Day: 11/7/2024

The Media Still Doesn’t Get the Danger that We – and They – Are In, But the Daily Show Does

Posted by on November 7, 2024 at 12:29 pm. 3 Comments :

One of the recurring themes of the Kamala Harris campaign that was highlighted in nearly every speech she gave was the insistence that “We are not going back.” And even though it appears on the surface that we are indeed regressing to a grim past, she was right. Losing the election does not mean that we have lost the will to advance the principles of democracy and freedom.

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Donald Trump TV Set

It seems impossible to imagine that voters, given the choice between a respected prosecutor and public servant, or a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and wannabe dictator, would choose the latter. But that’s what happened on Tuesday night. There are as many plausible explanations for that major malfunction of democracy as there are pundits proposing them. And in the days ahead they will all be examined. But for now the nation must answer a couple of deceptively…

…SIMPLE QUESTIONS: What Is America? Who Votes For This?

In the meantime, we remain burdened with an aspiring authoritarian-elect and a media establishment that doesn’t realize the risks they face, which led to the abhorrent state we find ourselves in today. And for anyone who doesn’t grasp the direness of this situation, note that Donald Trump, in his victory speech Tuesday night, went out of his way to make his hostility to the free press clear, saying that “I told JD [Vance] to go into the enemy camp. He just goes: OK. Which one? CNN? MSNBC?”

Throughout the 2024 election season, Trump expressed his deep animosity toward the media, including his official Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News. But for some reason, the media rarely defended itself and the unique provisions in the First Amendment of the Constitution that protects it.

However, there was a guardian of the free press that was found in an unlikely – although increasingly common – place. And it proves the not-very-old adage “I get my comedy from Fox News and my news from Comedy Central.” The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic delivered a monolog that, in addition to being hilarious, was more honest, and more profound, than most of what was seen on the mainstream media. She said in part that..

“Yeah, it’s official. America has elected its first criminal president before electing its first female president. What a day for proud felonists.”

And…

“Just think about what happened here. America voted this guy out in 2020. And what has he done since then? He tried to overthrow the government, he was convicted of 34 felonies, he spent an entire campaign promising vengeance against his enemies.”

And…

“Seems the only people you can’t blame for Trump’s victory are Black women and people in comas.”

And finally…

“Honestly, I don’t really care why she lost, I care why he won. We have spent so much time diagnosing Donald Trump and what his actions say about him. He’s a dictator, he’s a fascist, he’s a malignant narcissist whose blood type is fryer oil.

“But it’s pretty clear that America is the one that needs the diagnosis, because whatever’s wrong with him, we f**king love it. In this moment Donald Trump is holding up a mirror to the American people and it might be time to take a good f**king hard look. And I’m sorry. I told myself that this show would be uplifting tonight and give people hope and inspiration, but unfortunately, I’m too depressed. And quite frankly, very, very, hungover.”

Exactly! There will be scads of speculation about what Harris, or Democrats, or even a lazy, weak, greedy, complicit, press might have done wrong. But ultimately it was the voters who chose to pull the lever for the ignorant, profane, mentally infirm, lying, criminal, who caused hundreds of thousands of avoidable pandemic deaths, incited a treasonous insurrection, and whose closest associates labeled him a fascist and noted his praise for Hitler.

To be sure, those voters were influenced by the media that failed in its obligation to inform the public. And that failure was evident in the desertion by viewers that indicates just how dissatisfied they are with the quality of the news they are getting. Considering the feeble response by the media to existential dangers posed by Trump and his MAGA movement, it’s no wonder that American is tuning out.

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