By Stephen Macaulay
Gallup has been tracking the confidence that Americans have — or perhaps I should say “don’t have” — in newspapers since 1973 (the year Roe v. Wade was decided; Nixon was sworn in; the Watergate hearings began; the OPEC oil embargo caused a rise in gas prices) and TV news since 1993 (the year NAFTA was signed; the World Trade Center was bombed; and two former police officers were convicted of violating the civil right of Rodney King).
As of the latest polling, Gallup says 5% have “a great deal” of confidence in newspapers and 4% feel the same way about TV news. The polling organization adds to those figures those who express “quite a lot” of confidence so as to make the numbers not quite as pathetic: 16% for newspapers and 11% for TV news.
While the numbers for those who have “some” confidence are, well, OK, 37% and 35%, respectively, those numbers should be considered in the context of the “very little” numbers: 43% for newspapers and 49% for TV news.
Who knew that the likes of David Muir and Lester Holt were held with such skepticism?
As you may recall, Donald J. Trump, when president, called the media “the enemy of the American people” on more than one occasion. In 2017 the Gallup “great deal/quite a lot” combined numbers for newspapers were at 27%, and TV news at 24%. There has been a fairly consistent decline since. After all, who wants to read or watch things they have no confidence in?
(A digression: There is often criticism expressed by the likes of Trump and his acolytes, minions and enablers that the “mainstream press” is some how fake or otherwise misleading. It used to be that people who were Republicans believed in the “free market,” including the free market of ideas. To be sure whether we are talking about NBC or The Washington Post, these outlets are owned by giant corporations. Consequently, one might think that is in and of itself a restriction on what gets reported or how it gets reported. (Yes, Fox News is owned by a giant corporation, as well.) But the point is, these corporations became giant, in large part, because of their appeal to a large percentage of people the same way that McDonald’s has sold billions of burgers. The mainstream press needs to appeal to the majority of the people because if it doesn’t, then it will likely lose those who are willing to spend time with it, the same way that McDonald’s would lose patrons if it suddenly decided that it would serve only ostrich burgers. Yet because the mainstream press didn’t — and doesn’t — see the world in the same way that Trump sees it, it is somehow bad. Which is bizarre to consider vis-à-vis the claims of his landslide victory: There is an insufficient number of people on either side of the bell-shaped curve in order to have a majority. Therefore the mainstream is the place where most Americans are.)
Where do these Americans who have little confidence get information regarding the findings of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (think about those words: Attack on the United States Capitol)?
Well, it seems that a prime-time broadcast isn’t going to have a heck of a lot of effect nor the reporting by a whole room of Pulitzer Prize winners.
So maybe those people are simply a lost cause. The majority of people who believe what can be considered “accepted reality” (e.g., no, there was no Venezuelan manipulation of voting machines, nor satellites beaming data to Italy) are the ones who need to be addressed. Period.
“Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”—Donald J. Trump
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“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”--Article II, Section 1, Clause 8
Yes, the Constitution. The document that codifies the laws that Americans are supposed to uphold because if they don’t, then they are in violation of the rules of the Republic. Most Americans are simply born in the U.S. and consequently don’t swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. But in some cases — including assuming the office of the Presidency — there is, hand on Bible, an affirmation that its defense will be undertaken, a defense of the democracy, something bigger than any one person, something for which legitimate patriots have died for during the years since 1788, the year the Constitution was ratified.
While the Committee members have done a masterful job, once again, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of what happened on, and adjacent to, January 6, let’s put that aside.
So far as I know there has been no conspiracy theory that all of the video that has been displayed on the Attack on the United States Capitol is fake.
What we have seen was happening.
So we stipulate this: There was an attack on the United States Capitol by an armed force.
It is similarly clear that the objective of those attackers was to “Stop the Steal.” Under those particular circumstances said stopping was to be accomplished by preventing Congress from undertaking its legal duty to certify the 2020 Presidential election.
“The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; -- The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President. . . .”--from the 12th Amendment
Which brings us back to that oath.
“. . .the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Armed attackers trying to subvert the Constitution.
The “best” of his ability was to watch TV?
Here’s the thing: it isn’t hard to understand that:
- Trump lost the election
- Trump knew he lost the election
- Trump figured there was a way that he could subvert things to his benefit
- Trump tried to subvert things regardless of having be told by many people that it would be wrong
- Trump broke his oath
“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
“The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.”—Article III, Section 3
Those who attacked the U.S. Capitol were trying to overthrow the government. They were armed. And we’ve learned they were organized.
Did Donald Trump try to stop them?
Doesn’t “we love you, you’re very special” sound like aid and comfort?
Let’s put that aside.
“[H]e shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”—Article II, Section 3
Did Trump fulfill his Constitutional duty?
It doesn’t take a prime-time broadcast to make people willing to think know what Donald Trump did—and what he didn’t do.
People who are willing to believe his self-serving lies are seemingly beyond redemption.
Forget the fringe. Let’s do what’s right for the majority of Americans who put their hands over their hearts and say “. . .and to the Republic, for which it stands. . .”, those people who obey the law, even if it is a local ordinance about parking.