Tag Archives: media bias

The Next Two Years …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2024, Free Press Issues, History, Political commentary, Social commentary, voting rights

Looking ahead to the next two years in the United States Congress, I think we all foresee chaos.  I don’t anticipate that the work of government, the work of We the People will be done, since the Republican-led House of Representatives has already told us they have no intention of doing their jobs.  They have made it clear they plan to obfuscate and obstruct the will of the people by impeaching not only the president (not for any crimes, real or imagined, but simply in retaliation for the twice-impeached former guy), and then they plan to defund the FBI, but only after a lengthy, costly investigation led by the likes of Gym … er, Jim Jordan, himself a criminal.  So, it would be easy to slip into despair, wondering why we are even bothering to pay taxes to keep the government running if they aren’t planning to do a damn thing about such important issues as the environment, guns, healthcare, education, voting rights, women’s rights, and the multitude of things that we hired them to address.  But Robert Hubbell has a slightly different take, one which I think deserves some pondering.  Here is a portion of his post …

The next two years.

Robert Hubbell

02 January 2023

As we enter 2023, there is no escaping the fact that we are beginning the long march toward the presidential election of 2024. As we start that journey, we have every reason to be confident about our ability to rise to the occasion. We did so in 2022, as we did in 2020 and 2018. The lesson of each of those campaigns is that our biggest challenge is overcoming the persistent media narrative that the Democratic Party is in disarray while the MAGA wing of the Republican Party is ascendant. That has not been an accurate description of the political dynamic in America since 2016, but the media has been like a dog with a bone—it won’t give up the negative narrative about the Democratic Party despite all objective evidence to the contrary.

          On the Democratic side of the scale are the results of the last three elections (or four if you consider the popular vote in 2016). On the Republican side are four losing elections and truly daunting challenges entering 2023. While we should never count on Republicans to defeat themselves, the narrative is misleading if we focus exclusively on the challenges facing Democrats—a favorite journalistic technique whenever a story is needed to predict doom for the Democratic Party.

          The stories circulating at the top of the news cycle this week highlight the challenges the Republican Party will face as it begins to awake from a six-year binge with a strange bedfellow whose appearance in the harsh morning light of 2023 should give the GOP a sinking feeling of regret and panic. Let’s see what the GOP sees in the mirror at the dawn of a new year.

The impossibility of breaking up with Trump.

          A sizable portion of the Republican Party is done with Trump—but it will be impossible for the GOP to break up with Trump. He will either be the 2024 GOP nominee, or he will destroy the party in the process of losing the nomination. Worse, just as MAGA extremism appears to have crested at the polls, Trump is forcing contenders for the nomination to “out-Trump Trump” in their quest for the 2024 nomination. See, e.g., Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and Kari Lake.

          Trump began the new year by sending a warning shot across the bow of the Republican Party. Last week, Trump posted an article titled The Coming Split on his vanity social media platform, Truth Social. The article urged Trump to run as a third-party candidate if the GOP does not nominate him for president in 2024. See Huff Post, Trump Appears To Float Third-Party Threat If GOP Won’t Back Him | HuffPost Latest News.

          The author of the article, right-wing journalist Dan Gelernter, wrote the following:

Do I think Trump can win as a third-party candidate? No. Would I vote for him as a third-party candidate? Yes. Because I’m not interested in propping up this corrupt [GOP] gravy-train any longer. . . . What should we do when a majority of Republicans want Trump, but the Republican Party says we can’t have him? Do we knuckle under and vote for Ron DeSantis because he would be vastly better than any Democrat? I say no, we don’t knuckle under.

          As noted in the HuffPo article, current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told Trump that if he runs as a third party, “We [the GOP] will lose forever.” McDaniel is right. If Trump leaves the GOP, it will be nearly impossible for another GOP candidate to win in a general election. And the result will be the same if Trump mounts a third-party challenge or merely sulks at Mar-a-Lago, hurling insults and raising money for Trump-affiliated PACs that he spends on legal defense and tacky parties.

