Roto-Rooter River

One recent poll found that 82 percent of Republicans now trust President Trump more than they trust the media. '

A.G. Sulzberger NYTimes 9/24/19


If nearly half the US population and well over ¾ of Republicans no longer trusts the media and prefers a pathological liar, we are further up Roto-Rooter River than I thought. Any discerning citizen must acknowledge, if they want to be honest, that corporate mass media is collectively a bulwark of the established order. And in that role it needs to try to find out what is really going on. What it reports and how it is framed has an inevitable bias, that's a given. But it's the interpretation that is subjective not the facts themselves. Facts are what are objectively true until proven false then they are no longer facts. Why we choose one media outlet over another should be about interpretation of the facts not an alternate set of facts. Yet when boldface lies slip in and are accepted as truth much damage is done. As we know wars have been fostered by 'the press' based on falsehoods. Yes, you Mr. Hearst (Spanish-America War) and you Mr Sulzberger (Iraq War).


Unfortunately for many Americans truth has been reduced to something relative to its source. This is bad news for all of us. We cannot have a democracy without an agreement on basic reality. Everyone can't have a reality conveniently matching their preferences. Either it is day or night, either something is black or white, either a bit on a computer is on or off, either the planet earth is a sphere or a saucer and so on. But main stream media formerly known as 'the press' in its herd-like pursuit of a breaking story, must base their reporting on the best known information at the time or lose credibility vis a vis its competitors. Having the President call such news Fake News simply because it is unfavorable to a governing entity's agenda or his assertions, destroys something fragile and important. Furthermore it is a step toward totalitarianism.

The trouble now is that other factors are compounding the problem.  Force multiplier Internet driven innovations have moved in crowding out the old media: newspapers, radio and network television. There is always the struggle between entrenched power and privilege vs the (often futile) pursuit of progress toward a more just society. Democracy requires a free press and that's why we have the First Amendment to the Constitution. The question is whether flashy instantaneous communication innovations like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. have made it too easy to profligate the Big Lie or more typically a swarm of dangerous Little Lies. All of this in the service of a state run by opportunistic oligarchs as they hide behind the “freedom of the press”. A free press allows lies to creep in, it is the price we pay for freedom of expression. But lies must be unmasked in the healthy dialogue between the opposing opinion sources. The problem is the that a set of lies can be stictched together creating a totally alternate fabrication  - AKA  conspiracy theories. Historians often uncover deeper more complicated explanations for historical events but they seldom uncover a totally new explanation of a controversial event.  For instance no one has proven unequivocally Oswald did not kill Kennedy.

Matt Zukerberg's Facebook probably now has more influence than newspapers and television combined.  Zukerberg is a strange phenomena. He looks almost alien-like with his close cropped hair and shiny round face. By opportunistically appropriating some other hotshot college techie's social networking innovation he built an empire acquiring multi-billionaire status before even reaching the age 30. By improving, monetizing and then 'viralizing' it, he created a Frankensteinian global monstrosity with over two billion users. Facebook by encouraging first the college kids and then everybody else to broadcast their personal lives like pseudo-celebrities for the whole world to see and linking them to an growing collection of friends, relatives and first second and third level acquaintances (and worse friends of friends of acquaintances), it proved a perfect pseudo antidote to social isolation and anomie. As a social toy Facebook at first seemed innocuous enough. That is until it was discovered by politicos on both the left and right. It soon became the perfect force for producing political 'siloization' of the worse kind. Instead of rude acrimonious dialogues as was the norm in the old dial-up modem Chat Room days, people could comfortably re-enforce their opinions.

While fiery acrimonious encounters still occur egged on by 'trolls' with extremist with four letter word infused vocabularies, most people can comfortably settle in with their brethren in nice 'agree-a-thons' passing around humorous memes, cartoons and articulately constructed diatribes reinforcing their views. But financing the whole thing and making Zukerberg obscenely rich is a layer of advertising that is paying for it all.  Enter devious political operatives and technically adapt extremists including white supremacists, neo-Nazis (along with Russian government operatives). While the political lefties are no angels and can be especially cruel in their lampooning of their political enemies, they cannot match the right wing' when comes to shear creative dishonesty (think 'Swiftboating' of decorated Vietnam vet John Kerry in 2004 vs draft dodging George W. Bush).

