with our quiz.

Confident of victory over Ukraine, Russia exhibits Western war trophies

Northern Gaza is in ‘full-blown famine,’ World Food Program leader says

Two women are seeking Mexico’s presidency. But the race is about a man.

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

Trump Media auditor charged by SEC with ‘massive fraud’

Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly.

Five tech products we actually like

Ask Amy: My boyfriend just confessed he’s almost $20,000 in debt

Miss Manners: Is it inappropriate to reach out to old girlfriends?

Carolyn Hax: Longtime friend won’t forgive being last-minute canceled for a guy

In photos: At least 39 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil

Conservatives don't get why Kristi Noem killed her dog

Rooftop rescue of flood victims in Brazil

In a pinch, the Nationals finally find some offense

The Capitals, a team in transition, know what they want this offseason

Is Pastis as good as our food critic thought? He sent spies to find out.

The Post endorses April McClain Delaney and Tom Royals for Maryland’s 6th District

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

Peter Stevenson

Merely placing sweet little questions before President Trump isn’t enough anymore, apparently. These days, the treatment dished out by the “Fox & Friends” crew to Trump needs to include a bit of slander for the opposition.

Following a month-plus interview drought, Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Thursday answered questions from “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt. The Fox Newser couldn’t have asked for a hotter news griddle. President Trump himself had <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877932907137966080">just</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877932956458795008">tweeted</a> that he hadn’t made any tape recordings of his chats with James B. Comey, the guy he’d fired as FBI director. That was big news only because of a previous tweet — one that birthed weeks and weeks of speculation, and rightly so:

“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/863007411132649473">Trump tweeted on May 12</a>.

Strongly suggest something, then take it back: You can call it sly, sneaky, dishonest, mendacious. Whatever your choice, it’s fabulous grist for an interviewer.

Now look at how Earhardt managed the matter in her “Fox & Friends” interview that aired this morning:

Earhardt: Big news today: You said you didn’t tape James Comey. Do you want to explain that? Why did you want him to believe that you possibly did that?

Trump: Well, I didn’t tape him. You never know what’s happening when you see what the Obama administration — and perhaps longer than that — was doing all of this unmasking and surveillance and you read all about it and I’ve been reading about it for the last couple of months, about the seriousness of the — and horrible situation with surveillance all over the place. And you’ve been hearing the word unmasking, a word you’ve probably never heard before. So you never know what’s out there and I didn’t tape and I don’t have any tape and I didn’t tape. But when he found out that there maybe are tapes out there, whether it’s governmental tapes or anything else or who knows. I think his story may have changed and you’ll have to look into that because then he’ll have to tell what actually took place at the events. And my story didn’t change. My story was always a straight story, my story was always the truth, but you’ll have to determine for yourself whether or not his story changed. But I did not tape.

Earhardt: <strong>It was a smart way to make sure he stayed honest in those hearings.</strong>

Trump: Well, uh, it wasn’t very stupid, I can tell you that. He was, he did admit that what I said was right. And if you look further back, before he heard about that, I think maybe he wasn’t admitting that, so you’ll have to do a little investigative reporting to determine that.

Bolding added to highlight the single most astounding piece of pro-Trump propaganda since June 2015. Let’s juxtapose: On one hand, we have a lying president who made <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?utm_term=.3112367d1b37">669 false and misleading claims over his first 151 days in office</a>. On the other hand, we have a career law enforcement official who was promoted to FBI director in part <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-23010863">because of a famous act of integrity</a>; who had won the respect of the FBI rank and file by the time he was fired by Trump; and who has told a wholly consistent and, thus far, largely unchallenged narrative of his dealings with Trump.

So the dodgiest president ever is keeping honest a man of proven integrity. A reversal this comical is possible only on one television news program.

Hamilton College, BA in Government

Georgetown University, MS in Foreign Service

Erik Wemple, The Washington Post's media critic, focuses on the cable-news industry. 

Erik Wemple

The Washington Post

Editorials

Columns

Guest opinions

Cartoons

Submit a guest opinion

Today's Opinions newsletter

Opinions

Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.

The Washington Post Opinions section features opinion articles, op-eds, editorials by the Editorial Board, global opinions and letters to the editor on the issues of the day. Offerings include columns by Washington Post opinion writers, political cartoons by editorial cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Michael de Adder and podcasts by James Hohmann and Jonathan Capehart.