          Despite Trump’s weakened state from the midterms and mounting legal problems, Kevin McCarthy’s inability to secure the votes to become Speaker is directly related to Trump’s continuing gravitational pull on the GOP. The Freedom Caucus and assorted crazies in the GOP are demanding that McCarthy veer to the extreme edges of MAGA extremism to garner their support. For example, McCarthy has floated the idea of Jim Jordan leading a Judiciary Committee investigation into FBI Director Christopher Wray because . . . . well, you know. In MAGA-world, “FBI bad, Oath Keepers good.” Trump appointed Wray as FBI Director but has been highly critical of Wray’s unwillingness to pursue Trump’s revenge agenda against Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, etc.

          Likewise, Ronna McDaniel is trying to keep her job as the Chair of the Republican Committee by saying that the top priority of Republicans in the new congressional term is “getting to the bottom of Hunter Biden’s laptop.”  That should be a pretty easy task since Rudy Giuliani has had a copy of the hard drive from Hunter Biden’s laptop since October 2020. If there is anything on the laptop worth getting to the bottom of, it should have emerged by now. More importantly, the obsession with Hunter Biden’s laptop illustrates that the Trump revenge agenda is eclipsing the ability of the GOP to pursue a substantive agenda.

          So, there you have it. Trump won’t let the GOP walk out the door without starting an internecine war that may destroy the party. And even without Trump actively trying to destroy the party, he has unleashed reactionary forces that even he cannot restrain. Over the weekend, McCarthy reportedly offered a concession to the radical wing of the Freedom Caucus that would allow a handful of Representative to call for a “no confidence” vote on the Speaker—something McCarthy previously said he would “never” do. As a result, the extremists in the GOP, like Matt Gaetz, will be controlling the GOP agenda in Congress. See Newsweek,  Steve Bannon says Matt Gaetz Will Be ‘De Facto’ Speaker After McCarthy Concessions.

          [Update: McCarthy’s humiliating offer to allow a “motion to vacate” by five members was rejected in a letter by nine Republican members sent on New Year’s Day.]

          Whatever challenges Democrats face as they move toward 2024, those challenges do not include an inevitable struggle for control of the party that will inflict grievous injury no matter the outcome. Democrats face challenges, too, and we will be reminded of them early and often by the media. So, keep in mind that the next two years will be extraordinarily difficult for the GOP, even if the media fails to mention that fact.

Dealing with the polls over the next two years.

          It was not your imagination. Polling regarding the 2022 midterms was not only wrong, it was so wrong that it may have negatively affected Democratic prospects in some contests. The NYTimes published a lengthy analysis of the polling errors in 2022. See NYTimes, The ‘Red Wave’ Washout: How Skewed Polls Fed a False Election Narrative. Kudos to the Times for engaging in introspection about how the media amplified misleading polls. The Times does not mention its own prominent role in distorting the narrative to the detriment of Democrats.

          The lengthy analysis in the Times can be distilled to the following:

  • Polls are not elections.
  • In a closely divided electorate, polls communicate virtually no useful information.
  • Republicans have figured out how to manipulate polls.
  • Polling aggregators like Fivethirtyeight.com and the media amplify the misleading polls generated by partisan affiliates of the GOP.
  • Misinformation from junk polls depressed Democratic turnout in certain instances.

          The ability of Republican pollsters to distort the media narrative had real-life consequences on the outcomes in 2022. Democratic funders abandoned Mandela Barnes in his race against Ron Johnson when garbage Republican polls began to suggest that Johnson was pulling ahead of Barnes by five points (or more). In the end, Barnes lost by one percentage point. But the “negative narrative” resulted in a fundraising edge by Ron Johnson of $26 million.

