Analyzing what Americans increasingly refer to, mostly in jest, as “mainstream media”, a visiting alien from deep space might assume U.S. Pres. Donald Trump will be handcuffed and dragged from the Oval Office by 2018 as the Republican Party collapses and Democrats surge to glorious victories in campaigns across the nation. However, observations by rank-and-file Americans are more down-to-Earth. Mainstream media has been stripped naked of credibility by its obsessive anti-Trumpism and mindless support for Democrats, the party that still doesn’t have a discernible message.
Democrats lose governor to party switch
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Republicans took West Virginia's governor’s office without need for an election after the state’s Democratic governor switched his party affiliation to Republican and announced his decision at a Trump rally. With the stock market in record high territory, jobs coming back by the hundreds of thousands and huge foreign companies opening factories in the U.S., Americans are feeling better about the economy. At the same time, the Democrats have alienated pro-life voters by virtually kicking them out of the Democratic Party earlier this year before begging them back. Democrats have lost Congress, the White House, control of Supreme Court nominations, more than 1,000 state seats and all but 14 of its governors since former President Barack Obama was elected, yet to hear mainstream media bark, their darling Democrats are practically walking on water, politically speaking.
MS media overplaying a bad hand
Obviously, media coverage being what it is, aliens could not be blamed for misinterpreting American politics since most national news these days consists of anti-Trump diatribes presented by narrow-eyed anchors or Russia-collusion newspaper headlines, front page, under banner, in bold print. Nevertheless, endless anti-Trump rants by mainstream media did not translate into votes for Democrats in 2016 and there’s no reason to think it will in 2018, when they are defending more Senate seats than Republicans.
Liberal media nervous about Democrats' messaging
Partisanship aside, as losses mount, some liberal media outlets are visibly nervous. Perhaps MSNBC Morning Joe’s co-host and token pseudo-conservative, Joe Scarborough, said it best on Thursday when he chimed Democrats are “clueless” and disconnected from working-class Americans.
Joe, whose romantic affections for his ultra-liberal co-host are as obvious as the station’s political lean, was quickly rebuked by Mika Brzezinski for his scathing political commentary, even though Joe supposedly sports the “conservative” view. Scarborough managed to lash out at Trump even while condemning the "clueless" Democratic Party. "They (Democrats) are just as disconnected from working-class Americans as they've ever been," Scarborough said. "I mean are they going to blow this advantage that Trump's been giving to them,” said Joe.
Morning Joe panel agree Dems lack vision
A guest on the same show, Steve Rattner, former head of the Obama administration's Auto Task Force and a New York Times contributor, managed to tepidly agree that Democratic activists are somewhat concerned about their party’s swirling drift.
Rattner described the Democrat’s planks as small-bore, not visionary. Still, mainstream media apparently feels that its credibility has been unaffected by its tawdry love affair with the Democratic Party. Actually, the relationship heated way up after voters jilted Democrats in November. Despite meager reporting on the Democrats’ loss of all post-Trump special elections in 2017 and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justices’ switch from the Democrat to Republican, trouble is brewing for Democrats next year. When liberals like Lanhee Chen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and an MSNBC contributor, laments Democrats, politically, have "no coherence", something is spooking them.
Back in West Virginia, Democratic U.S.
Sen. Joe Manchin may be the next shoe to drop for Democrats in that state. Up for re-election in 2018, his campaign is already struggling and without a Democratic governor’s support (in a state that Trump won by more than 40 points) Manchin, to be generous, is vulnerable. He might even follow the governor's lead and give Republicans another Senate seat before the 2018 elections
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