There will be soul-searching and blame to go around the moon and back by tomorrow.
But no matter what other factors weigh in on the election of 2016, one weighs more heavily than any others.
The television media of America put Donald Trump on television 24/7/365 for more than a year. It’s no wonder tens of millions of Americans cast their ballots for him. It surely must have looked, to low-information voters that the TV News was showing them the guy who was winning.
Otherwise, why was he the face the saw on TV every night on the News?
Even when Bernie Sanders was a huge draw for rallies last fall and into the early spring, the Media ignored his live events and played Donald Trump, who was playing to his crowds with slurs and scurrilous claims about women and persons of color and Mexicans.
So if you need someone to blame for Russ Feingold losing in Wisconsin to the odious Ron Johnson, again? If you need someone to blame for Joe Pakootas losing, again, to the insufferable Cathy McMorris Rodgers in the U.S. House in my own Washington State?
Blame our worthless News Media, which is, as of tonight, a oxymoron of stupendous proportions.
They put this asshole’s face and voice in front of voters who do their very best to ignore politics for an entire year.
When Donald Trump told outright lies, endlessly, they just let him.
They didn’t offer up even a day where they took him to the woodshed over his many and varied lies and pointed out which things he’d said were just NOT TRUE.
In fact, the Political Director for NBC News, Chuck Todd, had the temerity to tell the nation that it’s not his job to point out lies on camera. He’s not a Truth Warrior, he’s just a water carrier, shoveling out shit when it drops in front of him.
So if you are angry or scared or worried out of your mind about the future of our country, like I am? Then don’t start blaming each other here or out in the wider world. It’s not even the fault of the fools who believed the bullshit Trump spewed all over them.
But it is the fault of the 4th Estate, whose duty it is to keep the American electorate INFORMED so that they can make wise choices when it comes to our elections.
Plus James B. Comey, that fucker made a difference and everyone knows it — but he could only do it with a complicit Media who didn’t take his original message 12 days ago and say “Hey, the FBI Director has said this is ‘news’, we’ve checked it out and no one at the FBI has even seen anything yet. This is not news, but it may be news, and when AND IF it is, we’ll tell you about it.”
I haven’t said a word yet about the big race, but that’s because there may not be an actual winner until later tonight or early tomorrow. But it’s not looking good for our side.
/rant