

“This thing happened” is news, so “Trump said this” is news.
“You should have this reaction to it” is for the opinion pages, even if that reaction is “you should believe him”.
That isn’t to say the Times doesn’t try to get away with pushing a narrative while technically following the rules, but that rule is still a good one.





I suspect the person you’re replying to is using “liberal” in a way that refers to someone to the right of their own position. Not in the way Limbaugh used it as a catch-all for anyone left of Reagan.