          What if Democratic funders had not abandoned Barnes based on misleading polling? Would Barnes have fared better if the Democrats had not ceded the fundraising advantage to Ron Johnson? We will never know the answers to those questions for certain. But we can stop falling for the same stupid Republican games in the future.

          So, here’s the point: Don’t stress out over polls during the next two years. We must go about our business as if every vote might be the deciding vote in every election.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due!

Posted on by under Election 2020, Election 2022, Environmental Issues, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

President Biden is doing the best he can, folks, given what he has to work with!  No one man can solve all the nation’s problems … he needs the help of others, but the only thing President Biden is getting from others is obstruction and criticism.  Thus far, I think he’s done a pretty damn good job, considering that not one single Republican in Congress has found their conscience in the pile of dirty laundry they left lying about the floor of the Capitol.  But it’s not only the Republicans … even members of Biden’s own party are wringing their hands and saying he “should do this …” or “shouldn’t have said that …” instead of supporting his efforts.

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and damn tired of the media focusing on what President Biden didn’t accomplish, calling his first year in office a ‘dismal failure’, and blaming him for everything from the price of sugar to the high rate of Covid cases/deaths.  The reality is that he has accomplished a lot and would have accomplished much more, had it not been for the obstruction of the Republicans in Congress.  The media … ALL of it … needs to stop and think, needs to be more honest and give credit where credit is due!  Bill Press is an author, journalist, and radio talk show host who I’ve highlighted here a few times before.  His latest column is spot on regarding the painting of President Biden with a very dark media brush …

Bill Press: Biden lays blame where it belongs

BILL PRESS JANUARY 20, 2022

One year ago, Joe Biden took the oath of office as the 46th president of the United States. So, it’s only fair to ask the question, on Jan. 20, 2022: “How’d that first year work out?” And, indeed, that was the entire focus of Biden’s news conference on January 19.

President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

Take your partisan hat off for the moment. Whether you like his politics or not, you have to agree that Biden proved once and for all – despite relentless smears by Donald Trump – that he’s more than up for the job. He not only gave the longest news conference in presidential history, but he also proved knowledgeable and up to date on the widest possible range of topics: from Ukraine to Yemen, from COVID-19 to voting rights, from inflation to the supply chain.

You probably also agree that the big show dragged on far too long and, at times, Biden talked too much, especially when he mused about how the West might respond differently to a “minor” invasion of Ukraine by Russia vs. a “major invasion.” When, in fact, the only correct answer is that “any” invasion of Ukraine by Russia is unacceptable and will be dealt with severely.

Not surprisingly, Biden walked into the East Room facing a skeptical, if not hostile, group of reporters. With few exceptions, in the days leading up to Biden’s press conference, news outlets had basically already written off his first year as a total disaster. You heard it over and over again: Biden promised to do big things, he promised to deliver on voting rights, he promised to work with Republicans and restore national unity – and he’d failed at all three.

Yet, by the time the news conference ended, in his own plain-spoken, and sometimes plodding style, it was Biden who’d proven the media wrong about all three.

Getting big things done. Did Biden achieve everything he set out to do? Heck, no. What president ever has? In four years, let alone one? But, as Biden was quick to point out, he could, and did, brag about “enormous progress” on several fronts: record economic growth; 6 million new jobs created; unemployment down to 3.9 percent; new business applications up 39 percent; record investment in rebuilding America’s ports, bridges, and highways; from 2 million to 210 million Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and from zero to 1 billion home test kits available. Yes, Biden admitted, he faced “a job not yet finished,” but he’d still accomplished a great deal in his first 12 months. And he wisely said he’s willing to break up his “Build Back Better” bill into smaller pieces to add that to his list of accomplishments. Score One.

Voting rights. Biden admitted that failure to pass voting rights legislation is the biggest disappointment of his first year, but you can’t blame him for not trying. He endorsed both bills, lobbied senators for their passage, and even supported ending the filibuster to make it happen. But there are limits to what a president can do. Blame Senate Republicans, 16 of whom, including leaders McConnell, Grassley, and Cornyn – previously voted for the Voting Rights Act, but refused to do so again for fear of alienating Donald Trump. And blame especially two stubborn, blockheaded Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Score Two.

