Day 1: What Happened?

Blame Corporate Media and Bad People

Yesterday, Trump won. America voted for fascism. And now, people want to understand what happened? Many smart people are pointing to COVID, the economy, immigration, inflation, Biden’s unpopularity, and claiming that Democrats losing was a fait accompli. I disagree.

Yes, some people blame Biden for the fallout from COVID (and by extension, Harris), but Trump was president during the worst of the pandemic. His policies led to massive excess deaths, and the bulk of the restrictions and lockdowns happened under his administration. So when people blame Biden over COVID, they’re latching onto a false narrative, shifting the blame to the successor instead of the predecessor.

Yes, people blame Biden for the economy, but the truth is, the economy is doing well. There is strong growth, job creation, rising wages, and inflation has been largely controlled. People may say they are struggling, but that is because they have bought into a false narrative that the economy is in bad shape, even though their own financial situation is improving.

Yes, people blame Biden for the so-called "border crisis." But that "crisis" isn’t as catastrophic as it’s made out to be. It is largely a creation of right-wing media, amplified by corporate news outlets, which distort reality. Trump, in fact, blocked bipartisan solutions to the situation while making sure it remained a talking point for his political advantage. Once again, this is a false narrative being driven by right-wing influence over the media.

Yes, inflation did rise under Biden, and it was a significant issue for a time. But inflation has been down for over a year now, and gas prices are close to where they were a decade ago (before even adjusting for inflation). This is no longer a major issue for most people, but again, the narrative endures despite the reality.

Biden has one of the lowest approval ratings ever, but that doesn’t mean his presidency was a failure. In fact, he is objectively one of the most accomplished presidents in recent history. His approval rating is a result of a relentless right-wing media campaign, amplified by corporate media, which has shaped public perception. From the absurd portrayal of his necessary withdrawal from Afghanistan to fraudulent claims about crime waves and a nonexistent recession, the narrative has been deliberately crafted to damage Biden. Finally, his age became the final nail in the coffin.

Harris' campaign couldn’t overcome this barrage of manufactured narratives. The right-wing media built a decade-long narrative, and the corporate media amplified it, while there was no counterforce in the form of objective or democratic media. You can't dismantle a decade of negative framing with just a few weeks of campaigning. Democrats (not just the party, but democrats in the broader sense) need a constant, multichannel, left-wing media presence to push and sustain alternative objective narratives, which can then be carried into the mainstream.

In other words: If we had the exact same economy over the last four years, but with a Republican president, the Republicans would have swept the election just as easily. Why? Because the economy would have been framed as a huge success by right-wing media, and corporate media would have amplified those talking points. It wasn’t the economy that cost Democrats the election; it was the way that media narratives were spun about the economy, immigration, democracy and Joe Biden.

Of course, low-information voters swayed by these narratives are only part of the equation. The other part is that many people are well-informed but still support these outcomes. They like the idea of ethnic cleansing. They like the idea of stripping women of basic rights. That it is harder to fight against and more troubling to accept.