There’s a column in America’s newspaper of record explaining how in this election the major media is committing suicide in an attempt to stop Donald Trump from winning the White House. This is a bit of a hardy quadrennial as some element of the press complains about the media in every presidential election. Usually it is the so-called conservative media doing the complaining, but you get some of the professional concern trolls wringing their hands over the bias. Whether or not they are more biased this time around is hard to know as it is hard to know if they can be more biased.
Even so, it does feel different this time. In past elections, the liberal media started attacking the Republican after the conventions, but their tactic was to appeal to the voters. That meant selling the themes of the Democrat and making sport of the Republican. In 2008 they kept reminding voters that Obama was dreamy and from Illinois just like Lincoln. In 2012 they reminded voters that Romney was in a weird desert cult and believed in magic underwear. In both cases the “reporting” was intended to sway the voters.
This time is different in many ways. The obvious difference is the so-called conservative media has locked shields with the liberal media in opposing Donald Trump. The two big conservative journals are fanatically opposed to Trump. Fox News inadvertently made Trump’s campaign by having their attack poodles ambush Trump at the first debate. Even the usually reliable talk radio has been reluctant to back Trump. That’s changing as they figure out which way the wind is blowing, but guys like Glenn Beck are still waving the rainbow flag of #nevertrump.
The other way that things are different is in the tone of the coverage. The major media is not talking to us or even lecturing us. They are talking to one another. A very good example is in this bizarre editorial from a little paper in New York somewhere.
Donald Trump is heading to November like a certain zeppelin heading to New Jersey, in a darkening sky that crackles with electricity. He is fighting crosswinds and trying new tacks — hiring the head of Breitbart News to run his campaign, trying on a new emotion (regret) in a speech on Thursday night, promising to talk more this week about immigration, his prime subject. There’s still no telling what will happen when the gasbag reaches the mooring.
It could be that the polls are right, and Mr. Trump will go down in flames. But while that will solve an immediate problem, a larger one will remain. The message of hatred and paranoia that is inciting millions of voters will outlast the messenger. The toxic effects of Trumpism will have to be addressed.
The sneering tone is crude, even by the smug standards of the New York Times, but it has a strange feel to it. It reads like the bargaining of someone promising to be a better person, if they manage to escape the dangerous situation. You don’t say those things for anyone but yourself and maybe your maker. It’s a form of bargaining where you think having had a revelation, you deserve a second chance at life. That’s how this editorial reads. The Old Gray Lady is promising to be more responsible if she can somehow escape the horror that is Donald Trump.
I think what we’re seeing here is the result of decades of insularity of the political class. The people occupying positions in the media have been divorced from the rest of us for so long, they are truly revolted by us. All of the scary campfire stores they used to tell one another about how the people in flyover country are just a bunch of racist mouthbreathers has become their reality. They really think they are under assault. All those times they called the Republican a Nazi is feeling like a prophecy to them now. It’s the 1932 Weimar elections all over again.
That’s the other thing that seems different about this election. It used to be that the beautiful people were nice to our face, but they privately looked down on the hoi polloi. In many cases, they felt sorry for the normals. For better or worse, many of their social projects were well intended, even if they ended in disaster. That’s not the case today. The beautiful people really and truly hate the average American. They barely tolerate us. It’s why the Old Gray Lady is writing these revenge fantasies for after they have destroyed Trump.
This election is often cast as a revolt by the plebs, but it is really a revolt of the elites. It’s as if they have used the rise of Trump as an excuse to open up about how they really feel about traditional America. They finally have an excuse to let those hillbillies speaking “frontier gibberish” know exactly where they stand. You really see this on the Right. All across elite conservative media we see spasm of hatred toward those they used say they represented. Kevin Williamson at National Review even wrote a weird fantasy article about how poor whites should die.
To be fair to the Repulsive Toad Williamson, in the snotty-mouthed screed you refer to only the towns inhabited by the worthless honkies are supposed to die. The despicable unemployed white trash were instructed to rent UHauls and move somewhere else and become investment bankers or something.
My take on the NYT & other major newspapers is more banal: the writers and editors see THEIR OWN JOBS ENDING. The NYT has been losing employees and readers like a long haired cat sheds hair in clumps. They see that change is coming and know it will not likely include them in positions of power.
