An Introduction to American Political Propaganda and the Fall of the American Free Press

The Hill: President Biden Leaving a "Mess" For Trump to "Clean Up" 

There are times when I am reluctant to link an article, an editorial that drops in a few facts among the fiction to take a backhanded slap at President Biden, as an example of what we can expect from the corporate-owned and controlled American media.  But this piece, by Liz Peek (doesn't ring any bells for me) in The Hill, which isn't really a widely distributed publication, as far as print media goes (24,000 circulation), is what we've seen for four years, and what we can expect for the next four.  The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group.  And why is that important to note?  

Nexstar is the largest corporate owner of television stations in the United States.  That includes local network affiliates in larger markets, and independent stations, like WGN in Chicago, as well as stations in smaller markets, places like San Angelo, Texas.  And that does indeed have an impact on the perspective with which The Hill, along with those other network affiliates, delivers the news.  

And here's the perspective.  Trump, Trump, Trump.  

From just personal observation, it was pretty clear that the American media engaged in a four year campaign, during the Biden Administration, to report everything Trump was saying or doing in response.  I haven't seen any specific studies that have analyzed the news reports from the past four years in each category of media, but I wouldn't argue with a conclusion that found Trump was mentioned on every media outlet that has news coverage on a daily basis, since leaving the White House, and that the amount of time he got in terms of coverage was at least twice the amount given to the Biden administration.  

And yes, I'd be willing to bet on that conservative estimate.  

So seeing this very biased, slanted piece from The Hill is not surprising.  The  media seems to be getting itself in order to flatter the incoming President and administration and win favor.  It's difficult to take what has mostly been beneficial to people, and make it sound like nothing.  So the rough edges and lack of professional journalistic standards in this piece are not surprising.   But the goal wasn't to be politically neutral, or fair.  It was to make President Biden look ineffective and as bad as possible.  And that's been made a little easier for this kind of editorial, which is what this is, because Democrats have struggled with their ability to to control the narrative, and get the kind of mass media coverage of the accomplishments of this administration, the best we've seen since Lyndon Johnson, that was necessary to give voters a realistic picture of the election, including everything negative that they left on the cutting floor about Trump. 

If seeing inflation drop to 2.6% from the highs that it reached in 2022 and early 2023, as a direct result of Biden administration economic policy, including a sharp drop in oil and energy prices, is "inflation that refuses to die," then we need to sit down with Webster's dictionary and redefine every single word it contains.  And really, how upset and disturbed can we be that we are replenishing the strategic oil reserve, more than 40% of its capacity, with oil we are buying at a rate that is more than 25% less than what was sold off to help increase the supply and bring down prices when they were high?  Adding a significant amount of money to the treasury to offset that federal debt the author was whining about is somehow a bad thing and a "mess" left behind for Trump to fix?  

The author claims that the Biden administration is investing taxpayer dollars in "an educational system that teaches kids to hate their country," which is a ridiculous and unsupported assertion that she doesn't bother to corroborate.  It's an appeal to populist prejudice against education that dares to suggest their racism, bigotry and ignorance is the root of problems that hold this country back.  The system, she says, fails to deliver "youngsters able to read and write," a common extremist assertion which can't be supported by facts and which conveniently leaves out the fact that this administration has not only significantly increased educational spending, but also has produced results that the previous Trump administration did not succeed at delivering.  

How is abolishing the Department of Education going to resolve those problems?  Well, don't expect opinion writers like Peek to know, she's an obvious victim of our school's inability to deliver youngsters who can read and write.  

The anti-Democracy bias is clear in considering Ukraine as part of a "mess," and in using language like "extricating the US from Ukraine's war with Russia," which spells doom for Ukrainian democracy, a flippant and disgraceful posture that will go a long way, once again, to reducing respect for America and its stature in the world, just like happened during the last Trump administration.  The fact that they keep asserting otherwise would be a laughable example of Trump's foreign policy ignorance and incompetence, which is basically a cowardly turning tail and running from difficult problems, appeasing dictators as if he were the reincarnation of Neville Chamberlain, if it did not have such horrific results for those who must endure the results of Trump's cowardice, like the Ukrainians, or the Palestinians in Gaza. 

I also had to laugh at her attempt to make the record job growth, low unemployment, economic growth surge we've experienced, including the stability of the dollar and the strong advancement of the stock market, sound like it was some confused tangle of complicated conspiracies, and at her assertion that somehow, spending money that Congress has appropriated for the benefit of the people is "bad."  It's long past time, Liz, for this country's 99-percenters to pay their fair share of what they've been provided to make them rich, for the benefit of all Americans, without whom they wouldn't have what they do.  So if the Biden administration is working to make sure all those checks get written before January 20th, 2025, then more power to them.   

This, people, is pure propaganda, American style.  And much of the terminology, and many of the assertions being made, are reflections of the very things that Democrats and some independents accused the Trump administration of doing when he was in office the first time.  He did leave a real mess, a massive increase in government debt, undermining the American military and leaving it vulnerable by negotiating with the Taliban dictatorship, at Camp David of all places, undermining American efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran, and a disastrous failure to take action to protect the economy and the population of the US from COVID.  Peek isn't even very creative, clearly not even picking up a thesaurus to change some of the terms.  

