What Will The Media Do Post Trump?

   In the forty year history of CNN, they've never had a golden nugget quite like Trump. Someone to spew their hatred upon eighteen to twenty four hours daily. MSNBC, which has always been well left of CNN, have been in T.V. news paradise the last four years.Trump bashing became a nightly ritual, laughing at his ridiculous, obnoxious oratory. They also jumped on any opportunity to get Democrats in Washington to think impeachment or even the use of the 25th amendment, which deems the president physically or mentally unfit to carry out his duties. Fox news, though on the opposite end of the political spectrum, used his massive fanbase to perfection turning their station from the Hannity, O'Reilly channel to Trump TV. He called in regularly, their hosts spoke of him like he was a higher being who lived and operated on a higher plain then anyone else. As the four years of Trumps hirings and firings, management and mismanagement, love him or hate him, if you turned on any of the cable news channels you'd be sure to see his mug flashing across your screen. As we move forward, it's up to us, the viewing public to decide if the three cable news giants, as well as social media platforms like twitter and Facebook will ever be the same without Trump lurking the halls of the White House.

  Newspapers, which I haven't yet mentioned, have also received a boost to their dying industry, thanks to Donald. In 2016, the NY Times added 500,000 new digital substriptions. Overall the newspaper industries substriptions rose by 23% from 2016+2019. It wasn't just mainstream news organizations that felt the boost. Left wing favorites: The Nation and Al Jazeera, as well as right wing sources, Breitbart and Newsman enjoyed significant increases in viewership and advertising money, due to the presence of the most divisive, yet most beloved president in my lifetime. He may have singlehandedly rescued print media from extinction. The tabloids joined in as well. Stories of Russian hookers, Stormy Daniels and tax evasion soon filled their headlines. It wasn't difficult for the news media to use Trump for ratings and to sell papers or magazines. He always said what really came into his head. Some of his more infamous and unforgivable quits include: Mexicans send their rapists across the border and how he said there were good people on both sides following the Charlottesville fiasco. He also gave orders to "stand by and stand back" to the Proud Boys, a right wing fringe group and soon to be domestic terrorist organization. Trump made plenty more political headlines, signing executive orders to impose a travel ban on Muslims from certain countries. He imposed tariffs on Chinese goods and Canadian steel. Amazingly, it wasn't all bad, he managed to get the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan to open relations with Israel. Whether or not he bought their signatures, it was still considered a foreign policy victory by most in the mainstream.

                       His War With CNN. 

     Trump and CNN never did get off on the right foot. Early on in his presidency Trump couldn't stand the fact he became an immediate target of negativity on CNN's nightly news casts. He infamously deemed them"fake news" in November 2017. He even comically created a fake news award trophy the same year, which involved names like Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah. Trump was under the illusion that news outlets would all hail him as a sort of demigod or at least give him the same generally respectable treatment Barack Obama mostly enjoyed during his eight years in the oval office. During his presidency Trump couldn't help his love for the limelight and adoring crowds. He continuously staged campaigned style rallies and regularly mocked those in the mainstream media. But CNN was always his first and most vicious target. Trump shamelessly mocked physically disabled journalist Serge Kovelski. Trump made sexist remarks about numerous female reporters and even walked off two interviews on CBS. Once on Face the Nation with John Dickinson and years later on 60 minutes. Still, Trump always despised CNN the most and they were sure to always return the favor. Any chance they had to make Trump look the fool they jumped all over it. They focused on Trump's inability to hold a professional press conference or read from a teleprompter. At times, it seemed Trump was treated more disrespectfully then anyone to hold the highest office in the land. But before any violins start playing, Trump played the part, he relished being the villain of the left and superhero of the right. CNN's relevance and ratings will never reach the heights they did during the Trump era. No matter how much their newscasters were openly and genuinely sickened by some of Trump's xenophobic, prejudice behavior, they will surely miss the ability to present an entire show themed around him. Van Jones can do all the crying during telecasts about how we "all" can breathe again and Joe Biden's dignity will be enough to change the direction of the country. But one question I have for Van and everyone else at CNN is, what will you do without your ratings golden goose?

    What will everyone do without Trump, to debase on twitter? We can't look forward to late night television hosts making silly jokes at Trump's expense. We can't purchase a tabloid to read about his illegal business antics or which one of his sychopants will go to prison next. Joe Biden doesn't carry any of his entertainment clout. Love him or hate him, Trump carries a certain amount of dare I say charisma, that makes eyeballs gravitate towards him. He never in most anyone's opinion possessed the obvious physical qualities that would want people to look at him on a daily basis. His yellow hair hat and spray on tan weren't easy on the eyes to say the least, still say what you want, television, social media, newspapers and entertainment in general won't ever be the same without a character like the Donald.