When Donald Trump was elected president, I held out hope that four institutions would hold him in check:
No. 1: The justice system. The jury’s still out, but the walls appear to be closing in on him.
No. 2: Protesters. When there’s outrage every day — and justifiably so — at some point it becomes white noise.
No. 3: Congress. Are you kidding?
No. 4: The media. In many regards, it’s been a Golden Age for journalism. With so much corruption and nefariousness, reporters are feasting on daily servings of fat, juicy stories. The angles shift by the minute. Reporters must surely have whiplash.
But there’s been a price. Trump and his cronies and followers have cast so much doubt about the media’s honesty, its credibility is at an all-time low. It’s a classic Trump counter-punch, chopping someone at the knees when he’s been cornered. Worse yet, Trump’s vile portrayal of the media has riled up his base, leading to harassment, threats, and worse.
Today, TIME Magazine named journalists everywhere — “the guardians of truth,” it dubbed them — as its Persons of the Year. The selection was a rebuke to the spread of disinformation worldwide by the president and his followers.
It was also a response to Trump himself, who’s been obsessed with TIME’s Person of the Year for decades. Last month, when asked for his prediction, he said, “I can’t imagine anyone else other than Trump.”
LOST IN THE NOISE 