Dan Kurt
I seem to recall, Dan, that lots of ‘liberal’ journalists had no hesitation in deserting the Fourth Estate and signing up for minor roles at the White House when Obumble took office. I think they all knew that it was better to be paid directly by Scum Central than be on the fringes trying to think up more ways to praise the Scum and earn a crust. It is however a curious thing that the people who regarded themselves as all-knowing as they surveyed the chaos from the giddy heights of intellectual superiority suddenly didn’t even bother looking, let alone… Read more »
These people are dense, that is for sure. I am probably typical in that I stopped paying for a newspaper probably a good thirty years ago when they would offer a free weekly subscription if I would only pay for the Sunday advertising section. It has been probably a good twenty since I have paid for any newspaper. Now my news is limited to the internet and some short TV news “highlights” before they get into the “know-it-all” round-table discussions of how bad republicans and conservatives are in their thinking and doings. Like Hillary and the rest of the Crime… Read more »
As an outsider, I find this campaign very confusing. Trump is being attacked by the Democrats as much as by his own party and conservative media. I understand the Democratic attacks, but not the Republican ones. Is this because the Republicans and the so-called conservative talking heads don’t think Trump is qualified to be in office, or because they recognize he’s exactly who should be in office and this is what terrifies them so much?
Karl, there has never been any difference between wealthy, powerful Democrats and Republicans. It is not the parties that feel threatened. Federal elections, in the US, are a staged production with cutouts (bought and paid for) promoted as real people. “Politics is the entertainment division of the Military Industrial Complex.” Frank Zappa was correct.
You have to understand the entire ecosystem of Beltway (meaning the area around Washington DC) think thanks, blogs and punditry that has built up over the last couple of decades. While these people are not “fuck you” rich, they make nice high six and low seven figure incomes opining and studying. And a good portion of the DC elected are always in debt to them for their support in elections and sundry pet issues. Trump drops a grenade into the middle of this cozy relationship. Hence they are all pissed off. If he wins, he can legitimately assert that he… Read more »
Nailed it, Sami. Williamson, along with that toad Rick Moran at PJM who is also an “editor” at American “Thinker”, a site famous for their author’s second-rate writing. I only go there for the comments. Most at Powerline, especially Mirengoff, are still snarly and snarky almost daily. They are all attorneys (from MN, which is a tell in itself). I jettisoned NRO, PJM, Ace and HotAir over a year ago. The Trump support is a lot deeper than anyone of these #nevertrump bastards want to admit. They are rightly scared to death that their gravy train will stop. They will… Read more »
Two more items: Today the Puffington Host is now saying “Clinton’s Lead Is More Fragile Than You Think”. Ponder that one for a moment. Also, don’t underestimate WikiLeaks and Assange. He is now saying many more emails and docs from the DNC and the Clinton Foundation are going to be “strategically timed” for future release, possibly just prior to the debates. Even if he becomes the next Vince Foster he’s got an army of hackers that have already safeguarded the files and have marching orders in case he gets bumped off. There are just too many avenues that lead to… Read more »
This campaign is about immigration. Normally the parties handle that issue thusly: 1. Democrats are always in favor of more and giving citizenship to people here illegally, because they vote 7/10 for the Democrats. 2. Republicans are verbally opposed to legalizing illegals because their base HATES it. But because the same rich people fund both political parties, they never make any meaningful moves to do anything about immigration. Donald Trump presents a threat because he just might get in the way of this racket where the billionaires make a lot of money. Also, a lot of Republicans have allowed the… Read more »
Maybe this will help. The last election, the one for Congressional seats, we were told to vote Republican and they would stop Obama. They said they would repeal Obamacare and stand in the way of the executive orders. They lied. They did nothing but go along with whatever Obama wanted. This is why the voters are angry. The Repub Party normally controls the candidates with money. It doesn’t work with Trump. The voters are out of control and won’t do what they are told to do. It’s all Trumps fault.
Don’t feel bad about being confused. The most important thing about this election is that the part of the electorate that always called itself conservative and entrusted its vote to the Republicans has suddenly woken up to discover that what they thought was true was in fact a lie. They thought they were voting for conservatives; the people asking for their votes SAID that they were conservatives. Actually, they weren’t. What’s different now is that the people know it, and they can’t go back to unknowing it. I’m pretty typical (though not an American). I was so happy when Reagan… Read more »
Herr Horst
You answered yourself in the last part of the last sentence.
@ Everyone – thank you for your replies. I hope this works out for your country. I really do. Many other Europeans (not the main stream media types obviously) still have faith in your country. Many of us believe if America falls into ruin, Europe will not be far behind. As you are all well aware, we have our own set of problems. Partially because the entrenched elites here think nothing could possibly go wrong despite their idiotic social planning. Partially because the “sheeple” have believed them because they haven’t been taught to think for themselves. They cling to the… Read more »
Ooo! You just reminded me. Have to brush the cat today. Thanks! (Good comment by the way.)
Trump is driving them insane. Literally insane. One hopes to see them all placed together on a large farm somewhere playing “Communist Party” and giving each other awards weekly.
