The rise of Donald Trump was a ratings bonanza. He made people a ton of money and bought a lot of homes. Everyone cashing the checks knew he was dangerous. Everyone raking in the dough was well aware he was actively destroying reality.
They believed they were playing a game.
They believed they were playing a game.
Trump was a lark for them. Something that scared and titillated people enough to keep the TV dial in place. They believed their institutions could survive the onslaught, like Weather Channel hosts secretly giddy over an approaching hurricane.
The pundits and hosts were all products of the system and so they believed in its inherent goodness and stability. They could cash in on Trump, the Clown, and would still be there after he was ushered off the stage. It was a bet they thought they’d never lose.
All this revisionist history, this handwringing, is about legacy now. They bought in and they bought in big and the check was soaked in blood. This never could’ve happened without the media’s complicit cooperation, its gleeful profiting off Trump’s dysfunction and danger.
Back in 2016, going to rallies, I was shocked by the behind the scenes talk. Pundits would admit Trump was deranged and poisonous, but they’d openly discuss the increased attention, talk about juicing him like a fruit for ratings and profit. It was a scam from day one.
And this was always going to happen as long as politics was a business and an entertainment. The media was ripe for exploitation and they continue to be. They have to start questioning their world in major ways, take responsibility, and see the crisis they’ve helped create.
Until the media turns their back on politics as entertainment and portrays this as an asymmetrical political breakdown that’s inherently dangerous, they’re complicit. They are actively enabling a death spiral and cannot continue pretending they’re blameless.
