The age of gaslighting is incandescent, and will be long remembered for the vast damage it has done to the United States.
The result has been the obliteration of trust between the American people and nearly every conceivable institution of consequence in the country. The collapse has been particularly devastating for America’s media, political and corporate elites who are held in particular contempt.
Each day, a volcanic eruption of pettiness, division, malice, conspiracy and racial antagonism flows from a vast and interlocking network of far-right media outlets, led by Fox News, that spews a hot lava of nonsense. It is broadcast to millions of vulnerable Americans, who are susceptible to idiocy, malice and delusions because they are weak-minded, ignorant, nativist, racist, greedy, selfish — or sometimes just lonely and sad.
All across America, people have lost faith in the future, not because they lack optimism, but because their optimism, faith and future have been stolen by an out of control taker class that impinges on tomorrow by refusing to look past this despicable moment.
Everywhere one looks there is evidence of misconduct, corruption and greed. The difference between this era and past ones is that once past instances of misconduct became known, they tended to stop. That is no longer the case.
There is no greater example of this than the delusionists, liars, conspiracy theorists, quibblers and cynics from Bret Baier to Martha MacCallum to Tucker Carlson at Fox News. The full effect of eight straight years of the Donald Trump show — faithfully carried by the American media — is that the basic foundational concept of what is real and what isn’t has eroded. The concept of truth, reality, results, public integrity, patriotism, duty, responsibility and obligation have been largely eradicated because of the wholesale submission of one entire political party to a domestic enemy, as well as the cynical exploitation of the accompanying disaster by media companies for ratings and profit. What has resulted is a significant crisis of the American spirit, resulting from the cancer inflicted on the American character by Donald Trump, his chief lieutenants, the MAGA movement and extremist media.
The political challenge for America’s next leaders is moving through and ending this rancid era by making an appeal to unity over division, kindness over malice, hope over despair, love over fear and gratitude over resentment. The country needs political leaders who possess the aspirations to rekindle a national greatness. It has been stripped by our collective smallness, as represented by our broken politics in which weirdness and bluster have replaced dignity and humility. We are all worse off for it.
The main difference between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis is that Trump is brittle and crazy, while DeSantis is brittle and small. “Crazy D vs. Tiny D” is the marquee and no matter who wins, America loses.