A Brief Thought: Trump vs Liberal Media – No Matter Who Wins, We All Lose

NinaIllingworth February 18, 2017November 5, 2022 A Brief Thought, ABC, American politics, Amerikan Musik, attacking the press, authoritarianism, Bernie Sanders, Betrayal, blog, bought and paid for, CBS, CNN, corporate media, Democratic Primary, Donald Trump, FA1, Fake News, Fantastic Lies, fascism, Fascism Ascendant in the USA, Flynn Russia scandal, Flynn scandal, free press, Hillary Clinton, Iraq War, lberalism empowers fascism, liberal media, lying press, mainstream media, Media, Meme, Mike Flynn, MP6, nazi smears, NBC News, New York Times, News, Nina Illingworth, no winners, Op-Ed, Politics, Rants, Russia, shill, smears, tactics, the media lies, There Are No Good Guys, Trump lied, USA

Editor’s Note: unfortunately I’m running more than a little late this morning, so today’s Brief Thought is going to be short (and hopefully sweet.)

On Friday afternoon Trump committed what is perhaps the most serious escalation of his ongoing war against the American press when he declared that five major “liberal” news organizations were literally “the enemy of the American people” on the social media website Twitter. Predictably, this terrifying move right out of Hitler’s playbook sent the media into fits of righteous anger and (justified) reminders that Trump’s rhetoric was more at home in an authoritarian dictatorship than our beloved American “democracy.”

Somehow, however the discussion managed to gloss over what is in my mind the most important question for the average prole in America – was Trump right?

Look, the simple truth is that Trump almost certainly is a fascist prick who’s only raking the mainstream media over the coals because it’s rapidly becoming apparent he *did* know about former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s early contact with the Russian ambassador and thus he’s now been caught in an embarrassing (and stunningly shortsighted) lie.

Unfortunately however, it is also objectively true that Trump is right in saying that corporate, mainstream media has largely betrayed the American people and no longer represents anything that could in good conscience be called a “free press” – although it is fair to point out that Trump conveniently left conservative corporate news organizations that support him off his enemies of the American people list; even though they lie for power as often as any of the outlets he did name.

This is simply an argument with no winners and pretending otherwise requires a level of cognitive dissonance that remains far beyond my ability to properly employ. I’m all for opposing fascism in all of its forms but you have got to be completely out of your fucking mind to try and defend the honor of mainstream, corporate media in the year 2017. This isn’t about picking a side because both sides objectively have (and will continue to) betray the American people – yes, corporate media actively lies to the American public on behalf of wealthy elites and yes, Trump is a whackjob authoritarian who is using the media’s betrayal to mask his own failures and consolidate his support in the face of a relentless press onslaught.

In other words; they’re both right and no matter which side wins this debate – we, the people, lose.