Unity. The reality is, it takes two to tango. And, in the past, Biden’s always found Republican tango partners. No longer. “Did you ever think,” he asked, “that one man out of office could intimidate an entire party?” Biden acknowledged that times have changed: “I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done.” National unity is impossible when one political party always says no. Score Three.

On this point, Biden was at his best. All-out Republican opposition, he noted, raises the question: “What are you for?” The truth is, we know what Republicans are for. For eight years, they were for nothing but stopping President Obama. For four years, they were for nothing but whatever Donald Trump wanted (which turned out to be nothing). Now they’re for nothing but stopping President Biden. For 13 years, they have not put up one new idea. They stand for nothing. They’re the party of nothing.

Perhaps unwittingly, Biden has given Democrats a strong argument to take into the midterms, by challenging every Republican opponent: “What are you for?” Other than making Donald Trump happy, they have no answer.

Bits of This, That, and The Other

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Free Press Issues, guns, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Today, I promise no posts about January 6 or the former guy.

Yesterday I let out a “WHOOP” when the wheels of justice, after turning very slowly, finally picked up momentum and rendered three sentences that were fair and well-deserved.  The three killers of Ahmaud Arbery were all sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for father and son Greg and Travis McMichael.  Good riddance to bad rubbish.  The other, William “Roddie” Bryan, will be eligible for parole after 30 years because he did cooperate with police and according to his lawyer, showed remorse for his actions on that fateful day.

Some will say this is justice, and it is right and just for the killers, and it is justice in one sense for Arbery’s family but make no mistake … this is still not justice for Ahmaud Arbery.  Mr. Arbery is still dead, so there can be no justice for him.

The good news …

I noted in a prior post that no matter what happens, the media cannot seem to give President Biden credit for anything, however they are fighting in line to blame him for almost everything.  Today is another example of that.

The facts:

Over the past year (2021), 6.4 million jobs were created, a new record, and the unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% to 3.9%.  This was the greatest jobs growth year in modern U.S. history, and it’s not even close.

The headlines:

  • Hiring falters in December as payrolls rise only 199,000 (CNBC)
  • US hiring cools in December as economy adds just 199,000 new jobs (Fox Business)
  • Jobs disappoint in December, but unemployment falls to 3.9% (CNN)
  • U.S. gains scant 199,000 jobs in December as businesses confront labor shortage (MarketWatch)
  • U.S. hiring slowed in December as employers struggled to find workers (New York Times)

Nearly 200,000 jobs added in December, despite the surge in Covid cases, and it’s referred to as “only” or “scant” 199,000, despite the good news overall in the jobs and unemployment numbers at the close of the year.  I wonder just what President Biden must do to earn a positive headline?  Whatever it is, you can rest assured that Congress will keep him from being able to do it.

Granted, the President doesn’t control the economy and doesn’t deserve credit nor blame in its entirety, however he or she (hopefully someday) does play a role with their policies and rhetoric, and throughout history, the press has assigned either blame or praise.  Unfortunately, today’s press seems to be under the spell of the former guy and is steadfastly refusing to give President Biden so much as an inch.

The not-so-good news …

The year 2020 saw the highest number of gun deaths in the U.S. in history.  Ever.  45,222 people died of gunshot wounds — a 14 percent jump from 2019 and the largest year-over-year rise on record.  This record is certainly nothing to be proud of and in my book, it’s well past time to place very restrictive constraints on gun ownership in this nation.

