House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has called President Donald J. Trump everything from a coward to a traitor, yet let the Commander in Chief mocks Pelosi's teeth and the press goes ballistic. God forbid that Trump defends himself without the pious media hacks having a freaking canary.

Let's be clear, the cable news networks make a fortune off of Trump coverage. Without Trump, they might actually have to pay a news division to go out and cover the news. So it is hilarious when they get all judgemental and moralistic with us when Trump defends himself.

The national press corps is so high and mighty in its elitism. Let's see, Fox News has offed how many of its studs for skirt-chasing? And let's not forget NBC's little pervert, Matt Lauer. Then there's lying Brian Ross over at ABC who caused a stock market tsunami by reporting fake news. And speaking about lying, how about NBC's Brian Williams and CBS's Dan Rather? And most recently ABC presented fake videos from Syria. But Trump goofed on Pelosi's teeth.

Pelosi, who has continuously accused Trump of committing bribery, was asked by a reporter for The Hill over the weekend why bribery was not one of the charges brought against the president in the phony impeachment effort she is engineering. She said bribery was dropped after “working together with our committee chairs, our attorneys and the rest.”

Trump, who doesn't like being accused of things he didn't do, tweeted that the real reason was "because Nancy’s teeth were falling out of her mouth, and she didn’t have time to think!" The outrage was instantaneous. Under a banner headline "The Mouth That Roared," Fox said Trump "shocks with blistering dig versus Pelosi" and "Trump takes nasty dig at Pelosi in latest slam of House Dems." For real! My God, Trump just woke up this morning and decided to attack Nancy Pelosi for no reason at all! What a fiend.

See how this all works? This is all part and parcel of what fake news is all about. Fake news isn't just making up stories, although that is a big part of it. Fake news is also misrepresenting the facts in a way that generates controversy or in this case it is a feigned outrage aimed at generating a response from the readers or viewers simply for the sake of it. It doesn't hurt that it drives the profit margin, too.

The media thinks it is smarter than Trump because it provokes Trump to respond, thus turning his reaction into profits. It's true but what the press doesn't understand is that Trump is smarter than they think he is and he uses the opportunity to get many millions of dollars in free cable network advertising by simply sending a tweet.

The constant barrage of attacks on Trump by the media and the Democrats have increased his poll numbers. The public hates the media and people such as Nancy Pelosi. Trump knows that and has learned how to use it to his advantage.

At some point, they'll catch on but by then Trump will be halfway through his second term and it won't matter anymore.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

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