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By Ray Hanania
Nothing distracts people from the failings of a politician more than when the news media exaggerates its hate against that politician.
That’s the case with Donald Trump, who was a mediocre president who couldn’t stop himself from engaging in the pettiest manner with the always-petty news media.
Instead of focusing on his plans and programs, Trump spent most of his time responding to the news media’s biased coverage, and their clear favoritism towards Joe Biden.
When Trump does something questionable, it is a felony crime. When Biden and his entourage of exaggerators, like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, do things that are questionable, they go unquestioned by the media.
That’s the nature of today’s sick world. The choice for president next year is between a guy being martyred by excessive and unfair news media attacks, and a politician who is merely the facade of an entourage of left-wing Washington insiders who call all the shots.
Instead of discussing issues, the public is being led like lemmings on both sides to hate and spew personal attacks–amplified by social media, where people speak before they think. Anger and emotion get more platform than reason or commonsense.
What are the American people to do? Suffer through another four years of either?
They could push for Joe Manchin, the West Virginia senator who many hope will be the presidential choice of the new No Labels Party. But America isn’t ready for a third party. The American system isn’t built that way. Manchin will probably be more like Ross Perot.
There is also Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the former U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator gunned down while running for president in 1968. It’s difficult to be critical of the Kennedy name, but RFK Jr. has been inconsistent on some issues and often too far to the right.
But RFK Jr. is a serious challenger to Biden, who reads not only what is written for him on teleprompters, but also the editor’s notes instructing him when to emphasize or repeat something. Biden reads the notes, stumbles through press conferences and makes more gaffes than former President Gerald Ford, who constantly stumbled and was a magnet for errant golf balls.
The worst part of our democracy today is that the discussion and debate has shifted from political issues to personalities. Instead of expressing views driven by common sense and concern, the public is full tilt embracing hate.
Hatred is the major factor influencing Americans today, and that makes us look weak.
America looks so weak that tyrants like Vladimir Putin in Russia and China’s Xi Jinping are like rabid dogs who realize the gates have been unchained and are wide open to spread their tyranny.
The weakness of America is a reflection of the weakness of the Biden administration combined with the insanity of former President Trump, and the hypocrisy that is today the primary product of the American news media.
Tyrants around the world are interpreting America today as being weak and vulnerable; and instead of being cautious, they are being reckless.
Today’s corrupt system isn’t just fueling the polarization of America, it is also trampling over real issues that we should be addressing but can’t address because of competing political hyperbole.
Real issues like providing aid to senior citizens, or toughening penalties on criminals to stem rising crime are falling to the wayside. They are no longer priorities. The economy sucks, but the data is manipulated to make each side look great.
If you are interested in a more in-depth discussion about all this, I would urge you to watch and/or listen to the podcast that former Congressman Bill Lipinski and I do each week called “Two Guys on Politics.”
The podcast is available on all of the major audio podcast sites. The video is available on my YouTube channel. Visit Hanania.com to easily find that link in the main menu or go to TVChicagoland.com.
We’d love to hear your feedback.
If it makes you feel better, you can just call me names. But we all know that people who spent their time calling people names do so because they can’t argue the facts. The more you call me names, the more I know I am right, merely expressing something you just don’t want to hear.
That’s your choice. You can ignore the truth, or you can see how corrupt our entire political system is, and, recognize how biased and hypocritical the mainstream news media is.
A political system that can’t admit it is wrong is no different than a society that can’t acknowledge its faults.
(Ray Hanania is a former Chicago City Hall reporter and award-winning columnist. Visit Hanania.com for more commentary.)