Think you are correct about reaching the tipping point. We’re now an extra generation or two removed from when the cloud people still lived in some proximity to the dirt people. Now with private schools, elite colleges and gated communities the elites can live their entire lives with little or no contact. Charles Murray does a great job of laying this out in “Coming Apart”. And living in an affluent suburb full of Progressives, you see that contempt every day. It is worse in the journalist types (it’s a big media town) who have the educations, but live on the… Read more »
It’s because for years all journalists, left and right, have been members of “opposing” teams being well paid to play rigged games.
Trump plans to cancel the league, end the games and not only fire the players, but blacklist them.
The elites ARE revolting.
Z-man says: “It’s a form of bargaining where you think having had a revelation, you deserve a second chance at life.” As the Establishment trembles before the Tweeting Trump, the nuance is near niggardly and the desperation detectably distinguishable. The hatred of the beautiful people palpitates as they proclaim their portentous prophecies. Even if Trump wins the election, the central planners could simply raise interest rates. This would cause the bond market to blow and the dollar to crash. If this were to happen, can you imagine the vitriolic invective that would spew from those who warned us in the… Read more »
I’m sure Trump’s opponents have plans to release the hounds should he win. But my one hope is that Trump is not like past Republican presidents. He won’t sit there with his mouth open in shock that his opponents are playing hardball. He won’t think it’s too ungentlemanly or too unpresidential or too ignoble to pay them back with interest. As he said in his convention speech, “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” He knows their pressure points, and he knows the deals they make to get ahead. Ergo, he can… Read more »
My understanding is that the globalists want the dollar to crash eventually so they can raise a new one-world currency from its ashes. A Trump presidency would allow the elite an opportunity to then blame our dire economic woes on the nationalist / populist movement behind Trump. For the globalists, this would kill many birds with one stone. How Trump can successfully slay the Deep State Dragon remains to be seen. Or, if Hillary wins, it is all a moot point anyway. Like I said, the odds favor the house.
It is the business of the country. And first up to put in the slammer should be Soros, da Booogeyman. If there ever was an enemy of the state. Geez, don’t these old farts ever die?
My old German teacher said that the Devil protects his own. So nobody could kill Hitler until he did it himself. Same thing with Stalin. Soros may be another one to add to the total.
Doesn’t matter, he has a son who appears to be worse.
From the comments, it is obvious that catharsis goes both ways. I don’t know about you but I don’t take a lot of satisfaction from having my long-time suspicions confirmed like a reverse Sally Fields (‘You hate me, you really hate me’). Clarity is good, but doesn’t it obligate some action beyond revenge fantasies ? I mean organizing a more effective political opposition or at least actively helping Trump. I apologize to anyone who actually is doing this. But the temptation to be a keyboard warrior only is a strong one and I definitely include myself in that category. But… Read more »
All truly nice sentiments Al from da Nort. But I think you dream a bit much and need to face reality. Some blood letting is definitely needed. It is never pretty, and it is difficult, but it is necessary so long as the correct targets get their comeuppance. It is a necessary message to keep future leaders in line with “recent” historic examples that are tangible. As I have said on other sites, I hope Trump cleans house by firing everyone who was a political appointee under Obozo and everyone who was hired by said appointees. They are simply vermin… Read more »
Bakunin (I think) said you can’t hasten the revolution by killing corrupt judges, because that sends the message that judges shouldn’t be corrupt. If you kill an honest, upright judge, though, you send the message that the judiciary as a whole needs to go. The Media, being pig-butt ignorant, have never heard of Bakunin, but we proles have. The Media consider themselves above the fray, commenting from afar in complete security, when in fact they’re the most hated people in America. Ask yourselves: if you could punch out one public figure with no repercussions, who would it be? The knee-jerk… Read more »
The late 60’s and 70’s did not end in a violent backlash. That could be the result of the normals having a better way to restore sanity. Voting out the loons and voting in sane people was the practical response. The elections of 2010 and 2104 have maybe tarnished that idea a bit, but I suspect we are several ratchet clicks away from any sort of violent response to the elites. relative to human history, modern America is quite docile, outside the isolated black ghettos. But, time will tell. Before every revolution most sensible people think revolution is laughably implausible.… Read more »
It’s partly perception, too. Someone like Karl, on the outside, might say, “Why are you all so upset? By any past historical standards, your society is enormously successful. No one is starving, even the poor have cellphones and TVs, no one lies awake at night hearing the secret police knocking on doors. How can anyone be talking about revolution?” But things don’t actually have to BE at the worst extreme for people to FEEL that they are. In 1789, the Bastille held a grand total of 7 prisoners: 4 petty criminals, 2 mentally ill men, and one pervert. They were… Read more »
The even better example is the American Revolution. From the perspective of the colonists, things were great and they had every reason to work things out with the Crown. Similarly, the crown had every reason to work things out with the colonies. Yet, we had a long war that resulted in independence. In fact, colonialism is a great example. By any definition, colonialism was better for Africa than what came before or since. In the case of the Brits, they treated their colonies very well, but it was not good enough to local leaders. They simply had to have self-rule.… Read more »
“So perverse is mankind that every nationality prefers to be misgoverned by its own people than to be well ruled by another.”
