As opinion continues to fly over the US president, Donald Trump, refusal to concede defeat over the November 2020 election where former vice president, Joe Biden, was declared winner, an emblem of American journalism as any reporter still alive, Dan Rather, has added his voice to the lingering crisis.
The controversial media guru covered the Vietnam War in the ‘60s during the heyday of the foreign correspondent; stood up to Nixon at the height of Watergate; sat at the anchor desk of CBS Evening News at a time when the network news anchor was the epitome of journalistic power; and now enjoys an unexpected second life as an 86-year-old digital hipster, with an enormous Facebook following and digital newscasts for The Young Turks and Mark Cuban.
For a man known for his rural themed quotes and occasional weirdness, his short tweet carried all the needed weight for an American president fashioning his life after his African counterparts to have a rethink and save the democracy of one of the greatest country in the world.
In a post which has generated over 11000 retweets and 70000 likes as at the time of writing this, he wrote, “Dude. You lost.”
Rather was let go of his 44-year engagement at CBS in 2006, when he wrote a contested story about George W. Bush’s military service. He revealed that former President George W. Bush gained entry to the Texas Air National Guard through his family’s political influence to avoid serving in the Vietnam War and that Bush was unaccounted for for a year of his assigned duty to that Guard unit.
In an interview many years after he was fired, Rather still stood his ground.
“We reported a true story,” said one of the most illustrious figures in American journalism, “and everybody connected with the story got fired. The process was not perfect but the story was true.”
Rather has always accused Trump of not being fair and he once said of the outgoing president, “He(Trump) is supposed to be this great businessman, but sometimes he gives indications that he couldn’t organize a two-car motorcade.”
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