Trump is smeared as an authoritarian for vociferously criticizing the media, even though he constantly stresses he plans no government action against them. Meanwhile, real ideological censorship on a massive scale is excused as a curiously lopsided free-market business decision.
What unites the smear of Trump and the online censorship campaign is the notion of speech as a guild privilege. Credentialed members of the guild have unique speech rights and should be insulated from harsh criticism because calling them out "silences" them in some sense.
Extended beyond the media guild, the idea that some people must be silenced so that others can express themselves and feel safe has been incubating in universities for years. Free speech began to buckle when a wave of people taught to think that way emerged from college.
Among the media guild, there is heavy nostalgia for an idealized past where a small number of TV networks and top newspapers were effectively a branch of government and largely homogenous in their beliefs. Their power to decide what constituted "news" was formidable.
The media hates losing its influence with the public, losing some of its ability to frame narratives and bottle up stories it doesn't think non-guild members are wise enough to hear. But it also worries that politicians are no longer afraid of it.
The media's influence with the public has been decaying since the rise of talk radio, but its loss of influence with the political class is a much more recent phenomenon. It's one of the reasons they loathe Trump so much. He set an example they worry others will follow.
Even fiery conservative politicians critical of the press were nevertheless afraid of it before now. Their apprehension was palpable. They made many important decisions based on how they thought the press would respond. Frustrated voters denounced them for cowardice.
Fear of the press was not irrational. They could do a huge amount of damage. At the height of their arrogance, they bragged about their power to shape elections. But that fear was greatly magnified inside the Beltway media bubble. Trump showed open defiance is possible.
As media influence fell, their level of political activism increased. Trump's success in 2016 marked a moment when some conservative politicians began to understand that appeasing the media is now impossible. Concessions won't make them back off. They're all-in for the Left.
That's the lesson Romney 2012 should have taught Republican politicians, and Romney should have learned it from McCain 2008. McCain thought those media folks were his friends. He went back to appeasing them after they knifed him in the back. Look at what he became.
So no, Republicans, you should all understand that you can't soothe an all-in activist Democrat media, and you shouldn't try. They're scared to death that you're not scared to death of them anymore. They still have far too much influence over you. Take it away from them. /end
