Now
the President has banned a couple of news sources from his press briefings
which I understand but which I do not like. I understand it because in the face
of the media being caught red-handed making things up, leaving things out and
twisting things to fit their narrative instead of being contrite or at least professional
enough to try and do a more honest job, they continue to double down on their
anger and moral outrage and merely ratchet up their inability to tell an
emotion from a fact.
I
don’t like it because I think the freedom of the press—even when horribly
abused as it is currently —is what separates us from the Iran’s and old Soviet
Union’s of the world. Granted, you have to be willing to believe your eyes and
ears over your heart in many cases, and you have to do more research than you
should have to for different points of view, but all-in-all I think the
American people are able to discern shine from shinola in the great exchange of
ideas.
Otherwise
Donald Trump wouldn’t be president.
All
we heard for a year were disparaging things about the guy who is now our
President. We heard how incompetent, untrustworthy, racist, misogynistic,
narcissistic, blah-blah-istic, and generally inferior to Hillary Clinton he
was. But we also heard every word he said because replaying it was narcotic to
a media and the liberal base to whom they pander, both of whom hate his guts.
And
those of us between California and the five boroughs heard something else. Distilling actual words from media filters we
heard—most of the time--exactly what we’ve been thinking and feeling for eight
years, or at least close enough to it we bought it over what the other side was
selling.
We
were the only ones that bought it but in the end we were all that mattered. In
fact, in the Fox poll February 17th, 86% of the republicans polled said
they were more likely to believe the President than the media. 86%!
Lest
we get carried away with ourselves, however, that same poll revealed 79% of
democrats are more likely to believe the media over the President.
I
think those numbers are accurate. (Lesson #2 for liberals, the words “I think,”
make that an opinion, not a fact from God. Sorry Don Lemon.)
I
think that because, as I’ve mentioned before, I totally subscribe to the theory
that all political thinking is circular.
We tend to listen to and agree with points of view that match our own
and reject those that do not.
But
in the margin is where the battle is won. With those who in spite of what they may want
to believe can’t deny what they see to be true. In that same Fox poll 52% of
independents are more likely right now to believe the President than the media
while only 26% are more likely to believe the media.
More
of us, at least in the heartland, want a President concerned with border
security as opposed to the passionate voices crying out for open borders in
between trying to decide what to tell their daughters.
More of us want safe cities as
opposed to rights for criminals.
Once
upon a time we all wanted manufacturing jobs kept in the U.S. Now only those of
us who can’t smell sea air seem to want that v. the desire for globalism the left
has now embraced in an effort to hate President Trump.
And
more of us believe the Russians had nothing to do with how we voted than those
who simply can’t believe they were beaten. Those same ones who think the sky is
falling as the EPA is held in check v. those of us who believe the EPA had
overstepped its authority in regulating a world about which they knew not
nearly enough to put handcuffs on American Industry. We should still keep a
watchful eye on things there though, I think.
So
when Froma Harrop of the Creative
Syndicate ran her guest editorial in mainstream newspapers across the country
last week declaring liberal victory in the war of words because ratings are
currently way up for all electronic media and subscriptions for many major
newspapers she and the rest of the media once again missed the point. The army
of Trump haters isn’t growing, the fascination with unfolding events from
day-to-day is growing. The same mechanism that got Trump elected on half of
Hillary’s budget is gaining momentum. A media that can’t ignore him unwittingly
aids him by carrying his message, filtered though it may be, to all corners of
the country.
More
people didn’t become liberal lovers
of CNN product. More people have become interested in the narrative, the
battle, the story.
Don’t
get me wrong. I know that most of the new viewers, listeners and subscribers
are liberals. And I say welcome to the arena. You are going to hear how awful
and horrible the President and his policies are from a blindly hateful media
machine. For most of you that’s only going to reinforce what you already
believed anyway.
But
some of you are going to notice that what the media is telling you isn’t
necessarily what’s going on. The media
will tell you there is no danger whatsoever from open borders. But you might
hear that in fact 72 terrorist acts by immigrants from the seven countries the
President wants to vet more carefully were stopped in the last year, according
to the Department of Homeland Security. You might hear some parents or loved
ones speak of their murdered children, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers
at the hands of illegal immigrants with violent criminal records from South
American countries and you might wonder how that represents no danger.
You
might wonder why you had to notice those facts in news briefs on page 20A that
got by the editor when the front page of your local paper trumpeted something
altogether different. You might wonder,
if you bother to check out the opposition, why only Fox news or Limbaugh or
Levine report such things. Of course, if
you’re a real dyed-in-the-wool liberal you will simply dismiss those sources as
unreliable because to believe things other than what Anderson Cooper and Seth
Meyers want you
to believe would shatter so much of your belief system you simply couldn’t
accept it. (One is a newscaster, one is a comedian. Guess which is which.)
I
join Froma in welcoming today’s new audience. I welcome those new to the
experience of exploring the world around them instead of getting most news at
the water cooler or on Facebook. I am not so delusional to believe a
significant number of liberals new to news will convert to conservatism. In fact, I think only a small single digit
percentage will. Say 5%.
Five
percent of the 66 million votes cast for Hillary would be 3.3 million voters. A
few more than were part of the “massive” popular vote the left is convinced it
won.
Beware
libs. Some of the sheep you’ve been able to tow along in your wake may prove
capable of thinking for themselves. They may hear how awful Trump’s economic
policies are and then wonder how for the first time in their lives jobs are
available in the inner city. They may hear how ridiculous his anti-crime ideas
are and wonder why their kids have been playing outside in those same cities
for weeks without anyone getting shot.
They
might watch a news clip and hear what Trump has to say and be able to recognize
that what Joy Behar said he just said isn’t anything like what he really just
said.
They
might even notice that there really were Muslim riots and crime sprees in
Sweden in spite of what the media told them and that some people in France,
Germany and Belgium (and not just the murdered ones) think their immigration
policies may have been a little lax.
They
might change their entire point of view.
You
just never know.
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