With Facebook and its ilk now such major social forces, one can't help but be concerned about big Republican Pac/Trumpian reelection money being pumping into professionally designed Big Lie and Little Lie driven ad campaigns as the quintessentially important 2020 election gets underway. This along with foreign agents with skills at manipulating American public opinion. If the Senate GOP protects El Presidente as expected in what looks to be a proforma Impeachment exercise (that the Demos were forced into by Donald Trump's sheer audacity), then the hustler-in-chief may survive the 2020 election. It so we are surely up Roto-Rooter River.

IMPEACHMENT?

The Duce

The Trump

                                         

Donald Trump with his jutting jaw and his grandiose self satisfied demeanor very much brings to mind the 1930's fascist dictator of Italy Benito Mussolini. Trump is so far not (not yet anyway) a Mussolini. He has no real program, no ideology, he is no war veteran, has no mass following (although a dangerously large one), and has not actually presided over any 'trains running on time'. But like Mussolini he did get in by legitimate parliamentary means by using working class discord and playing the nationalist card and then proceeding to consolidate power. Trump has a way to go yet but certainly has already adopted some of the Duce's mannerisms and inclinations, and that's scary.

We have allowed a proto-fascist, cheap hustler to take over the levers of power. And almost daily he finds new ones to pull with unknown results (or legality). He is proving to be quintessentially dangerous both to our country and to the world at large, and must be removed from office ASAP. But how, when nearly half of the voters support him either for Republican agenda real politick reasons or are deluded Kool Aid drinkers? It is clear impeachment can't do it. While our impeachment process was designed for something exactly like this, it won't work in this situation. The Repubs have long since ceased being any kind of 'loyal opposition' and will back Trump even as they despise him. And Speaker of the House Pelois is wary of 'the optics' of it and how it can be spun by the WH, the Repubs and pro-Trump media. As we know the Repubs have misused and thus debased the tool of impeachment by using it on Bill Clinton over his lying about his personal life. Impeachment as a Constitutionally mandated process for removal of a dangerous POTUS, packs far less wallop and carries far less disgrace than it once did. It now looks too much like mere political theater (or a cheap political maneuver as in Brazil with the “impeachment” of Lula's successor).

Nevertheless I have come around to believe that the impeachment process must be used even if it cannot actually drive the him out. The seriousness of the situation increases daily. He is running a muck. Hopefully the impeachment process will tie up the WH staff and slow down his rampage. Otherwise unimpeded he will continue to discover new outrages to commit. His impeachment is our duty to the institution of democracy even if it might not yield his actual expulsion. The political warfare will continue with or without an ongoing impeachment. But let's take our time. It's needs to be in-process when the 2020 presidential contest in full force. Trump does not need to have enough time to portray the failure to impeach as a badge of honor as he has the Mueller investigation's failure to indict. Have it still 'underway' on election day.

Having recently returned from Barcelona I can you tell that post-fascist Spain with the Socialist Party presently in power at least from a tourista point of view looks like a worker's paradise compared to the Bay Area where I live. They have lots of functional if not spiffy public high rise public housing, clean fast public transportation, excellent coffee, (somewhat) safe streets etc. I saw no street crazies; I only saw one panhandler and zero sidewalk tents. And Spain was one of the hardest hit countries by the great recession. The decaying shab factor so evident in here in the US didn't seem evident at least in the parts of Caledonia I visited. After Franco I think they appreciate democracy. I don't think we do. Many didn't bother to vote for or against Trump. We have let the Repubs jigger the voting process so that Demo Party inclined voters (Blacks, Latinos, college students) have a harder time voting. Also the positions of the candidates on the issues are less important than their expensive psychologically manipulative advertising spots. That's sad. Voting is supposed to be about expressing your position on issues not your emotional reactions to candidates.

Anyway, the forces that turned over the House of Representatives to the Demos in 2018, a laudatory accomplishment, need to again be unleashed and come together to throw out this bum in 2020!