Did you hear the latest outrageous statement Donald Trump made about the faux Arizona election recount?
Yea, me neither.
If you believe the news media, though, we should be listening to every word he says. After all, he is still in control of the Republican Party. Worse, he’s leading an assault on our democracy.
Even Tom Friedman for whom I have great respect is urging all of us to pay attention to what is happening: “America’s democracy is still in real danger. In fact, we are closer to a political civil war — more than at any other time in our modern history.”
To hear Nicole Wallace and Rachel Maddow talk, and I like both of them, too, you’d think Trump is still president given the threat his control of Republicans is posing to the country.
I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I think somebody needs to break the news to the American media that what they say may happen in the future already has.
Donald Trump took control of the Republican Party when he won the nomination for president, and he immediately began his assault on our democracy when he started naming people who were either corrupt or incompetent, or both, for his cabinet.
He intensified his assault on our democracy when he politicized the Justice Department, when he told his staff to ignore House Oversight Committee subpoenas, when he sought foreign help in the 2020 election, when he lied about everything every day of his presidency.
He went so far as to inspire an insurrection that resulted in an attack on our nation’s Capitol in an effort to overthrown the certification of the Electoral College vote.
So when I read about the danger Trump’s control over the Republican Party is posing I keep experiencing whiplash. The media is writing and telling us old news as if it is new.
In the process they are missing the real story that deserves more attention than they are giving it.
Our democracy survived the Trump assault.
He lost, we won, and by a huge margin, huge. Republicans also lost control of the Senate, and they failed to win back control of the House they lost in 2018. And just as important, the courts proved their independence from political pressure.
By all measures our democracy came through the existential threat Trump posed pretty well.
What is more, if Republicans at the state level keep doing what they are doing right now, I predict they will also suffer similar losses.
Indeed, if the sky is falling as the media wants us to believe, I would argue it is falling on the heads of Republicans.
That raises the question, “Why should I care?”
Because we need a strong two-party system? The answer is no, we need a multi-party system, but in lieu of that we already have a strong two-party system.
The fact that one has gone off the deep end doesn’t change the fact that the GOP still exists and in its current state will continue to be a threat to our democracy for one obvious reason, they don’t believe in it.
But there is only one thing we can actually do about that.
Exactly what President Joe Biden is doing – his job. And what a job he is doing.
We are close to defeating the pandemic, jobs are being created and unemployment is going down, businesses are opening, the U.S. is leading discussions on climate change again, allies have welcomed us back as reliable friends, and the mood in the country is improving dramatically.
All of this without a single Republican vote of support in the Congress. Not one.
President Biden has turned presidential news from negative to positive. And guess what.
The American people like it. Sixty-four percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the right direction (ABC News/Ipsos poll).
That, I suggest, is the real news of the day given what we went through for four years and it should be what the media is talking about.
The reason it isn’t is because Joe Biden is doing something the media has yet to understand.
That after four years of Donald Trump, the old news adage, “Nobody wants to read about the dog that didn’t run away,” has itself become old news.
As President, Joe Biden is proving that we Americans have heard as much about the dog that ran away as we can take and are ready for some news about the dog that stayed home.
It’s time the news media catches up to the changing times.
linnposts.com 
Cogently stated, as usual, Jan.
While I agree that the media should not be feeding the paranoia and nonsense of the right, I do think we need be vigilant about the efforts to poison the well. The media needs to be much harder on the #@$%^& who still insist – without evidence – that Mar-a-Lardo won the election. The first question that any reporter for any interview of a Republican Representative or Senator (state or national) should be “was the election legit? – Yes or no?” If the person says “No” the interviewer MUST ask about what evidence exists and where we might look at it. If the person equivocates, dodges, or obfuscates, that should be the end of the interview.
Charlie, I would skip the question about election evidence. If someone doesn’t believe the election was legal and legitimate, the interview should end there. Thanks.
Mr. Curry – Mar-a-Lardo – I am rolling. Thanks for the laugh out loud descriptor…LOLOL
The problem is the ex, disgraced, former president is still the de facto head of the GOP. There are very few within the GOP that will embrace the truth and thus opposing him. Until the “loyal opposition” recovers their moral compass, part of the news focus must be on “Ma-a-Lardo,” (clever, Charlie) to expose the sad reality of the GOP.
Rollie, I think most people think the way you and Charlie do, but that is what I am saying is not helping. Focusing on what comes out of Mar-O-Largo feeds the beast and accomplishes nothing. We can keep up with GOP obstructionism and undermining of democracy without devoting hours of news coverage and countless op-eds about them or Trump. Joe Biden is proving we can get along fine by moving ahead without them.
I might agree with you in principle. Going forward, if you can explain/convince the media to discuss the GOP and their lack of ideas without talking about Trump I’m sure editorial boards and show producers would be grateful. Trump and the GOP are fused at the hip. They are one-in-the-same these days, in my view.
It’s simple and essy, actually, just report on what Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures are doing without getting into the reasons why, especially their obedience to Trump, and then ignore anything and everything Trump says and does.
Trump’s obstinacy and stupidity makes me think of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (aka “Bonnie Prince Charlie), who in 1745 invaded Scotland and marched south towards London, in a storied vain attempt to claim back the throne of his Stuart ancestors. It all came to an end on Culloden Moor, near Inverness in April 1746. As a result of this misadventure, the highland folk suffered terribly, being driven off the land and into exile, never to see their homeland again.
What the Scots called ‘the ’45’ failed, because by that year, many had seen the advantages in economic terms of union with England. And like Charles Edward Stuart, Trump and his assorted rag tag following, of ‘prophets’ (one of whom ‘predicted’ that Biden would have fallen last month!) are but yesterday’s men.
Thank you, Nigel, for a perfect historical parallel. History does repeat itself after all.
Good post Jan. I know that I get discouraged at times with the state of the country and the damage that a soulless Republican Party is doing. But I often remind myself that there will always be a bunch of voters that are a lost cause. For the country to continue in a positive direction not everyone needs to be on board, just enough. We had just enough to put Biden in the White House and the Democrats in power. I think Joe is doing a tremendous job and will maintain just enough support to keep us going in the right direction. I wouldn’t mind though if Trump was on the next mission to the moon and was treated to an extended stay.
Wilbur, if we send him to the moon he will think he is Mr. Universe, and his ideologue minions will agree.
totally agree, and we should not forget trump has never won the popular vote
Jan, I think it is a bit premature to declare that our democracy has survived the Donald, Mitch and the Republican controlled state legislatures. Not only is the election being undercut, the Supreme Court, the Justice Department, the Census Bureau, Home Land Security, Post Office and in some cases the Department of Defense have been politicized by a minority. What the Census Bureau did or didn’t do, may easily change the control of the House. Taking 7 seats from Democratic areas and moving them to Republican areas based on a politicized census further threatens our democracy. States that have a larger Democratic population are gerrymandered so that legislatures are controlled by Republicans. It’s going to take a long time for our country to recover.
Roger, I agree it will take a long time to recover. My point is that we are in the process, which means Trump and the Republicans failed. Gerrymandering is not a new problem and both Democrats and Republicans have abused it. It would not be unusual if Republicans take the House in 2022, but I think what they are doing in the states makes that less likely, not more, and that is also a good sign that they are failing in destroying our democracy. My whole premise rests on my fundamental belief that Americans tolerate extremism, but in the long run we do not embrace it. Thanks for writing a comment.
Jan,
Excellent essay. It would be a wonderful moment if the media would quit giving tRump daily comment; let him wither away. He would starve into oblivion without the sustenance of the mention of his name.
I like you humor throughout this piece.
Cheerz!
Gene