@baba The media got trump elected by giving trump free constant coverage. He was on the news so much more than Clinton. What got me, he never said anything. 'We are going to.... Never any plans, but because the news showed him, saying 'I'm mad as H----, and I'm not going to take it anymore,' a certain group got behind him.
I remember well in 2017 how the media grappled with using the term "lie" versus "misstatement" and "falsehood." It depended on which audience the media sold to.
During the 2016 election campaign the Huffington Post automatically included in every story about Trump:
"Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S."
They ended the practice when he became president, claiming they wanted to make a clean slate but reserved the right to put it back on if he began lying again. They never did.
The NY Times, Boston Globe, LA Times, Chicago Tribune and other large mainstream corporate media, all selling to widespread audiences, made a conscious decision not to use the word "lie" because, as the New York Times expressed it in 2017. they felt it would make them appear partisan.
But the end result is that it normalized the lying, and emboldened the liars. It helped move the whole country towards fascism. As described well in the satire, George Orwell's, Animal Farm, fascists begin with slight lies then morph into big lies.
What could be the reason they 'helped'? I mean, most mainstream media do not even like Trump so why create this beast?
As has been mentioned before, we do not have public media in the US. All our media is privately owned except PBS, which is a shadow of its former self. Each media outlet is beholden to whichever oligarchs own it. Period. I can't even watch MSNBC anymore, let alone CNN, and newspapers in this country have never been known for independent journalism. WWI would probably not have occurred were it not for US media playing into the hands of European oligarchs at the time.
I have enjoyed reading @ericboehlert. His crisp rewriting of headlines and pointing out lazy journalism give me hope.
I agree. If the press had honestly covered Trump for what was already in the public record and not been so outraged a woman was running for president and covered her fairly we may not be in this mess.
I had the feeling though the lessons were going to be deep and the hatred of Hillary would have continued through her term. I remember reading in 2016 whoever won would have a tough time for a second term. We had too much pent up density.
They believed the foundation was crooked, that she was. They believe Bill was a rapist. They believed every word of Clinton Cash. I don’t think they ever understood the emails. The right is very effective making a bunch of smoke that makes their opponents dirty.
@moonbeam The mainstream media helped Trump because drama sells. Much of the time their coverage was unfavorable to him. But they helped him by reporting on his every outrageous tweet.
When he was lying, which was (and still is) most of the time, they should have ignored him. But they saw their clicks and their subscriptions go up. Reading Trump for many was like reading the comic book style sensationalist papers.
@dolphinspirit and @Polarberry, I want to second your points. Whenever I hear a democrat say that Hillary was crooked, I think, well, the Right and the Kremlin succeeded in smearing her image completely. I wasn't a big fan because I wanted someone more to the left. She is a moderate democrat, that's all, like Biden.
But it should count for something that she spent her First Lady years in the White House trying to pass National Health Insurance so that all Americans would have equal access to health care. She was genuinely committed to progressive causes.
And she always did her homework. She read voraciously, understood the science and social issues and knew what she was talking about. Not like Trump who doesn't read, or most of his enablers.
She came from humble parents and when she was graduating from Wellesley College, she racked up so many awards for her activism that her parents were embarrassed. She was the most successful student in her class by far. Not like Trump who was a dunce, and Kavanaugh who was a rapist, or Bush who was a C student.
Bill Clinton was also an incredible brain who did his homework. When a friend and former colleague of mine, economist David Ellwood, was hired for undersecretary under Clinton because he had written an important book on welfare reform, Ellwood remembered that Clinton had read his book, from cover to cover, dog-eared pages with attached sticky notes. Clinton was brilliant, like Obama, the top people in their law school classes. Not like the Republican leaders we have today who can barely read.
Jeanne, I think what you wrote is one of the main issues. There were and are a lot of men, whether they are willing to admit it or not, whether they are openly misogynistic or not, who are scared and/or resentful of her because she is so driven, so smart, so successful.
Unfortunately, along with the deep-seated racism in our society, there is still plenty of deep-seated misogyny. The very qualities that cause men to be viewed as admirable are viewed, by many, as negative traits in women. Saying that there was something about her they didn't like was acceptable, where saying they wouldn't vote for a woman for President was not.
It's pathetic, and I've often thought about your visions about women rising to the top of the power chain in the coming years. It's about time.
I remember how she was shredded her for her health plan. The right screams about socialism and they don't even understand what they're screaming about.
Internalized misogyny also played a part in suspicion of her from women and confusion a woman accomplished more than they did for men.
I will admit, I had to do some soul searching on my own limitations I set for myself in 2008. Women have not always learned to support each other. We easily project our own pain on women. It just didn’t stick to men in the same way. I think Hillary is a Scorpio and I noticed when she let her intense heart show I found her compelling. The tight rope she walked was painful to watch.
I was delighted that women used the, I have her back, campaign with Kamala.
One of the biggest lies from the right-wing is that the media is "Liberal". There is no liberal mass media in the United States. MSNBC and CNN only *seem* to be left-leaning, because everything else is so very far to the right.
