Wow!
Who could possibly have imagined how rapidly the groundswell of popularity evidenced by an election victory would so radically reshape the media landscape to transform the “enemy of democracy” decried by leading news outlets and pundits into a celebrated survivor of their politically biased reporting?
Recall, for example, that there has been no eagerness to correct prevalent false claims that former President Donald Trump had close 2016 election ties with Russia. Those claims have been thoroughly debunked in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation report based upon concocted fantasies cooked up by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Then there’s that projected lack of awareness of Joe’s cognitive decline prior to his 2024 campaign debate from hell despite witnessing the terrifying and embarrassing spectacles of our current president and free world leader being incapable of staying on message during off-scripted comments; being blocked from speaking to an attendee at a Easter event by a White House staffer in a bunny costume; or conclude a prepared talk attempting to shake hands with an imaginary person.
Meanwhile, those same echo chamber outlets that have bleated loudest about Trump as the numero uno democracy threat have no apparent concerns regarding transparent lawfare waged by the Biden DOJ and Democratic litigators which led to an armed FBI raid of his personal home, years of legal proceedings, and a cockamamy New York felony conviction at the hands of a highly partisan district attorney.
In their zeal to target and defeat Donald Trump, major TV networks and newspapers lost credibility, audiences, and revenues that will be difficult to recover, particularly in competition with rapidly expanding podcast and social media information alternatives.
As Christine Rosen, a Senior Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute put it, the “over-the-top displays of partisan bias by the media during this election cycle might have helped Trump get elected.”
Rosen notes that “This might be the first national election in which media bias proved fatal not for its intended target, but rather for the media themselves and their preferred political party, the Democrats. Unable to identify their own liabilities, they suffered inside their own partisan bubble.”
But don’t necessarily expect all of them to wake up from their myopic blindness overnight.
A Nov. 8 New York Times headline article declared “America Hires a Strongman,” followed by the subtitle, “This was a conquering of the nation not by force but with a permission slip. Now, America stands on the precipice of an authoritarian style of governance never before seen in its 248-year history.”
On the other hand, after four years of looking the other way regarding the Biden-Harris administration’s southern border invasion, another Times article headline finally highlighted that the “Recent Stream of Immigrants Is Largest Ever.”
Admitting that “60 percent of immigrants who have entered the country since 2021 have done so without legal authorization,” the Gray Lady added that while unrest in Haiti, Venezuela, Ukraine and other places has contributed to the migrant inflow, “the Biden administration’s policy appears to have been the biggest factor.”
And let’s not give The Wall Street Journal any credit.
Regularly featured WSJ editorial voice and board member Peggy Noonan has posted numerous vitriolic 2024 Trump campaign hit pieces, including a half-page Dec. 2022 feature titled "Only the Voters Can Crush Donald Trump."
Even Noonan now appears reconciled to recognize Trump’s reelection as a “truly remarkable achievement without precedent,” whereas Trump is the future and Biden is the past; “a worn tire with the tread soft and indistinct. “
Noonan appears to backtrack on former objections to Trump’s swaggering personality, observing that in getting strong policies that the public wants requires not trying to please everyone.
This “I don’t give a damn” attitude was on full display during Trump’s talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who rushed down to Mar-a-Lago following a Trump threat of new tariffs on Canada if they didn’t secure the northern border.
After the meeting, Trump referred to Trudeau on Truth Social as “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”
If subtlety isn’t President-elect Trump’s strong suit, there is no evidence that lack of popularity with former detractors poses any apparent policy achievement liability.
Think, for example, of the solicitous pilgrimages of Silicon Valley leaders to Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks offering their support.
In addition to former doubter Elon Musk — now a true believer and powerful advocate — Amazon founder and owner of the far-left Washington Post Jeff Bezos presented Trump with a million-dollar inauguration contribution, as did Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg who had spent $350 million to get him defeated in 2020.
Don’t be too surprised to see lots more previously unfriendly media representatives join that rapidly growing post-election Mar-a-Lago conga line.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.