Media Not To Blame

I'll leave the summary to The New York Times' Nicholas Confessore because he is a reliable reporter, covers campaign finance, and has a great name. In late February he noted

Mr. Trump garners what political hacks call “earned media.” He holds big rallies, says provocative things that his audience adores — “I’d like to punch him in the face,” Mr. Trump said of a heckler at his event in Nevada on Monday — and reaps of a wave of news coverage in newspapers and on television. This dynamic has earned the scorn of Trump-haters on the right and left, who have taken to blaming the news media for enabling Mr. Trump’s rise.

Give centrists and moderates some credit; they also hate Donald Trump- and probably no group more than centrists, dedicated to the proposition that there is no problem that international trade, training, technology efficiently applied, and offering up more and different programs with fewer tax revenues cannot solve.  And they, too, blame the media in part for facilitating Trump's electoral success.

They all are wrong- well, not wrong necessarily, but certainly misleading.  When Mitt Romney came out swinging against Trump last month, the super Pac formed in January by Romney's 2012 campaign manager ran the widely distributed ad (below) denouncing the front-runner for his many egregious statements about women. It was particularly fertile ground but a catalog of Trump's odd or offensive remarks, even since the beginning of the year, would be quite large.










Consider whether such statements, regarding hispanics, John McCain's war record, religion, other candidates, and much more had received the silent treatment from the media. Imagine the outrage that such an obviously offensive, self-absorbed egomaniac displaying ignorance about issues economic, domestic, and foreign were being ignored.  As with a roach, sunlight should have been an effective disinfectant (not comparing the man to the insect). It has not been thus far, but no person's immunity lasts forever. Even Teflon wears off (after the PFC's wear down your immunity to cancer).

So limit your whining, please. For whatever set of reasons, including the most visceral hatred of the people and organizations most despised by conservatives, Donald Trump strikes a chord with the Republican primary base. Instead, be thankful that- so far- he has held off the more dangerous Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Paul Ryan.









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