@unk-p MSNBC shows more trump than CNN. CNN was showing pieces of a trump event while MSNBC was showing the whole thing. ABC seems to be Republican or at least George Stepanopalus (spelling, sorry!) This is separate of the Sinclair Org.
Although I understand everyone's different opinions on why Hillary lost let's not forget in spite of all of the propaganda against her, she still managed to win the popular vote. The outdated electoral college is the reason she's not in the White House. The American people are not dumb. Our system is.
I wasn't going to post this, but I had a vision-dream of Trump last night that might have some bearing anyway.
In my vision-dream he'd lost his right arm. He spent a lot of time bullying people to get a nurse/doctor to put it back on. He wanted them to do it at home (WH) because nobody should find out. Although people did scramble, the fear of him was gone.
I thought this was about him losing support in cabinet, but I read in another thread that there was a tweet about mini-strokes. I now wonder if that is what my vision was about: a bigger stroke coming up ao.
Yes, a bigger stroke could certainly be on the way. However, when I saw his "right arm had fallen off", i thought of his "right hand man", which could be any number of people (maybe Pence?) had abandoned him or betrayed him. Just a thought, but maybe not a very good one. ;-)
@tgraf66, yup that was my first thought as well. That his right hand man was gone, very literal when looking at the vision. With the strokes thing going on though... loss of use of one's right or left arm sounds very much like stroke or heart related.
It is sad that our country has been divided for so long and that we have suffered at the hands of this man for so long. My aunt died of a massive stroke, and while I do not wish for his death, I admit that I would feel nothing if Trump had a stroke right now, for several reasons:
1. It would be fitting that Trump was hit with a disability that would render him dependent on others, given how he has lied about Hillary Clinton's and Joe Biden's health for years. I will also never forget when he made fun of that reporter many years ago for his disability. So if Trump had a stroke that incapacitated him after all he has done, it would feel, to me, like karma.
2. I hate to say this, but if Trump were to suffer a stroke before November 3, 2020, then it would be the best possible thing for our country. Regardless of whether he loses by a little or by a lot, he will argue that the election was stolen from him. Also, even if he concedes (or if he refuses to leave and has to be forcefully removed from office), then he will send the last few months of his presidency causing havoc by appointing Trump judges and ensuring that his underlings leave their offices in chaos before Biden's team enters.
3. If Trump does suffer a stroke and Pence takes over temporarily, I don't see Trump getting a "sympathy vote" from independents who are still undecided. If anything, independent voters will flock to Biden because they are afraid that if Trump wins and takes over, his "mind" can't be trusted based on the stroke, and there is an elevated chance he will die much sooner than expected. That is not necessarily true, but it is what will be perceived. Further, Pence is not the type that brings out the Trump crowds like Trump does, so his voters will be demoralized and some won't vote.
4. As much as I hate to say it, a stroke would work in Trump's favor as well. He would be allowed to resign gracefully (or Congress Republicans can "resign" him without the same political fallout that would happen to them if they tried to remove him from office another way). Also, state prosecutors who are still investigating his crimes would be less likely to ask for jail time for him. Further, he would not be a "loser" at the election, so his supporters won't be as violent as they would be if he ran and lost. So a stroke would be a good thing for him too, in a sense.
So, sad as this is, I feel that if Trump does has a stroke that incapacitates him, it would be the best possible thing for this country as a whole. No, I don't want Trump to die. He does not deserve to have a televised memorial service or to be interned in State. But if he was hit with an underlying condition where it was obvious to everyone, it would be justice not only for him, but for the Republican party at large, whose attacks on health care and refusal to take Covid-19 seriously has caused millions of deaths over the years for people with pre-existing conditions who can't afford health care costs and recently from this pandemic. As evil as this may sound, the idea of Trump, the Republican standard bearer, being incapacitated with a stroke would be the best possible scenario to allow this country to heal.
I am sorry if this offends anyone. Again, I don't actively hope for this, but I must be truthful with myself by admitting that Trump being incapacitated with a major stroke would be met with a feeling of relief by myself. It is sad that it has come to this, but his actions over the years has made it all but impossible for me to think otherwise. At worst, he is an enemy that will destroy our nation and everyone in it. At best, he is a damaged human being that can't be saved because he choses not to be saved. I have tried to look for light in him. I really have. But he doesn't have any, because he actively shields the light within him until it is at the point where it is either flickering or in danger of going out completely.
I can only pray that he leaves as painlessly as possible and that his underlings follow quickly thereafter, allowing the rest of this country to heal and reconcile. If a stroke is the best way to do it, then I am ashamed to say that I will shed no tears on his behalf.
@moonbeam The right arm is usually the dominant arm so losing it would make him less able to function in the way he is accustomed (I wanted to say "function normally", but we know that would be a stretch for this person).
I wonder if "right arm" could be an "arm" of the Republican party ("The Right"). This probably wouldn't be a far-Right arm, but maybe more of the moderate Republicans who do see what he's doing to the country and decide not to enable it anymore.