Trump and the War on the Media: On the Road to Fascism

 

 The Magician

By Steven Jonas

Trump's attacks on the media are getting evermore virulent. Much is known and has been written about the "what." Not too much about the "why." It's not because Trump is a nut, an ego-maniac, the knowledge-free leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. Yes, he is, but the primary reason for the media-assault is to help pave the way for the establishment of a 21st-century form of fascism in the U.S. The media is the last major institution standing in the Trumpites' way.

In great detail, many have written about the Trumpite's increasingly ferocious attacks on the media and how horrendous they are, in one sense or another. That is the "what" of this topic. But we also must look at the "why?" Why are the Trumpites doing this? After the election, there were two main sets of institutions that could have stood between the Trumpites and the establishment of some form of 21^stcentury fascism, the increasingly obvious principal goal of the Trumpites: the Judiciary and the media (see below). Congress is in their pocket. The public is widely split. With the Republican Senate, the stealing of the Garland seat by Mitch McConnell and 135 Appellate and District Court seats (that Mitch McConnell preserved for Trump to fill), the Judiciary is falling fast. So now the Trumpites are going after the media.

This is happening not because Trump is an ego-maniac (he is, but that's not the reason). It's not that he knows nothing but attacking the media gives him something to do (he doesn't know much, and does have fun doing what he is doing to Joe and Mika et al. But that's not the reason either). It's not because he is "crazy." In my view, this man is crazy like a fox; he knows exactly what he is doing and is delighted to elicit the response he is eliciting. He is indeed the master of not one but two sets of WMD's. The one here is the Weapons of Mass Distraction. His campaign is indeed helping him rally "his people" to his cause even if they don't know yet what his cause is and how it will hurt some (his working-class supporters) --- but certainly not all (his petit bourgeois supporters) --- in the long run. But that's not its primary purpose either. 

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Source: OpEdNews.com