The mainstream media smelled blood in the water over the past few weeks in anticipation of Heath and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar being removed from his position. In the past week, rumors from unnamed sources peaked in a Wall Street Journal story debunked by The Federalist.

Now the president has made it clear that Azar has his confidence and that once again, the mainstream media has chosen their preferred narrative over what is actually going on. Sunday evening Trump tweeted:

Reports that H.H.S. Secretary @AlexAzar is going to be “fired” by me are Fake News. The Lamestream Media knows this, but they are desperate to create the perception of chaos & havoc in the minds of the public. They never even called to ask. Alex is doing an excellent job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020

CNN, Politico, Slate and a host of others ran pieces about the potential ouster. In fact, The Federalist itself received out-of-the-blue submissions attacking Aazar and defending Dr. Rick Bright, whistleblower MD who insists he was wrongly removed from his position for questioning Azar’s leadership. It suggests a PR campaign to oust Azar. One that seems to have failed despite the media’s willingness to give anonymous sources the ear of its audience.

It is not so surprising that the mainstream media would get this wrong. All outlets get things wrong, but these outlets always seem to be wrong in exactly the same direction. It is always a story of poor leadership, mismanagement or chaos that gets a little too anxiously covered, never one that paints the administration in a positive light.

The American people, many of them anyway, have come to conclusion that when CNN or their acolytes run a story with unnamed sources it should be taken with a grain of salt until somebody at the White House actually makes a statement. Just push this one into the basket of poor coverage, if you can find any room in there.

The task force is working as intended; Secretary Alex Azar is doing his job with the full support of his boss. The business of fighting this virus is being done with more testing than the rest of the world and an administration laser-focused on results, both in terms of health and the economy. Don’t expect any mea culpas from the progressive press on this botched story. Tomorrow they will move on to the next one.