Blinded by the Light

I continue to be puzzled by the overwhelming antagonism of the mainstream media towards President Trump.  The Democrats I can understand.  Even though they have taken this Resist deal to astronomical extremes and have literally made asses of themselves with their knee-jerk negativism towards everything Trump; it is their natural position to be the opposition party.  Notwithstanding that they are doing it in an infantile and irresponsible fashion; they are nonetheless fulfilling a conventional role.  On the other hand, the mainstream media’s obsessive opposition to President Trump is a seismic departure from what any rational person would describe as their traditional role as the Fourth Estate in America.  It makes one wonder: Exactly what is it about Trump that drives these media people to their extreme idiocy? 

For my entire adult life, I have observed national politics with amusement and varying interest.  In my latter years of life, I have taken it more seriously and spent much more time reading and researching its nooks and crannies, trying to gain a better understanding of how it works.  I must admit that the current state of national politics and the absolute unpredictability of it make me certain that for all of my efforts, I am today no closer to understanding it than I was fifty years ago.  It is indeed a unique and sometimes incoherent experiment in governing that impossibly seems to work out in the end.

I wrote a piece about Donald Trump’s remarkable journey to the Presidency in http://centerlineright.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-would-you-feel.html .  His election remains one of the truly incredible stories in United States political history.  For many decades, observers of American politics have entertained and discussed the possible impact of having a true outsider in the White House; one who came not from the long-established ranks of the two national parties.  One who had a lifetime background in something other than the long slog of climbing the political ladder from one office to the next, steadily and ambitiously ascending the ranks of elected gravitas until the day arrives when the perfect storm puts you in the center and you become the face of your Party.

There have been anomalies like Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, John Anderson, and George Wallace who had significant impacts on presidential elections; but these candidates were from independent third parties and did not rise from within the ranks of the national parties.  They were mavericks who could not achieve their political ambitions within the confines of their chosen national party and went rogue out of political frustration.  A good history of these episodes can be found here:   https://www.fairvote.org/a_history_of_independent_presidential_candidates .

This is not the path of Donald Trump.  Over his lifetime, Donald Trump has switched his party affiliation more often than some people have switched pickup trucks.  His most recent change was registering with the Republican Party in April of 2012…think about that one for a moment.  A thoughtful review of his political life and public comments will yield an impression that he has largely supported ideals that were much more in tune with Democratic policies than those of Republicans.  What prompted Trump to align his wagon with the Republican train and pursue the 2016 Republican presidential nomination will be a question long begging for an answer.  The fact is that he did.  He pursued it and he won it.  The rest, as they say, is…and will be… history.  It is fair to say that Donald Trump is the first true political outsider to be elected President in our national history; at least in my memory.  And if you look at the facts and cut through the drama, it is also easy to see that Trump’s true allegiance is to himself and his own independent ideals and not to the Republican Party that put him in the White House. 

The Republican Party did not want to dance with Trump.  Heck, they didn’t even want to invite Trump to the dance.  But having won the Presidency and after achieving an impressive record of accomplishment and a national following, the Republicans now embrace Trump as one of their very own.  It is as if he has been residing in their house since infancy and they are simply celebrating his success in that familial context.  The capacity for hypocrisy and insincerity by our National Parties is absolutely breath-taking. 

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Trump has driven the Democrats out of their ever-loving minds.  It is fascinating how his unorthodox methods and habits are embraced by the Republicans out of convenience and condemned by the Democrats out of frustration.  Democrats cannot seem to accept the unlikely fact that this undisciplined and arrogant public personality has somehow not only risen to be the leader of the opposing party, but is also eating their lunch on a regular basis.  I must say that if the tables were turned (and this is a great thought exercise) and Trump had won the Presidency as a Democrat; the Republicans' reaction to him would likely be not too different from what we see with the Democrats. 

To me, the most disappointing and inexplicable impact of Trump’s improbable ascension to the Presidency has been the reaction of the mainstream media.  Two facts lie at the foundation of their despicable and unprofessional behavior towards Trump.  First is the fact that probably 75 to 80 percent of the mainstream media are Democrats at heart; not only in terms of registration but also in terms of political philosophy.  But the reality of liberal bias in the mainstream media has always been there behind the scenes; lying just below the surface.  This fact is simply more obvious today than in the past because the media personalities are shameless in their efforts towards any pretense of fairness.    I think the second major factor in seeking the origins of extreme mainstream media bias is the fact that our national institutions of higher learning are populated by rank liberal ideologues in the areas of instruction and administration.  It is easy to see that if the media industry is going to recruit from the ranks of college graduates; those recruits are going to be largely liberal in their thoughts and deeds.  They will naturally be drawn into the network of liberal media bias that currently exists and will feel right at home there. 

