Are you confused when public entities give conflicting accounts and interpretations? There’s an easy way to discern which one is likely telling truth: look at their histories. Every person, office, or company that makes public statements will eventually be caught in a mistruth, either intentional or accidental. The key question is how does that entity deal once confronted with the lie? Does the entity apologize and print a public retraction, like, say, the New York Times? Or does, say, the orange-colored buffoon of an entity gaslight the American public, double down on the lie and issue five more to boot in its wake? I’m embarrassed to have to go here, but polls show Republicans think President Trump speaks the truth more often than newspapers like the Times and the Washington Post. This news would be hilarious were it not tragic. President Trump has been caught in over 2,000 verifiable lies in his first year as Commander-in-Chief. That’s unprecedented, even by the standards of politicians, and, quite frankly, liars. That’s not a statistic; that’s a self-written comedy sketch. The position conservative America has taken when polled is akin to a random person saying, “my unemployed Uncle Bob is better at basketball than LeBron James,” based on the evidence that he once saw LeBron miss a shot and his Uncle said so. It’s been a year and even the most casual of observers can conclude without trouble that Uncle Bob doesn’t have the skill set to make a middle school JV team, let alone the pros. Conservative America’s response? “Uncle Bob should be on the NBA All-Star Team.” After watching L’Enfant Terrible in action, I personally wouldn’t let Donald Trump run a lemonade stand, let alone the country.
There was a time not so long ago when it was naturally assumed that newspapers like The Times and The Post stated both news and truth. We took it for granted knowing that if they didn’t, they either got sued or go out of business. While the times have changed, the Times hasn’t changed. It’s a subtle distinction, but very important. We live in an era inundated with all sorts of public entities making statements on a daily basis, few of whom are compelled to tell the truth. I know this is confusing, but the Post and Times haven’t changed, your perception has, and it has because of the influence of the liars. Look, I’m sorry The New York Times doesn’t always tell you want you want to hear, but imagining Donnie Brash-‘fro is the beacon of veracity or even a mildly acceptable human being is laughable. You all look like suckers … and we are paying for your lack of judgment.
The Post is not actually about the reporting of the truth; the truth is a given here. The Post is an indictment of President Trump’s attitude towards his biggest pet peeve: the first amendment (specifically, freedom of the press). From 1964 to 1973, the United States spent a ton of money and lives in a corner of the world known as Vietnam. The defense department knew damn well these efforts were fruitless, the war unwinnable, and said exactly that in a private account. Written in the 1960s, the confidential account tracked the history of U.S. involvement in the area and condemned several Presidents both Democratic and Republican. It didn’t get to see the public until soldier/reporter Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) smuggled out a copy binder-by-binder in 1971 and gave it to the New York Times for publishing. This was the era that hosted America’s second most vindictive modern President, Richard Nixon, who wasn’t a fan of free press even before this publish; the current parallels are unmistakable.
If we’re being honest, I think this movie should have been about the New York Times, not the Washington Post. After the first round of report exposure, however, the Times was indicted from publishing the rest by the Attorney General. The Post stepped in to pick up the slack. Nothing about the Post’s action is simple, which is why the focus is in DC and not a few states to the northeast. For one thing, the Post’s owner, Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), was in the middle of taking the paper’s ownership public and a scandal on the order of, I dunno –publishing forbidden government secrets maybe– might create a circumstance by which she defaults majority ownership.
Oh, and there’s this crazy little detail of The Post and acerbic editor in chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) having no access to the confidential report itself. Dude, if you’re gonna surround yourself with the reunited cast of “Mr. Show” (David Cross and Bob Odenkirk), I’m not sure how you get your little newsrag to stop being little.
Timing is also an issue here on two levels – the first is the newsprint deadline between acquisition and story. The more important deadline, however, is being the first messenger. The news that the defense department escalated Vietnam not out of a belief in victory, but more as a way of saving face is investigation on the order of the current Trump-Russian election involvement delve: whatever news there is will come out eventually, but the only people who get credit are the ones to publish the correct story first.
After that, there’s a misogynistic angle. Of secondary concern, yet omnipresent all the same, The Post is a feminist movie, letting us see how Katharine competes in an all-male world when both rivals and advisors discount her opinion even though she owns the freaking company. And it’s worth mention that Vietnam’s greatest villain, (former) Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) is a personal friend of the Grahams. To Katharine, publishing this dossier means ending a close friendship.
Then and only then could Katharine and Ben examine the legality of disclosing defense secrets. No biggie, right? You’ll only be called a traitor by a few million people, many of whom wear uniforms and carry weapons.
For a film that’s essentially about the exciting world of ink, The Post does find suspense. Leave it to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is a master of understanding the scene: the details of acquisition, of publish, of relationship. The story arc seems off at first, almost anti-climactic as the Times broke early, but we see by the end this film becomes the choices Katharine Graham. That said, it is difficult to get behind the players of this film. Tom Hanks portrays Bradlee as something of a jerk. Katharine Graham comes off as wishy-washy and undefined for over a half a movie. Yes, I suppose these are antithetical to roles we general see from these two, but it’s really not a good antithetical, is it?
I’m also disturbed by one of The Post’s showcase moments; it’s in the trailer and you’ve probably seen it. Early in the film, Ben is frustrated with being scooped and sends a cub reporter to spy what’s going on in the New York Times. The reporter asks, “Is this legal?” and the 
editor-in-chief of the Washington Post says, “What do you think we do here, kid?” I see the tongue-in-cheek humor here; what I don’t see is why we should be laughing – did you just say that things newspapers do are illegal? Is defiance of law a natural requirement of a free press and a free society? For a film that is essentially a slap-in-the-face to totalitarian behavior [read: Trump’s go-to moves], I don’t agree with either of those thoughts.
A classic case of “more-important-than-good,” The Post and films like it need to be made here and now. Whenever President Trump cries “Fake News,” the constitution gets a little weaker. Whether you choose to acknowledge his attempts at erosion or not, these are efforts to limit a free press and should be anathema to any who believe in the U.S. Constitution. Yet, that thought will pass easily over the head of any idiot who truly believes Donald Trump ahead of the New York Times. I doubt this film will change any minds, but it may draw the applause of people who recognize suppression in our time.
WaPo did embrace a taboo
The A.G. has orders? “Eschew!”
Secret Nam exposé
Defense couldn’t downplay
Is there one for Afghanistan, too?
Rated PG-13, 116 Minutes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Liz Hannah, Josh Singer
Genre: Our sad history
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: ACLU
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Robert McNamara