In the past, I have called for “sensible gun legislation”, thinking that the best way would be one step at a time, thus not antagonizing those who believe the 2nd Amendment is the only one that matters.  However, given the current level of violence in this nation, and the fact that there are 120.5 guns for every 100 people in the U.S., or about 400 million guns for a nation with a population of 330 million people, it is time for much more aggressive action.  Do I believe it will happen?  No, certainly not in my lifetime, for the gun nuts care more about their guns than they do about their own families and have fought tooth-and-nail against even background checks or assault rifle bans.

School shootings, mass shootings at malls, religious places, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., have risen over the years and today it is not at all unusual for at least one person to be ‘packing heat’ in your local Kroger store or Applebee’s.  Those who worship their guns won’t step forward to protect our voting rights, our way of life, or system of government, but they will fight to the death for their ‘right’ to own as many guns as their garage can hold.  SIGH.

Blame Biden!

Posted on by under Free Press Issues, History, Political commentary, Social commentary

The press has been grossly unfair to President Biden.  Even the outlets that Republicans taunt as being “left-leaning” such as The Washington Post and the New York Times have resorted to making much ado about any negative news, and ignoring or glossing over the positive.  And the right-wingers comeback is predictably … “Whaddabout when Trump was president?  The press always gave him grief.”  Sure, but there is one MAJOR difference … Trump deserved every bit of the criticism and more, while Biden is trying very hard to do the right thing, to reverse the damage that was done during the four years of Trump’s largely chaotic rule.

Just one example from Eric Boehlert’s newsletter, Press Run …

NBC ignores blockbuster 943,000 new jobs report

It’s hard to believe this actually happened, but it did. On August 6, the Department of Labor released the July jobs report which produced mind-boggling results — nearly 1 million new jobs were created as the U.S. economy roared back to life following the pandemic. For some inconceivable reason, “NBC Nightly News” on August 6 did not cover the jobs report; no mention was made at all.

They weren’t alone in shrugging off the fantastic economic news for the Biden administration. At 4 p.m. on that Friday, roughly seven hours after the stellar July job numbers were released, the story was highlighted in the 37th headline as you scrolled down the NBC News homepage. At the CBS News homepage, none of the top 50 headlines at that time addressed the jackpot economic report.

At CNN, by Friday afternoon the jobs report had been blacked out as the network’s homepage made way for “This Underrated Form of Exercise is So Good for You,” and “Lucy Lawless Reunites With ‘Xena’ Costar.”

The episode was perhaps the best indication that when it came to economic news, the press had a very specific story it wanted to tell in 2021 (inflation!), and that good news could be set aside.

I have seen President Biden blamed for the “supply chain crisis” which was really no crisis at all, as despite the dire predictions that store shelves would be empty for Christmas, retail sales in the United States jumped nearly 11 percent in 2021 compared with the holiday period in 2019.

After months of the media insisting consumers were terrified about the rising inflation rate, and that stores would be barren this season thanks to supply chain woes, shoppers snatched up everything in sight, sending holiday sales soaring to a 17-year high. Clothing sales jumped 47% compared to 2019 (pre-Covid), jewelry 32%, electronics 16%.  That runaway spending meant consumers had no problem finding products, despite months of dire media warnings and claims that it all meant terrible news for the White House.

I can speak from my own experience … I did all my shopping online this year, as due to both my own illness and the pandemic, I was not able to shop in person (nor did I have any desire to, for I am not a ‘shopper’).  Not one single item I ordered was delayed significantly or unavailable.  Not ONE!  Well … with the exception of toilet tissue … every time somebody says “BOO”, U.S. consumers run to the store and buy out all the toilet tissue.  I’ll never understand the obsession over toilet tissue!  Wine, I could understand, but toilet tissue???

