Yup. Here we go again. Want to guess what’s likely the year’s biggest news story? If you think it’s what you’re getting on CNN and etc., you’re wrong. And it’s happening right under our nose. 

Our case in point: CNN tweeted out yesterday, “Here’s what will happen if President Trump fires special counsel Robert Mueller.” From New Republic, “Republicans are insulating Trump in case he fires Robert Mueller.” “Stop Trump From Firing Mueller” screams The Hill. Headlines everywhere have been quoting Senator and 2020 GOP wannabe Jeff Flake as saying impeachment is the only remedy if Robert Mueller is fired. MSNBC uploaded 2016 wannabe Lindsey Graham’s warning Trump against firing Mueller.

The chatter is endless. How many hours before Trump fires Mueller? What are the current Vegas odds on Trump firing Mueller! Trump is a fascist, corrupt dictator for us even thinking he’s thinking about firing Robert Mueller!

Why the Buzz?

Only one problem: The White House insists Trump isn’t talking about or planning to fire Special Counsel Mueller. His lawyers say it. Paul Ryan says he’s been assured it won’t happen. For that matter, Trump isn’t likely to have any problem with the four areas of questioning Mueller supposedly has for him. Trump has no reason to fire him. 

So why so much coverage? Here’s a clue: Why did the media spend so much time covering Kim Kardashian? 

There’s a big difference, of course. The somber, serious journalists and cable news channels would never, ever turn over their airwaves and websites to someone whose greatest claim to fame is being filmed having sex. 

Or will they? Cue Stormy Daniels.

Eye on the Stormy

On Tuesday afternoon, five of the top news stories on CNN’s website were about former porn star Stormy Daniels. Five. Including the main story. Five.

Plus there was another story about a former Playmate who wants to talk about her fling with the President. Meanwhile, the Austin serial bomber was tucked in a corner. Welcome to the Cable Nudie Network. 

Why? Sex sells. Scandal sells. Anti-Trump sells. A Trump Sex Scandal is the mainstream media mother lode. 

But we need to go deeper. Last year, I wrote about “Snake News,” the spirit in the media that sets out to distract, distort and destroy. It’s publisher isn’t CNN or MSNBC or the Washington Post. It’s the Deceiver himself. 

He’s a trickster. A tempter. How tempting it is, even as I type, to lay out why Trump doesn’t need to fire Mueller. Or discuss the implications of the Stormy Daniels saga. Or smite the latest bogus news tweet. The news junkie, comedy writer and ministry worker in me are as revved up as hot rods at a drag race start line. And the Devil’s got that flag ready to drop. 

However, even over the deafening roar, I hear the soft, still voice: “Don’t miss it.” I heard similar words the day Rex Tillerson was fired. 

My foot comes off the gas.

The Decade’s Biggest Story? 

Here’s what we missed. 

Did you know the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was at the White House Tuesday for meetings with the President? Sure, there was the photo op. But once Trump mentioned he had congratulated Vladimir Putin the media was off to the races. (Pun intended.) Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman also met with Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the point men on Trump’s Middle East negotiation team. 

Did you know that just two weeks ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at the White House for meetings with the President? The media focused on Netanyahu’s personal scandals back home. 

And do you know what happened smack dab in the middle of those visits — the day Rex Tillerson was fired and the media was motoring on about the chaos in the Trump White House? Representatives from numerous Arab nations and Israel were meeting together at the White House — in some ways for the first time ever. They discussed a coordinated effort to solve the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Palestinians were not at the meeting, but helping the Palestinians topped the agenda. 

And by the way, this morning an Air India flight took off from New Delhi, heading for Israel. It is the first-ever commercial flight to or from Israel that has flown over Saudi air space. 

“Comprehensive Peace” Could be Coming in the Middle East. That’s Not News??

A few months back, The Stream quoted Kushner’s assessment of the Middle East. He said the Arab Gulf States are ready to sign a comprehensive peace with Israel. All the nations like Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and United Arab Emirates need to see first is an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. 

Then last night, Bloomberg published an article by Noah Feldman, a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard. He argues that the Gaza meeting is proof that Kushner’s efforts are paying off. Kushner’s strategy is simple: 

In essence, Kushner has approached the Israel-Palestine question by treating it as an adjunct to a broader regional realignment of Sunni states plus Israel against Shiite Iran.

The White House backs the fast-rising Crown Prince and works the Israelis while the Crown Prince, otherwise known as MBS puts pressure on the Palestinians. 

The Gaza aid conference was a substantially more public proof of MBS’s willingness to keep up his end of the bargain. In the past, Arab states wouldn’t have been willing to attend a high-profile conference about Palestine if the Palestinians refused to show up. They certainly wouldn’t have participated in a publicized conference where the Israelis would be there and the Palestinians would not.

The whole point of the exercise was therefore to show the Palestinians that if they don’t get with the program, negotiations between Arab states and Israel could go on without them. That’s a plausible form of leverage. The Palestinians’ greatest nightmare is that Arab states might abandon them altogether and normalize relations with Israel without a peace deal.

Okay, Folks, This Really Is News

A fair question to ask: Are we missing something? While we’re running around yelling and fighting and reporting about Mueller, McCabe, Hillary’s latest insult to Americans, Hillary’s latest losing battle with gravity, Trump’s latest tweet and every last tawdry detail of Stormy Daniel’s saga, are we missing the biggest story of the decade, if not a generation? 

It cannot be coincidence Netanyahu and the Crown Prince are popping into the Oval Office within days of each other. Or that Arab nations and Israel are also at the White House working together. And working together on a solution involving the Palestinians when the one stumbling block to comprehensive peace is Israel reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. 

‘Twas a little too early to be here for the cherry blossoms.

Staring at News Porn When Peace Could Be Staring Us in the Face?

I am not saying a grand, comprehensive Middle East peace deal is imminent. I am saying that a sequence of events over the past couple weeks points toward something potentially monumental. That there is substantial evidence that the prize of peace is closer than its been in a generation. History is happening. And we’ve given it less attention than we do box scores from an exhibition game. 

We have been distracted. We allow our Twitter news feed to sprint by like Usain Bolt, our cable news to occupy hours on topics that bear no weight or lasting significance. 

What upsets us or obsesses us today is likely dust tomorrow. Meanwhile, that which has meaning is dismissed. 

The Enemy once had us eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Today he has us eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of the Trivial. 

Today, let’s drink in Truth and digest what matters, instead of eating out of the devil’s hand. And let us pray for peace in Jerusalem.