The emergence of Donald J. Trump as the polestar of the Republican Party has much to do with his penchant for outrageous comments, but it has much more to do with the media’s need to sell soap-and make money.
Never before has the media seen such numbers tuning in to view a political debate. Trump, as a reality TV star, is right at home on TV. His unpredictable style made his appearances must-see TV.
The media ate it up -literally. Bigger audiences meant higher advertisement rates and bigger bonuses.
The media gave this billionaire billions of dollars in free air-time. While his opponents spent millions, Trump spent pennies. He still got wall-to-wall coverage.
And he got bigger, and meaner, and more, well –Trumpish. The media made him. Later, they began to unmake him. We are now watching the media destruction of Trump. They have circled the proverbial media wagons against him. Every word, every utterance, every inkling is picked apart; even if Trump isn’t helping the matter. The media made money pumping up Trump. Now they’re making money pulling him apart.
I’ve written about the Clinton Show. We are now witnessing the Trump Show — but this is the real reality show.
And it seems to be coming to an end.