Not Subtle: PBS Skips Rubio's Munich Triumph to Bash 'President Trump, Demolition Man'
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Not Subtle: PBS Skips Rubio's Munich Triumph to Bash 'President Trump, Demolition Man'

Monday’s PBS News Hour virtually skipped over Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s performance at the annual Munich Security Conference to wail over his subsequent trip to endorse “far-right prime minister” Viktor Orban of Hungary. The online heading to the segment after Rubio’s speech impressed even European leaders: “Rubio bolsters Hungary's far-right leader days after push to mend U.S. ties in Europe.” CO-ANCHOR AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the News Hour. America`s top diplomat traveled to Hungary today and endorsed that country`s far-right prime minister, who`s seeking his fifth straight term in office this April. Viktor Orban has cracked down on the media, civil society and weakened judicial independence in Hungary. At a news conference in Budapest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the extraordinarily close relationship between President Trump and Orban had tangible benefits. MARCO RUBIO, U.S. Secretary of State: President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success. AMNA NAWAZ: Orban has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. And while Europe has ended or significantly reduced its reliance on Russian oil, Hungary refuses to cut back on the oil it buys from Russia. President Trump has exempted Hungary from U.S. sanctions for those purchases. Rubio`s meeting with Orban came after the secretary of state addressed world leaders at the Munich Security Conference this weekend. Coming on the heels of Trump's threats to Greenland, Rubio tried to convey a reassuring message. Nothing at all about Rubio’s speech made the PBS’s new regular Sunday show on foreign policy, Compass Points, hosted by Nick Schifrin, which aired this week from the Munich Security Conference and whose half hour was devoted to old-style Trump-bashing with three foreign leaders, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, and Canada's Foreign Minister, Anita Anand. The episode, presumably taped before Rubio’s speech, mentioned the Secretary of State just once (Rubio also appeared unidentified in a separate file photo). Then again, weekend PBS has never been a fount of breaking news. The flavor of the report was encapsulated in Schifrin’s very first phrase: “President Trump, Demolition Man.” Schifrin went on: “President Trump, demolition man. From here in Munich, an influential report accuses America's Commander in Chief of damaging the global order and establishing an era of wrecking-ball politics where sweeping destruction is the order of the day.” This is PBS, the network that claims to represent the entire "public." But clearly it speaks for the European socialists who Trump the most.