Trump, the Scourge of the Fourth Estate

The combative press that reveals the ills stalking the public and the system is too bitter a pill for the president to swallow.

The last thing anyone would expect from a U.S. president is that he would call the media “the enemy of the people.” On occasion, Donald Trump’s addresses are a reminder of Adenoid Hynkel’s − the main character in “The Great Dictator,” Charlie Chaplin’s celebrated satire − although, unfortunately, the White House tenant is not a fictional character. His effort to take down one of the pillars upon which his country rests upon is astonishing both to the world and to a significant part of American society that has always been proud of its free press.

Although not completely devoid of sin or of the influence of the powers that be, the fourth estate plays a key role as a counterweight to the three institutions that constitute the model of a free and democratic society. Washington, with a missionary spirit and for its own benefit, has tried to spread its version of a free and democratic society around the world, but Trump appears to care little about democratic values and the rest of the planet. His only creed is “make America great again” and he despises everything and everyone who does not go along with that. Hence his hostility toward the media and the journalists who defend critical and independent information. His vitriol poses an attack on human rights and is an insult to the honest work of thousands of professionals.

Fertile Soil for Appalling Messages

The most devastating thing, however, is that the great fake news generator is preaching on fertile soil. Rather than analyzing the news, his voters prefer hearing that journalists are “fake” (because they do not bend), that they “make up stories” (those that are inconvenient), and that they resort to “non-existent sources” (unfriendly witnesses). These appalling messages have triggered the widespread protest now carried out by the American media.

The U.S., which suffers from an unprecedented social inequality celebrated and encouraged by a billionaire who rules the country at his whim, is losing the remains of a philosophy that once inspired the world. The policy of the White House tenant is focused upon enriching the most powerful niche and deceiving − through demagoguery − the silent majority.

Trump symbolizes the headlong rush of a society baffled by the progress of globalization and information technology. A society that seeks quick fixes to the degradation of its living standards and that does not believe in long-term promises that will demand structural changes. Under these circumstances, a combative press that reveals the ills stalking the public and the system is too bitter a pill to swallow. The campaign unleashed against journalists and the media is the most notorious symbol of Trump’s ravings.

As critics are mistreated and friends are deserted, the tycoon turned president is determined to wage war single-handedly both inside and outside of the country, irrespective of the global destabilization he generates and of the grave consequences of his domestic policy. His goal is to win reelection, for which he relies on the most unsupportive instinct of his citizens and in the aggressive demagoguery of Chaplin’s Hynkel, who − we should not overlook − was a parody of a nefarious dictator whose last name also started with an H. This is a good formula to destroy the U.S.