And then there’s the issue of not enough workers to fill certain jobs.  This one confounds me, for the positions that companies are having trouble filling are low-paid jobs and workers have moved on to greener pastures where they can earn a living wage.  HOW THE HELL is that President Biden’s fault?  If there is blame (and there is – plenty to go around) it is the corporations who are unwilling to let a single penny of profit go to the people producing and selling their product.  Blame also lies with Congress , glossy-eyed over the donations of the aforementioned wealthy corporations, who have steadfastly refused to raise the the minimum wage beyond the current whopping (sarcasm intended) $7.25 per hour.  With increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), that $7.25 is now worth 21% less than it was in 2009 when it was last raised, or $5.73.  This amounts to just under $12,000 per year before taxes are withheld!  My rent alone is more than that!!!  So, is it any wonder that people are gravitating toward better paid jobs in an effort to feed their family and keep a roof over their heads without having to work 16-hour days???  No, folks, President Biden isn’t the reason companies can’t keep employees … the companies themselves are the root of their own problem.

The most recent unemployment rate as of November was 4.2% … matching the lowest level in 50 years, yet the media chose to focus on other issues, barely giving a nod to the unemployment numbers and in some cases claiming the numbers shouldn’t be taken seriously.  Granted, no president makes nor breaks the economy single-handedly, but if we’re going to criticize him over the negative, why not give him a bit of credit for the positive?

And then there’s Covid.  We have nearly 850,000 deaths in the U.S. due to Covid … the most of any nation on the planet.  Why?  No, it is not President Biden’s fault!!!  The former guy so mishandled and bungled the response to the pandemic in early 2020 that it is a miracle we aren’t all dead.  He intentionally withheld information and downplayed it, held rallies and events that were hotbeds for the transmission of the disease, yet Republicans and the media blame President Biden.  Biden has done everything in his power to ensure that there are sufficient vaccines for every person over the age of 5, but if there is blame for the continuing surge, it falls squarely on the shoulders of the anti-vaxxers.  Those who refuse the free vaccine for whatever ‘reason’ are responsible for the continuation of the rise in cases and deaths, and they are to blame for the isolation that many of us are still experiencing.

The Republicans such as Kevin McCarthy and many others feed this pack of lies to the media and they gobble it up like leftover Thanksgiving turkey!  The old saying is “If it bleeds, it leads”, but the new saying should be “If it pleases Trump, to the front page it will bump.”  I strongly suspect that the editors of the formerly reliable news organizations are well aware that they are distorting the news in many cases, but they must have some underlying reason to do so, and my guess is that it involves $$$$$$$$$$.  Doesn’t everything these days?

President Biden and his attempt to pass legislation to help the struggling people of this nation has become the scapegoat for any troubles, real, perceived, or contrived.  That it is unfair is the least of the problem … that it will colour the views of some of the people, ie voters, is the greater problem.  If President Biden and by extension the Democratic Party can be blamed for every problem, then the elections of 2022 and 2024 will indeed reflect those falsehoods.

I don’t expect the media to fawn over the current president, but neither do I expect them to jump into the fray of finger-pointing and blaming him for problems that started long before he took office!  I expect them to report facts and leave the drawing of conclusions to their readers – most of us are, after all, smart enough to put two and two together and understand what is happening.  Unfortunately, others will gobble up the sensational headlines and continue to blame President Biden for everything from the price of lemons to the toilet paper shortage!

Media Bias? Sexism? Or Just Making a Buck?

Posted on by under Political commentary, Rants

Am I the only one who wonders why we are still hearing about Hillary Clinton’s “damn emails” on a daily basis, yet nothing has been said about Donald Trump’s lawsuits by people claiming to have been scammed by his Trump University?  Or why we still have to hear frequently how Hillary “enabled” Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, but nothing about Trump’s many and public extra-marital affairs?  Or about the Clintons and Whitewater, but little about Trump’s multiple failed businesses?  We still hear accusations that have been proven unfounded that Clinton was single-handedly responsible for the attack on Benghazi, but when is the last time we heard about the discrimination lawsuits brought against Trump in the ‘70s?  Today, we are hearing about Clinton’s charitable donations, yet the scandal of Trump’s failure to live up to his commitment to donate to veterans organizations was a one-day wonder, then it mysteriously went away. There is a glaringly obvious double-standard at play here, and I keep wondering … why?

