Let me begin this week by saying I’m glad I don’t have to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on my ballot. I really don’t know what I’d do. However, there were a few things I noticed this weekend that aren’t sitting well with me and I know you will think that makes me a Trump supporter; but really all I’m doing is calling it as I see it and it just so happens the odds are stacked against Trump big time. If he, somehow, wins it will be a damning indictment on a lot of people, not the least of which will be the mainstream US media.
First of all, during the debate on Sunday night; it was apparent the two moderators were pro-Clinton and pro-Democrat. There can be no disputing that. I did a bit of homework on Martha Raddatz, and she has a history of being a Hillary supporter. Anderson Cooper has long been a lefty, so I didn’t even bother researching him. Before the debate started, CNN had their set back dropped with Hillary supporters. This is inappropriate and inflammatory to people in the public who really don’t understand and think the media is reporting facts and not twisting statements to favor the candidate their corporation wants to win. I used to rely on media (used to even be one) to give me the information and then I’ll make my own decision based on what’s been put in front of me as opposed to wondering if I have all the information and what parts of the information are biased or misrepresented.
The one-liner of the debate was when Clinton said it was a good thing Trump wasn’t in charge of the justice system based on his temperament. Trump replied with, “That’s because you’d be in jail.” He’s referring, of course, to a recent FBI investigation of Clinton (that was bogus, really) of the Presidential candidate. However, a number of mainstream media outlets reported afterwards that Trump was to be feared because he may put his competition in jail after the election. This is nonsense, very misleading and irresponsible reporting. But, who polices CNN or CBC?
Which now brings me to the topic I don’t stand to win with anyone but I’m going to approach it anyway: the audio tapes from 2005 where Trump makes disparaging sexual remarks about women. I won’t argue whether most men talk this way at some point in their life. I won’t argue that a private, albeit very rude, conversation from eleven years ago isn’t relevant to this Presidential campaign, and I won’t argue whether these comments constitute sexual assault, even though there isn’t a victim to be found anywhere. You’d think had Trump actually done this to someone that now would be an excellent time to come forward. My point on this is that we are living in a time where it’s extremely difficult for women who are sexually assaulted to get the justice they deserve, so until we fix that very big problem in our legal system, I don’t really care what Donald Trump said as a means of showing off eleven years ago. There are sexual predators walking the streets who have victimized many women and not a single thing has been done to them. Let’s be, equally, outraged at the criminals and those who have skirted the law for the physical and emotional damage that has been inflicted on tangible people. Trump, to my knowledge, doesn’t have a victim. Let’s take Trump at his word and say that powerful men assume they can get whatever they want from a woman (I’ll also say that there are a number of women out there who don’t mind giving anything and everything if it means they get to share in some wealth). That means, these powerful men that have been accused of sexually assaulting women really need to have their lives torn apart a bit more than what we’ve seen. I feel that, more often, we see the woman having their life ripped apart and her lifestyle scrutinized and judged more so than the man. Let’s remember how upset we were with the Trump remarks the next time a high profile sex assault case hits the news.
Should Donald Trump win this election, remember he can’t unilaterally impose a bunch of crazy laws that will set off a World War. He has to play ball with the Senate and he has softened, already, on some of his hard line opinions with regards to refugees and the Mexican wall. For me, I expect Clinton to win. But, if she doesn’t, I wonder what this will mean for mainstream media in the United States. In Canada, we proved last October that we accept what CBC tells us as fact as Trudeau promised to keep them afloat and the massive PR campaign was well under way at that point. In the States, a Trump win means nobody is listening to these influential talking heads and I can only hope it would signal a return to balanced reporting as it would be proof Americans notice the bias and are rejecting it.
Nice person mentions: Darci Kirkwood, Peter Kingson, Jeannine Lesann, and Brendan Wagner.
