Trump’s Presidential triumph shows mainstream media has no idea what the mainstream is thinking
TRUMP’S triumph has shown once again how desperately out of touch much of the commentariat is with the mainstream, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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DONALD Trump’s triumph has shown once again how desperately out of touch much of the commentariat is with the mainstream.
The Left-wing echo chamber inhabited by much of the media and political class was in the midst of a full-blown meltdown yesterday as the results rolled in showing that Trump was likely to become the next president of the United States.
The Trump phenomenon shows just how deep the gulf is between the political and media elite and the people they are meant to represent.
We saw the same disconnect during the Brexit vote in the UK and closer to home during the federal election when a sizeable portion of the conservative base abandoned the Coalition in favour of minor parties and independents.
Trump’s victory is humiliating not only for pollsters and political pundits but for the bulk of the mainstream media who gave up any pretence of impartiality and actively campaigned against the Republican candidate.
ANDREW BOLT: TRUMP WIN A REVOLT OVER LEFT ARROGANCE
TERRY MCCRANN: TRUMP’S A MAN WHO’LL GET THINGS DONE
WORLD REACTS TO TRUMP’S VICTORY
TRUMP WIN DRAWS MORE FOREIGN BUYERS TO AUSTRALIA
In what has been the most astonishingly biased and hysterical media coverage in living memory, much of the media took it upon themselves to destroy Trump’s campaign rather than report fairly and sensibly on both candidates.
“He disgusts me, he absolutely disgusts me … all the rednecks will be happy!” said a media colleague as the crucial swing state of North Carolina was declared for Trump.
It’s precisely the type of blinkered, hyperbolic nonsense that has characterised much of the cringe-worthy media narrative.
There was more coverage of Trump making disparaging comments about a plump beauty queen than the Clinton Foundation accepting millions from despot nations that execute people for being gay.
We can now look forward to endless feelpieces blaming the election result on the patriarchy, WikiLeaks, a Russian conspiracy, anything except the fact that the majority of the electorate was fed up with the ruling establishment and opted for a maverick Washington outsider rather than a pathological liar who has consistently failed in public office.
The result will also irreversibly taint Barack Obama’s legacy, a fact not lost on many shattered Democrats who reluctantly backed Clinton against their better judgment.
The political class, from both the Left and Right, has also disgraced itself by openly condemning a candidate who was clearly popular with much of the US electorate.
Who can forget the efforts of the NSW Upper House, which last month unanimously passed a motion labelling Trump “misogynistic” and a “revolting slug”.
“It is great that all sides of Australian politics, from conservatives to Liberals to Greens, agree that Donald Trump is a revolting slug and completely unfit for public office,” Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said.
“It’s clear that all reasonable and decent people find Donald Trump’s behaviour obnoxious and that the world is hoping American voters reject his politics of hate.”
It may be clear to those who never venture outside their “safe space” populated by like-minded brethren who believe that they are morally and intellectually superior to the little people they are meant to serve.
Many of the attacks on Trump have been little more than thinly veiled abuse of his supporters, who have been smeared as uneducated bigots rather than ordinary Americans who feel deeply disenchanted with a system that is beholden to powerful lobbyists and interest groups.
You’d think Brexit would have taught the media that falsely labelling half the populace unthinking “racists” and “xenophobes” isn’t a good idea.
ANDREW BOLT: TRUMP WIN A REVOLT OVER LEFT ARROGANCE
TERRY MCCRANN: TRUMP’S A MAN WHO’LL GET THINGS DONE
WORLD REACTS TO TRUMP’S VICTORY
TRUMP WIN DRAWS MORE FOREIGN BUYERS TO AUSTRALIA
Trump has overcome huge odds to secure a famous victory, defeating a brutal media campaign as well as attacks from the Republican establishment and the well-funded Clinton camp, which last month was outspending Trump by an extraordinary 75 to 1 ratio in radio ads alone.
In a 10-day period there were 15,948 pro-Clinton radio ads in 85 major radio markets across the US, compared with only 208 radio spots for Trump according to Media Monitors.
The Democrats also smashed Trump in terms of total TV ad spending and number of campaign workers on the ground, and then there was the chorus of anti-Trump media commentators who did much of the Clinton camp’s dirty work for free.
Meanwhile, celebrities stepped up their support of Clinton, demanding that the electorate follow the advice of people best known for prancing around on stage or regurgitating lines written by others.
Some celebrities who refused to fall into line and endorse Hillary have been the subject of a vicious backlash by media and fellow celebs.
The likes of Susan Sarandon, James Woods, Arnold Schwarzenegger and even Taylor Swift, whose only crime was refusing to reveal who she would be voting for, have copped invective from the Clinton team’s high-profile cheerleaders, including those stars who vowed to emigrate in the event of a Trump presidency.
The election result serves as a wake-up call to the sneering media and political ruling classes whose disdain for the mainstream will ultimately be their undoing.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
ANDREW BOLT: TRUMP WIN A REVOLT OVER LEFT ARROGANCE
TERRY MCCRANN: TRUMP’S A MAN WHO’LL GET THINGS DONE
WORLD REACTS TO TRUMP’S VICTORY
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