I would argue a few points here. While there are those in the MAGA crowd who were duped, most were not as Trump's great media strength is his ability to regurgitate the anger felt by many Americans on the right—whether you agree with them or not. As to the capitulation of the rest, that's been happening for some time and has found its apotheosis in Trump.
The America you're looking to save no longer exists; it's embers do, but the America of the late 20th Century is gone. The greater question is what replaces it. However much you may detest Trump, he is putting what we are front and center: a country that has no central core belief anymore, or a unifying means of desseminating information to the American public. We are a deeply divided nation being fed what we what to hear by a host of disparate "opinion creators" who whole business plan is to maintain and grow their viewerships. Truth, facts, rigor aren't nearly as important anymore. Size and revenue are.
And while Trump is certainly an immediate threat—mostly because we no longer have a functioning Congress—the greater threat is what happens if there are no longer any safeguards or protections on who controls the media we consume (the internet) or the veracity of its content? Imagine the control companies like Google, Meta, X, and Apple would have with no reliable or competent oversight to what we consume through social media? Is Joe Rogan our new Walter Cronkite? After all, HE is the mass media now. It's not CBS, NBC, ABC, or even FOX; legacy means old and dying out.
At some point—and it will probably come after Trump has hollowed out all of our essential governmental departments—we will have to confront what is left. And it might not be democracy, which depends on truthful, factual information in order to function. Are we going to demand that from the media we consume? Are we even going to be able to challenge them if the courts and government are shells of what they once were?
Will people even care so long as life is affordable?
I would argue a few points here. While there are those in the MAGA crowd who were duped, most were not as Trump's great media strength is his ability to regurgitate the anger felt by many Americans on the right—whether you agree with them or not. As to the capitulation of the rest, that's been happening for some time and has found its apotheosis in Trump.
The America you're looking to save no longer exists; it's embers do, but the America of the late 20th Century is gone. The greater question is what replaces it. However much you may detest Trump, he is putting what we are front and center: a country that has no central core belief anymore, or a unifying means of desseminating information to the American public. We are a deeply divided nation being fed what we what to hear by a host of disparate "opinion creators" who whole business plan is to maintain and grow their viewerships. Truth, facts, rigor aren't nearly as important anymore. Size and revenue are.
And while Trump is certainly an immediate threat—mostly because we no longer have a functioning Congress—the greater threat is what happens if there are no longer any safeguards or protections on who controls the media we consume (the internet) or the veracity of its content? Imagine the control companies like Google, Meta, X, and Apple would have with no reliable or competent oversight to what we consume through social media? Is Joe Rogan our new Walter Cronkite? After all, HE is the mass media now. It's not CBS, NBC, ABC, or even FOX; legacy means old and dying out.
At some point—and it will probably come after Trump has hollowed out all of our essential governmental departments—we will have to confront what is left. And it might not be democracy, which depends on truthful, factual information in order to function. Are we going to demand that from the media we consume? Are we even going to be able to challenge them if the courts and government are shells of what they once were?
Will people even care so long as life is affordable?
We are going to find out.
Well said. Thoughtful and insightful.
Good summary, David. I just hope this conflagration burns out.
Indeed.