The Washington Post has long been a Democrat party house organ, but it used to pretend to impartiality. Those days are over. It is so deeply committed to its anti-Trump narrative that its slogan, rather than being “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” should be “Whatever Trump’s for, we’re against it!” In this case, Trump stands for blaming China for its unconscionable behavior vis-à-vis the Wuhan virus and for wanting to reopen the economy before America looks like Venezuela.

On Saturday, the WaPo published a lengthy “investigative” piece entitled “34 days of pandemic: Inside Trump’s desperate attempts to reopen America.” The five people who wrote the piece boast about having spoken with 82 administration officials, but this is not an objective look at the data. The article's premise is that Trump is a moron who cares only about reelection. Along the way, it misstates and ignores facts, and spins so fast it makes a person motion sick.

There are three useful things to keep in mind before looking at the piece. First, its publication coincides with a Gallup poll showing that Trump’s approval rating has gone up six points in two weeks. Second, even anti-Trump stalwarts such as Nate Silver are finding it hard to look at the evidence and then continue to attack Trump:

The fact that many peer countries are struggling with COVID-19 roughly as much as the US suggests there's some naivety to claims such as "the US could greatly improve the situation with [my proposed solution]… IF ONLY WE HAD BETTER LEADERSHIP!!!".

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 1, 2020

And all of these countries are struggling with the "reopening conversation" just as much as we are. This might suggest that authors of these plans are not thinking enough about what the actual political (and logistical, etc.) constraints are.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 1, 2020

Third, WaPo’s people are generally struggling with reality. For example, a WaPo video acknowledges that the Wuhan virus is found in bats used at labs near Wuhan, but not in bats anywhere near the Wuhan wet market. Nevertheless, the WaPo says it’s “doubtful” the virus escaped from a lab. This conclusion would surprise America’s 17 intelligence agencies, which are agreed “that COVID-19 originated in the Wuhan lab,” although they believe the release was accidental. What was not accidental was the cover-up.

With those facts in mind, the WaPo’s hit piece against Trump makes more sense. The outlet cannot acknowledge that he handled the virus well, that China is an enemy, and that people are beginning to support Trump’s efforts to protect America.

The article argues that Trump’s entire focus in March and April wasn't about saving American lives. His focus was saving the economy so he could be reelected.

The authors don't understand that Trump realized immediately that either too many deaths or too much economic disruption would be disastrous for America. He was always threading the needle to save American lives and prevent America from plunging into a devastating and deadly depression.

According to the piece, when Trump was told the best case scenario was 100,000 to 240,000 dead Americans, he insisted on an analysis that would look at the economic risks to America. It turns out Trump’s focus was probably correct.

To date, the Wuhan virus (thankfully) has killed maybe 64,283 Americans (the numbers are highly questionable), which is the same as a bad flu season. Meanwhile, flu deaths have plummeted, as have car accident deaths and violent crimes. Americans are dying at a normal pace, just from different things.

Doctors have also learned how best to treat the Wuhan virus which means, among other things, avoiding ventilators. Trump was instinctively correct that they weren’t that necessary. It turns out they seem to kill people by putting pressure on already fragile lungs.

The reporters berate Trump for believing in hydroxychloroquine, which they call a “fantasy cure-all.” However, outside of the useless CDC and its obsession with double-blind studies, a successful hydroxychloroquine cocktail proves Trump was probably correct.

For its part, the WaPo is enchanted with the VA’s hydroxychloroquine study. That study, though,  was fatally flawed, both because it did not use zinc, which seems to be a necessary mediator for the other drugs, and because the VA used it on a handful of patients who were already in extremis.

The reporters claim that, even though Trump is correct that the U.S. is testing more people than anywhere else in the world, we’re still not testing enough people. This position ignores the fact that, other than providing statistical data, there’s no clear benefit from testing every American.

And of course, the authors voice their real gripe, which is that Trump is letting the states make their own plans for returning to normal, something consistent with both federalism and a constitutionally limited executive. How dare the guy who was supposed to be Hitler not act like Hitler?

And though administration health officials produced detailed guidelines for reopening, those released by Trump were intentionally vague and devoid of clear metrics, making it easier for the president to avoid responsibility and harder for local leaders to interpret.

There’s more, much more, all of it spin rather than reporting. It’s certainly red meat for the WaPo's core readership. Whether it will change the minds of those people who are beginning to think that Trump did a surprisingly good job in a fluid, dangerous situation remains to be seen.