The Election and the Media

Responsible mainstream media are a last line of defense against a firestorm of craziness engulfing us. But not much of a defense, it seems.

PBS’s Washington Week presents topnotch journalists soberly analyzing events; carefully objective and unbiased. A recent airing focused on Trump completely dominating the Republican party. But their talk was so calm and anodyne, making it all seem almost like mere business as usual, just the latest standard episode in a 250-year soap opera. No suggestion that we’re seeing insanity. Headed over a cliff.

Mainstream news does now regularly state that Trump’s 2020 “stolen election” claims are proven lies. But almost with a resigned weariness. And Brobdingnagian lying no longer seems to be an electoral negative.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show declares itself “America’s only source for news.” Tongue-in-cheek — yet they, at least, truly get the picture, and cut through crap like a buzz-saw. Watching, I often mouth, “thank you.”

But even the Daily Show can exhibit an unhelpful case of overdone objectivity. They can’t resist mocking President Biden’s seeming elderly frailty. Likewise, pundit Kathleen Parker (who loathes Trump) devoted two recent newspaper columns mainly to tut-tutting about Biden’s age.

I want to say: Just stop. Just stop.

Well, maybe I’m guilty myself, to even mention it, and a past blog post headlined “the age issue.” But its point was to compare an aging President who’s a decent human being, with wisdom and experience, against a monster of depravity.

Biden is only 3-1/2 years Trump’s senior — and 562% more mentally competent.

However, that stark contrast somehow gets lost. People are so “ageist” against Biden they’ll take instead the evil deranged criminal. That’s why media continuing to spotlight Biden’s frailty is so harmful. Making more likely an unthinkably bad outcome.

While all of this, and stuff like the Washington Week discussion, serves to normalize Trump and Trumpism (no matter how much they speak the actually polite word “unprecedented”). Enabling people to permit themselves to vote for him. As though it’s a legitimate choice; a rational one.

But I don’t know why I even bother writing about mainstream news media. Folks might take in some facts they like; otherwise put fingers in their ears and go “la la la la la.” And of course there’s also a whole media landscape — Faux News the poster boy — filling their heads with crazy crap.

There is the idea of voting not so much for the man as the policies. Especially true for Evangelicals. I myself could imagine supporting some nasty candidate for policy reasons. But here the moral dimension is so huge that it’s of the essence. This is such a thoroughly bad man that no good could possibly ensue from empowering him. While disgracing America with an ineradicable stench.

Trump voters do somehow nevertheless identify with him more than with Biden and Democrats. Bizarre though it might seem for salt-of-the-earth Middle Americans to identify with a billionaire New York real estate con artist. Yet somehow they feel he speaks their language. But do they really and truly want the kind of regime Trump would impose? I don’t think so.

Take the abortion issue. A signature Republican policy that even the reddest state voters have consistently rejected at every opportunity. And do they really and truly want to deport millions of longtime residents doing vital jobs in our economy? To trash our painstakingly built international alliances and align ourselves with a Russian dictator’s assault upon world peace?

They say their top concern is the economy and inflation, and trust Trump there more than Biden. Seriously? Trump’s idiotic tariff policy (and deporting all those workers) would send consumer prices through the roof.

I haven’t even mentioned January 6, and Trump’s criminal plotting to literally overthrow the government, with fake electors and everything. Re-elect him? Are we out of our fucking minds?