In 2016, Trump received nonstop airtime because the media was fascinated with a combination of reality TV vaudeville and celebrity. Outlets such as CNN and Fox went so far as to cover an empty podium.
Please don’t forget the complicity of the DNC and the Clinton campaign in promoting this monster as a viable candidate because he would be easier for Hillary to beat than a traditional Republican. The empty podium coverage was during the primary and it was a choice made to avoid covering a massive Bernie rally that displayed the yuuuuuuge number of energetic supporters he gathered wherever he went.
Yes, Trump lied about everything possible during his campaign, but the average voter saw him as someone promising to “drain the swamp” and he did beat Hillary from her left with promises to end the wars she was complicit in starting and his anti-trade stance was in stark contrast to her support for TPP. After the failure of Obama to live up to his promised reformer status and his complicity in covering the criminals that brought down our economy the nation was ready for a populace candidate, not someone trying to appeal to the non-existent “moderate” Republican.
All indications so far are causing me to believe that 2020 will be a repeat of 2016, complete with phony poll numbers (CNN ran a poll including Biden long before he even announced and excluded “ALL” 18 to 35 voters.) At the last debate, CNN also disallowed “only” Bernie supporters from bringing in signs and even rejected any with pro-Bernie shirts and logos. They positioned his remaining supporters where they could move in a massive sign of their network logo to block them from camera view. As Bernie predicted during the debate, they later ran paid ads for the insurance lobby and pharma.
They aren’t even making an attempt to hide their neoliberal preference for an ineffective corporate ass-kissing centrist, making it clear they would approve a second Trump term over any progressive. Just count on a continuation of Trump in 2021 and plan accordingly, because that is what Dem leadership prefers at the moment.
