Feeding the Beast

This wasn't a made-for-TV event. It was a TV-made event. --  comment from a media pundit

In the midst of the worst pandemic in 100-years, as the death rate rises daily in the United States, an angry mob stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to stop Joe Biden's confirmation by Congress as newly-elected president.

Can anyone be surprised that this insurrection was incited by the current president. I think not.

Following four years of lies, deceit, bigotry, bullying, demagoguery, cruelty, pardoning of criminal pals and more, ironically, it took a day-long TV show to prompt supporters of this president to cry "uncle." We've had enough. You really are a bad boy. He of the TV reality medium.

The audience was world-wide, with viewers sheltering in their homes watching the live action on their televison screens. It's no secret who is responsible for this mayhem. It's not a revelation.

I cringe when I see the president's enablers, finally, call him out. I take no heart in watching his VP Mike Pence, his ever loyal boot-licker, denounce him. Pence had no other choice. This isn't noble or brave. It's an attempt to save face. 

The Republican Party has become Trump's party. Now they want to brush him off their sleeves because of a TV show that has left an indelible stain. Those are your voters rioting and vandalizing the Capitol building. You have helped enable them by supporting a fake president whose very first words following his 2016 inauguration were a big fat lie. 

"This was the largest turnout for a presidential inauguration in history," he proclaimed.

The Washington Post began counting his lies, the number of which could match the population of our nation, one lie for every citizen, or every day he's been in office.

The faithfully conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal today called for the president to resign, while in the same breath denouncing the Democrats for trying to impeach him and calling the Russian investigation of interference in his election a partisan ploy. 

The truth is always lurking somewhere closer to the pocketbook. 

For the Wall Street Journal, owned by super conservative and wealth-stricken Rupert Murdoch, Trump kept financial regulation at bay. The fat cats got their tax breaks. The "haves" became richer while the "have-nots" waited in line for food to feed their families.

Over at Murdoch's Fox News, the president made their ratings soar, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars for Murdoch and their "talent" who gave the president his daily briefings. He received his information, not from his intelligence staff, but from Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, who have become multi-millionaires.

The conspiracy kooks and loonies were feeding the beast. Fox ratings soared. Advertisers salivated to reach the audience.

Follow the money.

The truth doesn't incite the conspiracy theorists, lunatics and the uninformed. The truth doesn't make them feel good. They need to be angry. They need something to hate. That's what reels in the audience. Trump won the election. It was stolen!

On Wednesday when my cell phone alerted me that the Capitol was being stormed by an angry mob, I was in a public place. A man near me received a call on his phone. He was probably in his sixties, not wearing a mask, in blue jeans, sweat shirt and a baseball-style cap. 

"Has anyone been killed?" he asked.

He wore earplugs through which he received more information about the scene in Washington.

"I hope they kill a couple of them," he said.

I turned to look at him. I guessed that we was calling for the death of at least two legislators. I could be wrong, but asking for anyone's death made me sick. Many of these characters are the same ones who raise their fists against abortion.

When I woke up on Thursday, thinking about what had transpired the day before, I still felt ill. Did that whole scene really happen?

The riots in Washington this week were perfect television theater that will go down in infamy. It took a live, in-color show to finally crack the Republican Party. Watching thugs walk through the nation's capitol waving confederate flags should be a reminder of our tremendous division, and our recalcitrant progress since the Civil War. All inspired by our president, who watched the rioting on TV without a word of condemnation.

Perhaps the most encouraging news of the week was the election of the first Black person from the Deep South to the U.S. Senate: Raphael Warnock. Congratulations, Senator! Coupled with Jon Ossoff's victory, the two newly elected Georgians give Democrats control of the Senate. Their victories were assisted by the president who continued to call the elections a fraud, discouraging many of his own party from voting.

He will be remembered for his own self-destruction, a loser in every sense of the word. His followers will carry on, as long as there is media to make a buck off of them.

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