trump-newsTrump claims that the media treats him horribly, he has banned a number of reputable news organizations from his events, yet much of the dirt surrounding him is swept under the table after brief mention in the press.  Oh sure, they are still talking about his hate-filled rhetoric, his verbal abuse against the Khan family, his threat to ban all Muslims, and some of the utter stupidity that has come, and continues to spew daily out of his mouth.  But other things, actions, lawsuits, alleged abuse of employees and others, those just seem to vanish into thin air, while every possible potential mistake that Hillary might have made is put under the magnifying glass and reported … and reported … and reported.

Thus far, there is no proof that Hillary Clinton has broken the law, but there are mounds of lawsuits that Trump settled that prove he broke the law.  What is the difference?  For a brief moment I wondered if it were a simple matter of gender bias, but I do not believe that.  Yes, gender bias exists, and I am sure that is at least a part of the reason that some blue-collar, white males are Trump supporters.  But I don’t think the difference in the reporting of these two candidates can be chalked up entirely to sexism.

In looking back at my own writing, I think I have found the answer.  Hillary Clinton is a serious candidate who talks about real issues, real problems, and seeks to provide real solutions.  Very good … that is what we all want to hear, right?  Right?  But then … why isn’t the media writing about Hillary’s intelligent speech instead of her damn emails, and instead of Trump’s often incoherent babbling?  Why am I writing about Trump calling people names and encouraging somebody to shoot Clinton instead of writing about Hillary’s policy talk?  I just realized that I wrote about Trump’s economic speech, and another post about his economic advisors, but not a word about Hillary’s.  The answer, friends, is that every time Trump opens his mouth, it is news.  It is news because it is so outrageous that one cannot help being mesmerized by it, reporting on it, writing about it, and re-telling it over and over.

A month or so ago, I swore off writing about Trump. I said it was getting old, was depressing me, and there were better things to write about.  That lasted about two days, as I recall.  So yes, I understand the allure of writing about his gaffes and utterly stupid rhetoric, and I understand that it has more mass appeal and is more fun to write about … it rather has what I like to call the ‘gasp factor’ … it makes you GASP when you hear his latest irreverent remark. And thus, Hillary’s sane and intelligent talks pale in comparison and fade into the background.  I get that part.  But I still do not understand why the mainstream media fails to keep the presses hot with talk of the lawsuit against Trump University for fraud.  When he tried to force the judge to recuse himself, the media covered that for a week or so, and it is still mentioned in passing every now and then.  But the man is being sued for FRAUD, for bilking people, mainly senior citizens, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and giving them nothing of value in exchange.  That same man is running for president of the country, and it receives a brief mention once a month or so?  At the same time, Hillary Clinton has been officially declared innocent of wrongdoing after an in-depth investigation into her use of a private email server, and that is in the news every day? If Hillary Clinton were being sued for fraud, do you think it would be on the media’s back burner???  I don’t think so for a minute!

trump-clown2The mainstream media is a business just like any other, and they are in business to make money.  “If it bleeds, it leads.”  We, as a nation, have indicated through ratings that what interests us the most are the things with the highest GASP factor, therefore that is what the media will report.  We can find stories about Hillary’s economic plan, her foreign policy initiatives, and her plan to grow the economy, but we will have to dig a bit deeper than the “NBC Nightly News”, or the headlines in the Washington Post, because those will be busy reporting that Donald Trump wants to “punch somebody in the face”.  Yes, we have voted for the types of coverage we want, the kinds of stories we want to see and hear, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves.  It is, indeed, a sad statement that we have made. And I cannot help but think that it is this lust for his clown-like behaviour that put him where he is today … on the campaign trail in the final 3 months of the campaign, rather than back in his office in Trump towers, wheeling and dealing to figure out how to scam somebody else.