There was a rally in Washington, DC, on September 18 to say/do/whatever something (the point wasn’t terribly clear_ about what happened on January 6, the point of which is still also not terribly clear.

Attending were about 400 protestors and about 800 law enforcement officers (the only protestor detained for having a weapon was a fed), reporters, and looky-loos, to call the rally an embarrassing failure would be an insult to other embarrassing failures.

But the rally did spark something; namely, it gave the media the opportunity yet again to talk about its most vilified ratings booster, Donald Trump.

The Sunday shows were full of standard-issue fear/mockery-mongering, Trump was raked over the coals, and many pundits were briefly able to fill the gaping chasm where their integrity should be by righteously condemning the great unclassed from the hinterlands. 

This playbook is so simple that even Cam Newton could follow it. However, it was an affront to, well, everyone when the media spent more than a nano-second The Donald’s supposed wrongs in light of what happened less than 24 hours before: border-collapse, furious French people, and the discovery that the “terrorist” cabal droned recently in Kabul was in fact a supply-delivering aid worker and his family (hint for the Pentagon: if what you think is an ISIS bomb says “Aquafina” on the side, check again). Of course, they tried to blame Trump for those messes, too.

This does raise a pair of interesting points: Will the media’s endlessly blaming Trump, already out of office for nearly three trimesters, ever end? And has the media, by creating the disease of Trump and then self-righteously telling everyone they were going to cure the disease, killed the patient?

Trump was not a perfect president. When he came into office, he was unprepared. First, he assumed that, because he was President, government officials would have to listen to him. Second, unlike Hilary Clinton, whose campaign had literally spent millions vetting thousands of people for thousands of government jobs and was ready-to-go before her presumed Inauguration Day, Trump was forced to rely on a multitude of staffers who not only could not be trusted but immediately worked against him and his policies (remember, the leaks began within days of the election).

Although not a detail man, still had trouble with delegating and follow through. He seemed to tend towards the chaotic, a problem with running an administration but, if anyone had been paying attention, this was proof positive that he was far too disorganized to be a totalitarian. (Antifa has no idea how good they had it because, if Trump really had been a fascist, Portland would now be a forcibly forgotten smudge).

Trump’s use of Twitter was helpful(ish) for him but it also legitimized the platform as a political public square, not a good thing at all. And his personality…well, it has been opined that the main thing that kept Donald Trump from getting re-elected was Donald Trump. That being said, the only thing that got Donald Trump elected in the first place was Donald Trump.

So, for a properly grounded and trustworthy media, there was more than enough to work with to make your bones, to prove you fight the powerful, etc. However, because the economy was strong, real wages were growing, America wasn’t entering new wars, China was getting nervous, our allies were paying more of their fair share, etc.), the media had to go and start making things up. And then old lies bred new lies to justify the media’s previous falsehoods.

Collusion. Russia. Kids in cages. Bleach drinking. Incontinent hookers. Family graft. Racism. Homophobia. Unpaid taxes. Coarse language (well, maybe give them that one). Fat. Insane. Coup plotting. Feeble. Liar. Corrupt. Power-mad. Ill-gotten fortune. Embarrassing. Abusive. Hated. (As he was in office for 1,461 days and was accused of a scandal a day, there isn’t space to continue but feel free to add your favorite).

And, for good measure, everything that has gone wrong during the Biden presidency is also Trump’s fault. That was the media-created disease afflicting America.

So, what did the media-imposed “cure” actually do? Lots.

It destroyed trust. Degenerated public discourse. Created hermetically sealed echo chambers. Encouraged friendships to end. Made everything political. Weaponized social media (well, weaponized it more). Demanded that personal “truth” be treated as actual truth, making the very concept meaningless. Denigrated the scientific method. Allowed aggressive public shunning for ideologic “failings.” Made heroes of tattletales. Made empathy a hate crime. Provided fertile ground in which actual lies flourished. Sowed discord amongst family members. Amplified stupidity. Enriched the overclass.

Even those who dislike Trump admit that his impact will be comparatively transitory when compared to the ongoing damage result from the media’s reaction to Trump which, it can be argued, is killing the patient (with America being the patient).

Even if one considers Trump a disease, diseases can be cured. Murder cannot.

Image created using public domain graphics.

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