If you don’t have HBO, you didn’t see Bill Maher’s cable show “Real Time with Bill Maher” last evening. The comedian lambasted cable news for its ‘profit before fact’ mandate. He specifically named FOX personality Megyn Kelly. His premise is that Donald Trump received more attention by the 24-hour networks than any other candidate, and therefore offered him an opportunity to win the Republican nomination. Maher said that they created “Trumpenstein.”
I only partially agree. While it is true that the media has favored Trump, and it failed to criticize the despicable man for what he is, I believe that Trump is only the manifestation of years of extremely incapable Republican leadership.
It began in 2000. An uninformed electorate, with an assist from the Supreme Court, gave the presidency to an unqualified and incapable George W. Bush. His choice of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove as his chief advisors began the demise of our democracy, and eventually his administration’s policies left our nation in two wars and in the worst recession since the depression of 1929. Republican voters suffered from poor leadership, and witnessed the decline of a once revered nation as policies such as torture became the norm.
In 2008, Arizona Senator John McCain was opposed by a virtually unknown Senator from Illinois. As the leader of the Republican Party, every decision regarding that election was his responsibility. His choice; a woman whose only credential was a crown she received in a beauty pageant. His staff lied to McCain, claiming that she had been thoroughly vetted. She was as unqualified to be the vice-president as any man or woman in history.
In 2009 John Boehner and Mitch McConnell began their obstructionist tactics. McConnell stood before his cronies in the Senate and openly stated that the Republican Party would do nothing for the next four years, with the exception of guaranteeing that President Obama was a one-term president. Really?
2010: Enter the TEA Party, or the Freedom Caucus as they now call themselves. They moved further to the right than McConnell, and promised their creators, the Koch brothers, that they would say no to any and all proposals from progressives. They began a conspiracy to destroy all social programs, enlarge the military which increased profits for those invested in the military industrial complex, and insure that there would be no tax increase for the one-percent. The economic recovery began by President Obama was slowed, thanks to a small group of men and women who now controlled Boehner, McConnell, and the entire Republican Party.
By 2012 the American people had experienced the least effective Congress in our nation’s history thanks to the ‘party of no.’ Our government was in gridlock because of Republican failures.
After they lost the election once again in 2012, the Republican establishment, led by Reince Priebus, promised changes within the party; nothing happened with the exception of increased extremism.
In 2014, when Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, Boehner and McConnell held a news conference announcing that ‘government would get to work’ and address the needs of the American people. Once again, nothing changed; nothing happened.
So here we are in 2016. “Trumpenstein” exists because of his supporters. His supporters are angry at 16 years of failed Republican leadership. No one in their right mind believes that they trust Trump’s racist, bigoted, and misogynistic tirades; they are angry at the establishment.
During the primary season Republican leaders made a concerted effort to derail Trump; they failed miserably; they were unable to destroy their own creation.
There is no doubt that the media is partially to blame for Trump’s success, but his creation began long before the monster came to life.
Op-Ed
By James Turnage
The Truth With No Restrictions 