If this is what American education over the course of the last generation has produced, then Peek is right about one thing, and that is the fact that an effort must be made to improve it.  But don't expect the Trump administration to be innovative enough to make it happen.  The concept of a free press has been lost, and so has the concept of a constitutional democracy in an established republic.  The United States is becoming an oligarchy of the rich.  

And the media is a major contributor to our downfall.  

Why the President's Pardon of his Son Hunter Was the Right Thing to Do

Let's make this absolutely, pellucidly, crystal clear.  Under no circumstances is any argument from conservative Republicans regarding this pardon acceptable, or even tolerable.  They have forfeited any and all rights they may have thought they had to make a comment on this issue and the best thing they can do for themselves when it comes to this issue is to sit down and shut up.  This is only up for discussion among Democrats, and even then, only among those Democrats who are willing to stop playing by a set of political rules the Republican party abandoned decades ago.  

The thought that in America, no one is above the law is a laughable assertion.  Of course people are above the law.  There are individuals, usually those with a larger share of wealth than they earned or deserve, who use their influence, usually money, sometimes combined with political power from relatives and friends in the community with common interests, sometimes backed with threats of physical violence and death, who get away with everything because of who they are.  Because behind all of the lofty idealism and the idealistic language, corruption of the law is a common American trait, and there are those who can break it and get away with it.  They are prevalent in every community in this country.  

The legal system in this country is no longer capable of prosecuting genuine criminals.  Justice, which takes on a different form when it can be bought for a specific amount of money or influence, doesn't really exist in its intended form.  It has been corrupted by a legal system which has instituted all sorts of tactics, such as delays, changing venues, manipulating which judges hear which cases because of their known biases, and getting favorable rulings because enough money found its way under the table to make it happen.  

But I digress.  

Hunter Biden's Case Was Purely Political

I'll answer my own rhetorical question here.  Do I think Hunter Biden would have been charged and prosecuted if his father hadn't been President of the United States?  The answer to that question is, simply, "no."  

Let's be honest here.  Hunter Biden is privileged above those of us who are just ordinary, everyday Americans because of who his father was, and is.  Looking at all of the circumstances surrounding this case, would he have been in the position he was in if his father had not been an influential senator, former Vice-President and President of the United States?  No, he wouldn't have.  Nor would Jenna Bush ever have been a morning show host were it not for who her parents are.  Would George W. Bush ever have been President if his father hadn't been an influential Republican, and a former President, and then used his influence to cover up a lot of low life behavior his son engaged in while growing up with a famous politician parent?  

None of Trump's kids would have been where they are without the use of their father's name, influence and money.  Nor would they have the political advantages they now have if it wasn't for who their father was.  

That's what happens in America.  Wealth and power change the circumstances for the people who have them.  

Justice Does Not Get Served, and No One Gives a Damn

When President Biden first announced that he did not plan to pardon his son Hunter, after an amazingly quick special prosecutor investigation at a justice department that has seemed to be excruciatingly slow on just about everything else it has investigated, I thought that was a remarkable demonstration of respect for the law that put him on a level well above Trump's complete lack of integrity or morality.  Frankly, it would take a lot more than a pardon of his own son to bring Biden down to Trump's level, that's just not possible with the way we measure integrity, morals and ethics, at least how some of us do.  

But the Republicans who were going after Hunter Biden didn't do it because they had any kind of respect for the rule of law.  It was a way to attack a President they didn't like, and whom they resented because, well, because he got the better of them, and did it honestly.  Under normal circumstances, the plea bargain would have held and Hunter would have walked away with what happens to most accused criminals of crimes at that level, a fine and having it put on his record.  And legal experts tell us that would have been more than most people who commit the same crime would get for it.  

Well, I thought, O.K.  They want to get their pound of flesh, and the President is not going to make it a big deal, and he's going to keep his integrity.  

And then, the same justice department that got Hunter's case through and prosecuted in a matter of months could not get Trump's cases through and prosecuted at all, because the same attorney general dragged his feet and stonewalled and made it impossible.  I have no interest in listening to any more defenses and apologetics for Merrick Garland, he is the man to blame for Trump being eligible to be re-elected to the Presidency, and for getting off scot-free.  And it is because of Merrick Garland that I am glad the President had pardoned his son.  Now, he doesn't have a single accomplishment to point to as attorney general of the United States.  He leaves as an utter failure.  

The Pardon is an Expression of the Desires of the American Electorate

This is what the voters wanted.  Maybe they didn't specifically mean Hunter Biden should get off, but they did vote against the rule of law, at least half of them did, in affirming Trump for a second term.  So Hunter being pardoned by his father is exactly the same thing, it is right up that very same alley.  Important, prominent people should be immune to prosecution for their crimes, that's the message.  There is no respect for the rule of law, powerful, wealthy people should be able to do as they please without limits.  So no limits, here, the President pardoned his son and that is perfectly consistent with the voters wishes.  

It would have been patently unfair for Hunter Biden to spend any time at all in prison, while Trump spends no time in prison for committing crimes much worse in their offense to the American people, considering that so many voters don't give a damn about it.  So if they don't care, why should anyone else?  I sure don't.  

So President Biden presented those voters who supported Trump with an early Christmas present.  Someone getting away with a crime simply because of their money, power and influence.  Merry Christmas, MAGAts.