…General Sir Charles James Napier
Everyone remembers the British during the American Revolutionary War. But few remember that it also included a large force of Hessen troops, about 30,000, from my homeland who fought against the Americans. An American colleague of mine said the fact the Brits used German mercenaries angered the colonists more than anything else.
Sorry about that.
I would rather go with Hessen troops than the villainous French who aided the American Revolutionaries. Whatever the case for late-18th century American angst, their getting into bed with the French was utterly deplorable.
@ UKer – I still think General Patton was correct – we should have joined forces, continued East and put and end to the problem once and for all. The west missed it’s one window of opportunity for geopolitical dominance. It’s been downhill for Europe and the US ever since.
That’s the thing, though – in the 60s and 70s, the system was still legitimate in the eyes of most people. Consider Watergate. Hillary alone has five or six scandals worse than that, and nobody cares — hell, half the country doesn’t even know about them! (it’s not *just* that she’s a Democrat; the so-called conservative press is fine with it, too). Or imagine if either party ran a thrice (or however-many) divorced tv star with no political experience and zero filter. But now? Eh, politicians gonna politican. Republicrats, Dempublicans, whatever…. meanwhile, the Media is actively encouraging nutcases to assassinate… Read more »
Historian Paul Johnson in his book “Modern Times” accurately identified Watergate as a “media putsch,” similar in many ways to a military putsch, but with the media providing the firepower and driving the takeover. Today, the mainstream media demonstrates its thorough corruption by ignoring the many criminal misdeeds of the Clintons. This has turned out to be a blessing: It has opened the eyes of Americans about the true nature of the MSM, and thus empowered the rise of Trump. Good.
It’s important not to forget the reach and grip of the Clinton machine. That machine methodically sewed up the primaries tighter than Bill’s nutsack, in spite of a screaming super-minority of Bernie supporters. Anyone who doesn’t think the Cankles Outreach Program doesn’t have all their delegate ducks in a row should be taking a moment to quietly ponder what will happen when there is a healthy Trump majority in the popular vote, underscored by a clear electoral sweep.
…clear electoral sweep for Hillary, that is.
Oh, I think I’d go straight for that turncoat Chief Justice Roberts. Sent respect for the law plunging to new historic lows and deserves not just a good throat punch, but a warm, feathery Liberty Jacket!
Hi Old Codger, I am with you, I too would love to smack that smug, smarmy, cuckface Roberts. America has far too many unoccupied lamp-posts. MAGA
“It used to be that the beautiful people were nice to our face, but they privately looked down on the hoi polloi. In many cases, they felt sorry for the normals.” Indeed. The use of the word “normals” is fitting. Increasingly, the American polity is divided into “normals” and “elites”. The establishment monarchy in France consisted of elites (aka beautiful people) right up to 1789. Then they weren’t.
More of us that there are of them. And they are three days from running out of food.
Good point about the 3 days. Two admonitions: 1. Don’t you be 3 days from running out of food; 2, Know how you’re going to keep them from taking yours.
Childish human nature. No one has to teach a kid how to pout when she doesn’t get her way. Or declare that if the gang won’t play the way he wants he will take his ball and leave. So there! The problem with children is that they aren’t mature enough to see two steps ahead. Ending the game means he/she doesn’t get to play either.
I don’t allow children to rule me or influence my decisions. So there!
So, then. Kudos to OGH for stating the obvious in such a coherent fashion. Let’s posit the following – should actual voting numbers come in this November sufficient to elect Trump in a straight election, which of the following scenarios will we see? 1. Trump is elected and sworn in. 2. The fix truly goes in, and events are manipulated to pull a 1960 Chicago and elevate Hillary to the throne. 3. Another clown show like the 2000 recounts, leading to #2 via SCOTUS or something we can’t even imagine. 4. Either #2 or #3, followed by Wikileaks revelations of… Read more »
The monster vote will make it impossible to cheat. Hillary is not popular. There’s no enthusiasm for her. There are a lot of people that will vote for Trump and never admit to it.
I am in WA state and I see very little support for Hillary in this part of the state. There are no signs, no bumper stickers. It went for Bernie. I do see Trump signs. Most folks here have them in their front window, not outside. I doubt that we can out vote Puget Sound.
”3. Another clown show like the 2000 recounts”. That’s what my money is on. The 2000 fiasco was bad statewide. A coalition of FL papers did their own recount months later and discovered that most of the state had fouled up ballots (optical scan, which is the most common form and still in use, had tons of multiple Prez ballots that were not rejected).
It would not surprise me if FL and perhaps another state or two will go through that mess again, due to demographics alone the vote is going to be close.