Mainstream media is dying, and President Trump and his administration are losing credibility. And as a moderate Libertarian who leans right, I'm just getting tired of hearing how much more terrible the latest story about Trump is than everything else he's done so far, which were all things that were, at the time, much more terrible than the previous stories about what Trump did. And I'm tired of hearing Trump talk about how great a job he is doing and how he's been treated more unfairly than any politician in history. Lincoln was hated by half the nation and eventually shot and killed, and there are plenty more who have been treated more unfairly than our current Tweeter-in-Chief. So, I'm just immune to the left-wing outrage and the right-wing ridiculousness. We are at the point where, if Trump did something horrific, most people wouldn't notice because the outrage level and impeachment calls are already near their maximum, and if he did something spectacular, most people wouldn't notice because hardcore Trump supporters already think everything he does is the best fucking thing in history.
The latest stories have revolved around James Comey and Russia, not unlike a high percentage of the stories since the 2016 campaigns started. When Trump fired Comey, the man many Democrats (perhaps partially correctly) blame for Hillary Clinton's loss in November, suddenly Democrats who wanted him fired decided that he should not have been fired, and his firing was essentially evidence that people from Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the election (as if firing Comey magically makes this investigation disappear). And shame on Trump for not heeding Saint Barack's sage advice to not tab Michael Flynn as national security advisor. Maybe former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates wasn't fired for refusing to support Trump's travel ban after all, but rather for knowing too much about Flynn! Oh, and Trump got two scoops of ice cream when everyone else in the room only got one. I think that's called Ruski ice cream.
I was on business travel last week, and before and after the in-flight movie (JetBlue is my favorite airline, by the way), I flipped through the channels and saw the headlines. The big story on CNN, MSNBC, etc. before departure was that Trump shared classified information with Russia. That sounded pretty disturbing. Trump sharing classified information about ISIS with an ally of Syria? Sure, as President, he can decide what to share or not share with a foreign country, and even what is or isn't classified in that situation, so no crime was committed, but it still didn't sound good. The political pundits were talking about how this is so much worse than anything else he's done. This is impeachable. Treason! This should bring everyone together against Trump. I flipped to Fox News and they were all twisting themselves into pretzels trying to defend Trump. Was this a big story or a typical media day? I flipped to one of my three free in-flight movie choices.
After the movie was over, we were still in the air, so I flipped through the channels again. The headlines were all new. This wasn't even two hours later. The big story was that anonymous sources had leaked some more shit, and this time it was a James Comey memo about a conversation he had with Trump in which Trump allegedly suggested that he should stop investigating Michael Flynn. If true, this presents legal problems to both men involved in the conversation. If false, well, I guess they'll have to find some other reason for impeachment hearings. Maybe anonymous sources will find something else again. Or maybe we should just wait to judge until we hear from both Comey and Trump on the nature of the alleged conversation. Folks on CNN and MSNBC were calling for impeachment for obstruction of justice now. Fox News was defending Trump again. I wondered what happened to the huge story from earlier in the day, and I don't even remember which network I was watching when someone talked about how Israel was fine with the information that was shared, Russia was saying they could prove it wasn't classified, and most importantly to me, H.R. McMaster said he was in the room and that Trump didn't do anything he shouldn't have done, and McMaster is a guy who has earned my respect and trust.
CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WaPO and the like all know exactly how this is going to turn out. Fox News, Breitbart, and Trump know exactly how this is going to turn out too. Except the left and right know opposite and conflicting truths, thus someone is wrong. Or both sides are wrong. Truth is not relative. I'm going with the idea that both sides are wrong, because I don't have a clue how this is all going to turn out. This could be more nothingness drummed up by Leftist media organizations, fueled by anonymous sources. Or Trump could end up impeached. I'd like to hear from Comey, from Trump, from both sides. I'd like to hear from Flynn and Manafort, and from those who claim to have evidence of their wrongs. I would also like to hear more from Sally Yates, and from those investigating the sources of classified leaks. Heck, I'd like to hear more about why Huma Abedin hasn't been charged with a crime yet.
As far as Comey, I think he should have been fired, though the timing of his firing was not ideal. I don't think he was doing a good job, and I don't think most Americans were confident in the job he was doing. I also think he's a massive attention whore who likes being in the spotlight. All three of his major announcements during the election cycle were ridiculous and uncalled for, and others from the FBI even had to clarify some of his recent comments in front of Congress because they weren't exactly accurate. The Clinton e-mail investigation was closed, then re-opened, then quickly re-closed again, and the Russian collusion investigation continues to drag on. No word on investigating classified leaks, Huma Abedin, or Lois Lerner. Or maybe there was, but the media didn't cover it very thoroughly?
And Trump doesn't help himself at all. He uses hyperbole like Jose Canseco used steroids. He complains about being treated more unfairly than any politician in history. He brags about how he ran the best campaign of all-time, set records for crowd sizes, and set records for electoral vote counts. He gives ridiculous and implausible reasons for firing Comey, after having fired Comey at a rather bizarre moment in time. He talks about how he should maybe cancel press conferences, and how great all the things he does are. He calls out the mainstream media lies and half-truths and then pedals his own. He tweets, he golfs, he makes Leftists fondly remember the days of President George W. Bush. I didn't think that day would ever come. Leftists hated Bush. I was a student at Wesleyan University when Bush was President, and most people there thought Bush was Satan. But now Trump is Satan. I wonder if Leftists will long for the days of the Trump Presidency when the next Republican President is elected, but mostly I just hope we'll have a Libertarian President sometime soon.
Also, I'm toying with the idea of calling a mainstream media organization as an anonymous source with a YUGE story about Trump or someone connected to him. I wonder if a story I made up would get traction. Or maybe it would turn out to be true.
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