On Trump, Truth, and Telling It Like It Is
Or: The Legacy Media is a Mess
There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen. —Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies. —Mark Twain
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. —Upton Sinclair
Above: History is measured in millimeters, not miles.
I normally give politics a wide berth in these pages, much preferring to retreat to the serenity that is philosophy and psychology, books and the brain.
However, the dam has broke and the die is cast. When the arsonists become the firefighters, I have to speak my mind.
The legacy media has long been derelict in its duty. The time has come for its overdue comeuppance.
The events of this weekend seem to have woken up a sleeping giant. The seismic waves have reverberated not only amongst the silent, working majority of Americans more concerned with food and shelter than the shadowy corridors of power that crisscross Washington D.C. but also, I would venture, within the mind, body, and soul of Donald Trump.1
A second lease on life would make any man grateful and pensive, even a purportedly bad, orange one.
What follows is not a referendum on Trump, but a reflection on the words that led up to the attempted assassination (i.e. the kindling) and those that immediately followed it (i.e. the whitewashing). Regardless of who is to blame, we can, and should, love the sinner and hate the sin.
Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. In my opinion, there’s no question who’s holding the matches.
It is foolish to claim that the above caused Crooks to pull the trigger.
It is asinine to pretend that these inflammatory words and rhetoric played no role whatsoever.
The central premise of the Biden campaign (and compliant Media Industrial Complex) is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination.
When words are—at best—used poorly or—at worst—abused, very bad things happen.
A loving husband and father was murdered.
Two people are in serious condition.
The former Leader of the Free World was hit by a bullet.
They say the pen is mightier than the sword. When honest pens fall silent, spin stories, or scrawl falsehoods, swords come out and do serious damage.
We saw that firsthand on July 13th.
Worse, this continued after the assassination attempt.
As it is wont to do, The Babylon Bee counterpunched with an accurate, heavy one-two combination:
No American should ever face assassination. What occurred was an actual, unequivocal, unmistakable threat to democracy. It was neither theoretical nor figurative, much to the chagrin of the modern Media Industrial Complex.
Nuance has been dead and gone and buried for quite some time. It’s high time for it to rise from the dead and regain the high ground. A monochromatic lens is ill-suited for a polychromatic world.
Not only is this the right, sensical thing to do, it is the way we put salve in wounds that have been festering in this nation for far too long.
In closing, some food for thought.
A beautiful belief of my Catholic faith is the knowledge that no one is beyond forgiveness, redemption, and salvation.
In his Confessions, St. Augustine famously uttered "Oh, Master, make me chaste and celibate - but not yet!"
The “intense persecutor” Saul can become Paul, “Apostle to the Gentiles.”
“Orange man bad” is too lazy, intellectually dishonest, and superficial for the stakes of this election.
Bad can get better.
Instead of a horse, it can be a stage.
Instead of a road to Damascus, it can be a field in Pennsylvania.
God works in mysterious ways.
Trump has been overthrown, impeached, prosecuted, indicted, and shot.
And yet he is still standing. You can hate this man and hate what happened, but you can’t deny his spirit and strength.
I know what I saw with my own two eyes: courage under fire; grace under pressure; a leader defiantly responding by getting to his feet to offer strength and reassurance.
I don’t need any clever interlocutors to explain or analyze or angle or spin it.
If we’re not careful, George Orwell’s fiction will become our reality: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
The Russian proverb doveryai, no proveryai (доверяй, но проверяй) meaning “trust, but verify” has never been more applicable.
Luckily, words rang louder than shots on July 13 2024.
"Wait. Wait. Wait. Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Words work and rhetoric rouses.
Wield each wisely and know that behind the cloud the sun is still shining.
Per my about page, White Noise is a work of experimentation. I view it as a sort of thinking aloud, a stress testing of my nascent ideas. Through it, I hope to sharpen my opinions against the whetstone of other people’s feedback, commentary, and input.
If you want to discuss any of the ideas or musings mentioned above or have any books, papers, or links that you think would be interesting to share on a future edition of White Noise, please reach out to me by replying to this email or following me on Twitter X.
With sincere gratitude,
Tom
The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. And they never are. —Ser Jorah Mormont in A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
Nicely said. My only objection is to the expression “leader of the free world” [wink]
Well done. Haven't been a Trump fan by any stretch, but this kind of shit will change hearts. Baffling TF out of me that they are still running Biden next to, the admittedly now-proved, formidable Trump.