"Liberal news media" is a phrase parroted by gullible followers who have been fed this idea by rich white American oligarchs who want to neutralize the fact-reporting arm of society so that they can operate under cover of darkness in order to continue to funnel all the wealth of our country to those same rich Americans, just a few of whom own more than half of the wealth in the U.S.. All it takes to earn the moniker of "liberal news media" is to report on something that reveals the crimes and lies of Donald Trump and others on the far right wing.
Ignoring the availability of nonpartisan fact-checking organizations such as snopes.com and factcheck.org, and the bare-bones reporting of Reuters (which concentrates on who, what, where, when, with no commentary) susceptible followers run around social media trying to discount the facts with the clarion call of "liberal news media!" carrying water for the rich white guys at the top of the socio-economic ladder.
Every despicable politician in history has used this method to sway large groups of people to their side so that they can have more power and more money. It is just that simple. Hitler did it. Stalin did it. It is what the morally bankrupt DO to get ahead.
The most reprehensible aspect of the current iteration of this method is that the religion of our dear Lord Jesus Christ has been hauled into the middle of it. He is being used and abused unmercifully by the party of Trump as a tool to disengage his followers from their common sense and intellects. It is being falsely claimed that Trump's vision for the future is the vision of Jesus Christ and it simply is not.
The big red herring in this odious stew is the topic of abortion. From the beginning of this current campaign of disinformation, which began years ago, the American public, specifically the evangelical wing of the Christian church, has been fed the lie that these politicians are doing the work of God, that they are going to eliminate abortion from the land.
First, they got the Christians whipped up into a white-hot fury in relation to the perceived association of "liberals" with abortion, neatly severing Jesus Christ's concern for the poor, the vulnerable, the refugee, from the public persona of the American Christian.
Whenever I express concern for the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised, in concert with the teachings of Jesus, I get someone sailing into the conversation and accusing me of being in favor of ABORTION. This is how effectively the puppet masters at the top of the alt. right heap have dissected the whole of the Christian message into little parts. They have convinced many Christians that the only thing that matters is the topic of abortion because it is ever so much more important to save the lives of innocent little babies than the lives of poor old people, or sick black people, or traumatized refugees. That was the first step.
This is how the most reprehensible man in the history of American politics has been tapped as a big Christian leader. The man isn't Christian AT ALL, not in his actions and certainly not in his beliefs. Nothing of what he believes jives with any part of Christ's message, but a good portion of his supporters believe that he was SENT BY GOD to save the babies.
These people are lying about their intention to make abortion illegal. That is the really sad part of it. Half the Christian world have sold their souls for the chance to make abortion illegal, but, instead, they are enabling another robber baron.
He does give lip service to being opposed to abortion, but since he has been in office, Trump's party has continued to support Planned Parenthood, and his recent addition to the Supreme Court (Kavanaugh) has recently ruled to keep support for that organization in place. Those people do not care about the babies. They care about their pocketbooks and the pocketbooks of their cronies far more than any innocent babies. They are staging their platform on the bodies of those innocent little babies, USING them to forward their careers. It is disgusting.
Trump did not start this campaign that cut the body of Christ into little pieces. He isn't smart enough. But he is the perfect representative for the guys that did. Those men who sit at the top of the heap have far more money than Trump could ever even dream of. In fact, if we ever see Trump's tax returns, I am willing to bet that, gold-plated toilets aside, he was close to being broke when he made the run for president. He needed the money he thought he would get from the notoriety of running for the highest office in the land.
Since coming into office, Trump's companies have raked in millions and millions of dollars as a direct result of his position. He has spent half his time at his luxury resorts, forcing world leaders, the press, and a hefty portion of the administration to follow suit. Millions of dollars have been spent housing and feeding these people at those luxury establishments. No babies have been saved - but Trump and his brood have been fed and housed and are raking in the dough at the same time.
Anyway, the guys at the top started this years ago and are using Trump, just like they are using all the American Christians, in order to grab more money and more power. Trump has gladly instituted permanent big tax breaks for the rich while waving small, temporary tax breaks at the upper middle class, like he is doing them a big favor. Built into those modest tax breaks for the middle class is a BIG balloon payment at the end - when the temporary tax cuts wear out. The middle class will have to pay big taxes in future to make up for a few insipid dollars now. Mistakenly, they will blame it on the Democratic administration that is SURE to come after this mess is finished, because that is when those balloon payments become due. It is calculated to explode while a Democrat is in office. Clever.
Despite the press reporting on all of these shenanigans, 23% of the American public don't believe it because Trump has been blowing the "liberal news media" smoke up their noses and they're all high on Trump's Jesus who hates gays, the poor, the marginalized, women, disabled people, and especially the blacks and the browns.
Normally, I am uninterested in politics, but it is because they are abusing Jesus so badly that I am invested now. When you use God to do something immoral, it makes the sin far worse. I suppose I love God enough to object to Him being maligned in this way, and I hate to see the beauty of Christ's message be destroyed by this bastardized version of Him.
One day, this cycle will have run its course. The American people will rise up and throw these criminals in jail. Trump's attorney has just been convicted of campaign fraud and will spend 3 years in federal prison. Others will soon follow. But I doubt that those who are really responsible will ever even be known. Even now, they are quietly sitting back, counting all the lovely money they managed to squeeze from the economy while everyone else suffered for it. Including the babies.
Silver Rose
