It doesn’t matter if you voted for Clinton or voted for Trump. The political world as we know it has now changed and not necessarily for the better. What used to be a relatively docile political climate under a very restrained President Obama, is now the wild wild west. What used to be cordial relations between siblings, parents, relatives and friends is now an ongoing war of political opposition. No longer can conservatives rationally talk to liberals. No longer can parents talk to their college bound children. To say this is a divided country is an understatement.
To blame it all on Trump is irrational but it is to be fully expected given the hotly inflamed election and the blustery stream-of-thought persona that Trump projects. What has evolved, or rather devolved, is the integrity of any number of institutions, including journalistic media, government bureaucracies and Congress. Before I unsubcribed to the New York Times Facebook page I was inundated with anti-Trump opinions, one after another ad-nauseum… it was all that was available from this revered publication – and this was before the election. This rag had the audacity to publish unabashed volumes of propaganda against this candidate even before the primaries started. It was a disgrace. Even the judicial system has been infected with unprecedented one-sided legal overreaching.
What has been completely and utterly exposed is diametrically opposed ideologies that flourish in this country. Red and Blue states might as well be red and blue planets. You can start with California which is its own commune based country and then look at big cities on the East Coast from Washington to Boston. Nearly everything in between, in the middle of the country, is in a different world. As if the laws didn’t matter, sanctuary cities exist to roll out the welcome mat for everybody coming from outside the country. As if Presidential authority is irrelevant, judges conspire to block every decision. The political climate is nothing short of bizarre. Everyone is choosing sides.
Colleges now wave the banner of far left liberal thought to such an extent that freedom of speech is in jeopardy. Conservative speakers now routinely are in danger of their lives if they attempt to use the podium at any number of U.S. colleges. Not to mention the ongoing demonstrations violence and protests at those institutions. This is all to say absolutely nothing about Russian Collusion, Uranium One, Clinton Emails, sexual harassment. What we are witnessing is such a divergence of party lines that one would think it is prelude to the dissolution of the U.S. as we know it. I mean how can a country exist if we cannot reach a consensus on anything? Democrats and Republicans have ceased all interaction. How can that work?
This phenomenon seems to have happened all in a year or two. But the old line Media didn’t need to move much to the left to become a political operative for the democratic party. Perhaps Trump made this easy by acting the way he does. However this isn’t all about Trump’s personality, this is about exposing the new norm of attack politics – the strategy of destroying your opponents not just defeating them. Trump just happens to be suited to attack politics because he can be counted on to counterpunch at all times. The door is now open to full scale attacks across the political spectrum both liberal and conservative. And anyone who wishes to hate our President publicly can do so with cheerleaders lined up. There is an implied justification for doing so, because its a pile-on and anyone can join. It seems to be in vogue. The strategy isn’t new, just watch the parade of Hollywood elites and entertainment moguls crawls out of the woodwork every time a conservative President is elected.
So whatever the President’s capabilities are, his achievements, his policies, anything to do with the actual job at hand, they were from even before the election fully and willfully ignored. This is the way the media now works. There is indeed pretty much fake news across the board. However fake news is not really the problem. The problem with the media is a selective reporting driven by deaf, dumb and blind bias. They have simply ignored reporting most any news that has a positive spin towards Trump.
And fascinatingly enough Trump pretty much embraces it. They have never seen anything like it. Trump simply doesn’t care the way they would like him to care. Sure he seems to reject and turn on anybody with a bad opinion, but he keeps right on chugging. The part that is astonishing is that he is getting things done, and people don’t want to like it. He is not only keeping his campaign promises, but is showing some leadership and actually making some positive and well thought out decisions. There is progress. There is a stock market that is going straight up. There’s an economy that is getting stronger. There are positive things happening that the media would loathe to admit.
So when the polls show 35% approval rating you almost need to treat it as a joke. Just look at the CNN website to see what “fair reporting” looks like. The media bias has driven the public opinion as much as humanly possible and they know it. It all shows up in the polls. It is nearly impossible to hear anything positive through the noise. There is no President in the history of this country who has had anywhere near the amount of negative press as Trump and as a result the media is now justifiably and universally distrusted.
But it’s ok, we needed to see all this. We needed this to be exposed. We need our children to learn from this. One need only to look at Russia and China to see the other side. Where such discourse and opposition are not permitted. Next time a college mob threatens bodily harm and suppresses the opinions of an invited speaker, think of the concept of free speech. Remember how Hollywood stars all wanted to leave the country when Trump was elected? Did they all leave for Russia? At least there they wouldn’t need to hear anyone’s opinion but those of Vladimir Putin.