Lesson for the Media

A figure like Donald Trump should never have received public support to govern a great power. He should not have even been chosen by the Republicans.

It has nothing to do with political ideas; so much power in the hands of someone with his personality represents a public danger. A liar, a narcissist, uninformed and seduced by everything that comes close to dictatorship, he is the archetype of everything we need to run away from. Yet …

Now that Donald Trump is slowly sliding out the door, everyone is trying to learn some lessons from the swerve Americans took. How was such a great democracy able to skid like this? The media is certainly among those who need to learn some lessons.

They Created Trump

I am convinced that the popular appetite for Trump is notably a reaction to years of a biased media that is out of touch with reality. The media created Trump with reality TV. Then they fed the Trump phenomenon, propelling it to its high point.

Most of the media with a leftist bias launched themselves into attacking Trump without realizing their vulnerability. After years of leaning like the Tower of Pisa, Trump only had to attack them head on to win. Trump won more points with the public by attacking the media than by attacking his political opponents.

After a few years of distorting reality in front of the toothless media, Trump made all notions of truth and all respect for facts disappear. Anyway, the phenomenon is stupefying: The guy lies with impunity about facts that can be easily verified.

Normally this is something that displeases voters. In Trump’s case, his supporters respond: “Finally someone is telling us the truth!” He has established that the media are reporting fake news so completely that his loyal supporters believe everything he invents more than facts from a dictionary or encyclopedia.

The biased media on the left today are paying for their treatment of politicians on the right. It is funny to hear the media praise the dignity of the Bushes, both father and son, when these two had to manage a transition to a Democratic successor. Remember the bad press they got at the time!

In Canada

We have lived though this in Canada. Think of the way Stephen Harper was treated by state-owned businesses, both in English and in French, on radio and television. Voters leaning to the right felt left behind and swung to the other side when they could.

And more than being biased, much of the American media “fashionably and traditionally” take the side of an elite. A bunch of do-gooders living in urban areas and following fashion. Far from the people.

The result caused fear. Trump’s followers don’t believe in COVID despite 240,000 deaths in the United States. But they believe in the vast voter fraud that Trump is denouncing … despite a complete absence of proof. …