If someone managed to sleep through the Trump years, and asked me what they'd missed, I'd start with "enemy of the people." Why? Because Trump's demonization of the media explains almost everything... cnn.com/2020/12/28/med…
Trump convinced his fans that the people covering him were lying. He told them to trust Fox and reject other info sources. On his very first weekend in office, he said he was in a "running war with the media." There were no "winners" in this "war..." cnn.com/videos/busines…
Many times, in many influential corners of the media, there was an impulse to ignore Trump's anti-media attacks. But the poison seeped in anyway. It's what caused some of the fractures in America and exacerbated so many of the others. And the poison was advertised as an antidote!
Whataboutism, cherry-picking, cover-ups of Trump's corruption – all of it flowed 24/7 from a parallel universe of info, a universe full of criticism of legacy outlets. It all tied back to Trump's endless campaign against the people who report the news, who he labeled the "enemy."
Distrust of the media glued Trump's base together. That's why "enemy of the people" is the #1 thing to understand about the past 4 years. It's a factor in every story about governmental action and inaction, every analysis of American politics. It's the 🔑. cnn.com/2020/12/28/med…
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