I did not watch or listen to President Donald Trumps Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore. But I did read the reactions the next day from three national newspapers: The Washington Post, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. They characterized the speech as stoking a culture war and pushing racial division.

Then, I downloaded and read the full transcript of the speech, twice. It turns out these newspapers had printed gross fabrications about the presidents positively stirring, emotionally charged and factually faithful presentation of Americas history and greatness. I challenge all Americans to read and ponder the presidents remarks and, with this knowledge, evaluate the liberal national media reports (it can be read at this link: bit.ly/RushmoreSpeech).

And not just the ones in those three aforementioned newspapers. There was, in my judgment, an overwhelming misrepresentation of Trumps Mount Rushmore speech that amounts to journalistic malpractice.

And the liberal national media which includes television gets away with it, because its narrative fits the Democratic Partys narrative. And sadly, too few liberals take the time to read or listen to the original content on which that narrative is based. So, the biased narrative circulates and poisons minds and misleads the uninformed.

In his speech, Trump did refer to destructive rioting, and the damage actually and proposed to be inflicted upon statues and monuments, and the defamation of national heroes. The president was reminding us that we are still not a perfect union, but that we have the desire and fortitude to continue our work toward this goal.

Three years ago, when I was a community member of the LNP | LancasterOnline Editorial Board, this newspapers Fourth of July editorial referred to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

While strongly recommending that Lancaster County residents visit the museum, the editorial stated: You are likely to leave the museum wanting to learn more about the years and events that followed: the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the battles for suffrage and womens equality, the civil rights movement. Vestiges of those subsequent struggles are threaded through our politics even now.

Those were issues that could not have been resolved by the American Revolutionary War. That war liberated our budding nation from Great Britain and paved the way for the creation of a republic capable of dealing with those formidable concerns.

This July, I read some news reports indicating that some Americans would not be celebrating our nations Independence Day. One hand-lettered sign called the national holiday White Mans Independence Day.

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And its true that in a July 5, 1852, speech, abolitionist Frederick Douglass referred to the immeasurable distance between white Americans and enslaved Americans on Independence Day.

The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common, Douglass said, adding, What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

Trump, in his Mount Rushmore speech, rightly called slavery an evil institution, but that statement seems to have been overlooked by the national liberal media.

A Washington Post article about Trumps speech began: President Trumps unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination, crystallized by his harsh denunciation of the racial movement Friday at Mount Rushmore. ...

To which Holman Jenkins, in a July 7 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, replied: Except that Mr. Trump made no reference to the Confederacy or any of its symbols. His only reference to the Civil War was to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery as fulfillment of the American Revolution.

The writers of that Washington Post article, Robert Costa and Philip Rucker, purported to offer an analysis of the presidents views, tweets and performance. They seemed more interested in getting something off their chests rather than providing an honest review of the presidents masterful speech. So much for objective journalism!

With such bias in our national liberal press, how can we look forward to creating an informed electorate prepared to cast a responsible vote for president in November? I would be happy to hear from friends and readers. I need to be encouraged. Is anything going to change? Can there be an honest interchange in our nations press?

Stuart Wesbury, a professor emeritus in Arizona State Universitys School of Health Administration and Policy, is a resident of Willow Street. He has a Ph.D. in economics and business administration. He is a former community member of the LNP Editorial Board.

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National media gets it wrong on Trump's 4th of July speech - LancasterOnline