SIR: On November 8, the entire world woke up to the rude shock that the United States had elected a newbie. The angered electorate had picked the unlikely candidate. The mainstream media and alternative media – print, online, TV, local and international – were all awash with news, photos and videos of Hillary Clinton supporters weeping uncontrollably, while supporters of Donald Trump were seen mostly in an ecstatic state, relishing their victory. They could hardly be consoled. An “evil” appeared to have been done. A prank had just been played. It was a truly pathetic scene. The reason was obvious: there was a new sheriff in town, and it was none other than Donald J. Trump! The irony is that the overly partisan mainstream media was entirely to blame for this.
Many had bet on Donald Trump losing the presidential election. The odds were against Donald Trump once he announced his intention to run for the White House in 2015. Several groups – including the Republican National Congress (RNC), the Democratic National Congress (DNC), and President Barack Obama – had completely dismissed the prospects of a Trump victory. In fact, it was so embarrassing to see several well-known members of the Republican Party come out to castigate and disown him just hours before his penultimate presidential debate, yet Trump surged on as every new revelation of Clinton’s alleged corruption seemed to prop Trump higher.
It became so obvious that all the major media houses had ganged up against Donald Trump. Several well-known dailies consistently published hate-filled articles and op-eds against him. Trump was never even given the chance to defend himself but Hillary Clinton always was. All sorts of spurious claims were brought against him. At some point he was accused of not publishing his tax returns, then he was falsely linked to financial deals with the current Ukrainian Junta, and was accused of being a lackey of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
It’s pitiful that the press had worked so hard to misinform their audience in a bid to defame Donald Trump. They became so obsessed and consumed with attacking him rather than reporting objectively about the growing numbers in support of Trump. Lately, The New York Times public editor has criticized the paper for its “dishonesty”. I expect other news houses that spent all their time confusing their readers to send apologies for this crime.
Trump’s victory should be used as case study in many schools of political science across the world. It is truly amazing how he won with only about a tenth of Hillary Clinton’s campaign donations. Trump simply sailed to the Oval Office on the back of speaking out and not appealing to political correctness. He came through as a man who spoke the truth about what he saw rather than be blinkered. He called things by their names, addressed issues that were personally affecting a good deal of Americans, specifically the working class. The shameful mainstream media must learn from Donald Trump. His boldness in the face of these pathetic accusations won him the prize. I hope CNN, New York Times, the Washington Post and the rest of the lying ‘presstitutes’ learn from this fatal error.
- Chuka Uzo,
askcatholicquestions@zoho.com
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