On Trump, the Iraq War and how traditional media validates danger and disaster
Thirteen years ago this week, the United States bombed Iraq back to Mesopotamia. This despite millions of protesters worldwide rallying against George W. Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s war scheme.
It’s important to remember that the mainstream media mostly ignored Iraq War dissent. What with its honored tradition of “objective journalism,” media validated the Bush administration’s war cry and essentially laid out the red carpet to Baghdad.
And today, the traditional media is at it again, this time with presidential candidate Donald Trump.
It’s no secret that most Americans consider Trump completely unfit to lead this country—and worse. There are approximately 250 million people of voting age in the United States, but Trump has earned fewer than 4 million votes so far this primary season.
Yet traditional media—from Fox News to NPR, CBS to McClatchy—legitimize Trump. They report on him not just as if he’s a realistic choice for the White House, but also like there’s major support for the stubby-fingered, John Boehner-fleshed, hate-spewing egomaniac.
He’s leading the GOP race, sure. But the a majority of the voting public strongly rejects his candidacy. Where’s that headline?
It’s time to blame the traditional media, what with its antiquated mission of objectivity, for Trump’s ascendancy. Their “just reporting the news” credo partly created this Trump monster. Not unlike how the media paved the desert for Bush and Cheney in Iraq.
C’mon, fellow journalists, let’s send Trump back to the fringe where he belongs. Trump is dangerous, Trump’s an idiot, Trump is unqualified, Trump actually isn’t popular. Shut him down.