That comfort is a dangerous situation that has led to complacency and professional atrophy.  The tendency of the youth in the mainstream media (and that is most of them) to simply go with the flow of those around them in their comfortable little left-wing bubble has made them reluctant to seriously consider differing points of views.  It has closed their mind to natural curiosity and incurred a debilitating stain on their profession.  The mainstream media has become fat and lazy in their nice and warm cocoons of monopoly.  And now talk radio, the internet, and Fox News has arrived on the scene to create some viable alternatives for the public.  Suddenly, the games are no longer walkovers; there is real competition on the field.  Instead of improving their skills and placing new emphasis on their pre-game preparation and on-field execution, they are doubling down on their preferred historical position in the media industry and choosing the easier roads of ridiculing your critics and listening only to your friends.  Their lack of self-awareness has created a slow rot in their networks that is having terrible consequences.  They have chosen the path of least resistance.

Their abdication of professional ethics has nourished the Democratic-driven anti-Trump fever that has split this nation’s people right down the middle.  The poisonous political environment that currently exists in all facets of American life could not have existed without the constant and enthusiastic fostering of the mainstream media.  While they are surely not the sole determinant of this degradation in political civility; they are no doubt one of the primary causes and enablers.  They continue to stoke the cancerous embers of partisan venom that is rampant in our society and culture.

Donald Trump’s election was a stunning surprise not only to the mainstream media, but to America in general.  To a large extent (that extent is soon to be determined), America’s voting citizens have embraced his executive performance and fresh approach to the Presidency.  They celebrate his disdain for the corruption that has for so long existed and flourished in the dark halls of WDC.  They like his populist fiscal policies that have created good times for the middle and working classes of our people.  They approve of his pride in America, his practical approach to foreign policy, and his natural instinct to place America’s interest first before global concerns.  For the majority of Americans, Donald Trump is that true outsider that has been trying to break down the doors of the White House for all of these years.  He is authentically private sector in his business-centric approach to government and he is uncomfortably loud and proud of it.  He may be the proverbial bull in the china shop; but perhaps it was about time some dishes got broken.

All of this flies in the face of the mainstream media and many of the tenets they have held so closely for so long.  It is bad enough that they never saw him coming.  It was terribly embarrassing for them when they openly and arrogantly trumpeted his coming demise at the hands of Hillary Clinton and then…well, we all know how that story ended.  All of the political intelligentsia in the media were very badly and very publicly humiliated by Donald Trump’s election and they have never forgiven him for that.  And now, having repeatedly guessed wrong on all things Trumpian, they are faced not only with the tangible successes based on his unconventional approach to governing; but they have to deal with the very real prospect of him being re-elected to another four year term as President.      

America, the world, and the mainstream media were blinded by the light of Trump’s 2016 election victory.  The voters of the United States have come to terms with that event and have grown (some more reluctantly than others) to rather enjoy its benefits.  The global establishment is slowing coming to realize that the new American sheriff is not like the others before him.  He actually walks the talk.  Following the recent impeachment debacle, the Democrats will fall back into their traditional role of the loyal opposition and try to defeat the President at the ballot box this fall.  Sadly and tragically, the mainstream media has not yet shown any signs of realizing how truly pathetic they have become as a professional entity.  Trump has left them soulless and writhing on the floor.  This nation needs a functioning Fourth Estate.  Our government needs a full-time and non-biased inquisitor to keep an eye on the areas that we as full-time citizens have neither the time nor access to monitor. 

We are faced with either the hateful and venomous attitudes of CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post or the unbridled cheerleading of Fox News for home team Trump.  Our media is as divided as our populace.  We can only hope that at some point, the mainstream media will return to some semblance of journalistic integrity and re-assume the critical role of reporting the news and supplying Americans with the true facts about current events…while rediscovering an honest respect for the intelligence and ability of individuals to think for themselves.

Note: The title of this post in no way implies that Trump is the Light as opposed to the Darkness; this is not about Good versus Evil.  It is not the Light of Brilliance; but rather that shocking light that appears suddenly out of the night…like an unexpected camera flash.  It is simply a commentary on the current affair of national politics.  To put the title in the correct vein, let’s climb in the old Way Back Machine and check this out:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWVL4B-4pI .