Too Little, Too Late

Sprawled on Douglas, drinking bottle after bottle of water to counter the altitude headache returning home sends my way, looking at pictures of SIR and Little Cuter and FlapJillly on my phone, I was, once again, screaming at the television.

Where were the replays of the ridiculous Sesame Street parodies of Donald Trump during the campaign?  Why was the outrage over his untruths muddied beneath worries about calling a lie a lie? Why did Katy Tur stand before an empty podium for hours, waiting for the candidate to arrive while Hillary Clinton was giving a fact-filled speech? Why? Why? Why?

Where was the press three years ago when this outrage began to be perpetrated on the American people?  I'm quite impressed with their current outrage, but, I fear, it is too little, too late.

Listening to the attendees at the President's campaign rally last night, it is clear to me that they don't care about the facts.  They are responding to the emotion.  They don't trust, they don't believe, and the Commander in Chief (uh, North Korea... China... the world is imploding, sir) is feeding the frenzy instead of paying attention to the world around him.

It's March, 2017, for crying out loud.... who else is running in 2020 and campaigning today?

Is it a tempest in a teapot?  Not when you listen to Adam Schiff make the case for impeachment.... at least that's the way it sounded to me.  Reasoned, careful, thoughtful, fact-filled..... and terrifying.

In exchange for ratings, the media gave prime time exposure to a clown.  He was everywhere, and I admit that I, too, was fascinated by the performances.  It never occurred to me that 45% of my fellow Americans were believing the drivel.... and that they would vote the fool into office.

Since he's golfed 9 times in less than 100 days, I don't think that he thought they'd do it, either.  He's in over his head, and moving Ivanka into an office on the 2nd floor of the White House won't do much to ease our pain.  I asked her to do something about her difficult dad back in October, and she ignored me.  Like Angela Merkel, I wonder what a handbag designer is doing in a policy meeting.

I understand the lust - Republicans own three out of three branches of government and they are reluctant to show cracks in the cement.  But, just like Big Bob's new driveway, when cracks appear they need to be addressed.  And this is not a crack, this is a fissure.

As we were trying to keep our eyes open towards 10pm, Rachel Maddow told us that The Guardian reported that Rex Tillerson (our stealth Secretary of State, the one traveling without the press corps) will be going to Russia instead of to NATO this spring.

If this is doubling down to drown out the criticisms, it's at best misguided and at worst a public admission of collusion with Putin.  Insult the German Chancellor, accuse the British intelligence community of illegal activity, snub Justin Trudeau..... I think I may just have to search the interwebs and find the videos the Russians have on DJT.

Our media shied away from the story, because it was leaked, because it wasn't verifiable, because because because..... Now, they are falling over each other, reporting that the US was considering employing the author of the report, extolling his credentials, repeating some but not all of the information.

Was it out of respect for the man?  Out of respect for the office?  Out of fear of retribution?  We will never know.  But the failure to expose the fact that the emperor is naked as a jaybird lies squarely on The Media.  The mocking videos were out there during the campaign.  The lies should have been called lies when they happened, instead of parsing the words to use to describe them.

Sean Spicer cannot be trusted to speak the truth.  Donald Trump cannot be trusted to speak the truth.  The world is going to hell in a hand basket, and the media is doing too little, too late,

When the leaks investigations begin, I want to see all those reporters sitting in cells, refusing to name their sources.  It's the least they can do for showing up so late to the party.