Conservatives Are Mastering the Media War

Hot Air

Trump opened the door to challenging the media directly, but as with most things Trump he went straight to the insults and nicknames instead of building the case. You and I love to see the bullies get hit in the nose, but many people need to be convinced that they are bullies in the first place.

Poilievre schools another reporter

 "The mainstream media has been at war with conservatives for as long as I have been alive, but for most of that time, they have been in such a dominant position that they were able to be relatively subtle about their disgust with the deplorable.

"Before the proliferation of cable channels and the narrowcasting that developed, the media had to pretend to play it down the middle. Would it play in Peoria? was the standard by which they calibrated their pitch. By the Bush years, that standard was breaking down; by 2016, it was out the window.

"During the Trump years, the media began to let their freak flag fly, making it clear that they hated not just Trump but anybody who tolerated him. For years, the media massaged their style to appear fair; since Trump got into the presidential race in 2015, the media’s hatred for all things Republican (not just MAGA) is there for all to see.

"Many Republicans, including myself, appreciated Trump’s willingness to call the media out and confront them. However, unlike many, I don’t think that Trump was nearly as effective at discrediting the media as is supposed. His willingness to confront them and draw out their bias was important, but as with so many things Trump, his supporters loved his insulting media figures, and most others rolled their eyes.

"Trump managed to drag the media figures into the mud with him–which is not nothing–but Trump’s approach had a downside in that it wasn’t persuasive to people who didn’t already agree with him. People wound up either rooting for Trump or for the media, as if it were a sports event.

"His supporters cheered and jeered (I loved watching Trump insult reporters because they richly deserved it), but people in the middle wound up hating both the media and Trump.