The transition from the Obama to Trump administrations started a little under a month ago, and it’s been one of the most popular stories in the world, overshadowing a lot of other issues that have cropped up and giving rise to a lot of hooting and hollaring from various corners.
Mostly, the media. The media have made themselves the story this entire campaign. When the New York Times says that, they can’t in good conscience cover Trump fairly during the election, they are no longer neutral arbiters. They’re hooting, hollaring partisans. That allows them to be a part of the story, and not narrating. This is a pattern many media outlets have taken on — the Washington Post and CNN being the other two big offenders.
“Well, it’s our job to cover this guy!” It is — but fairly. And I’m glad you folks realized what your job is after the eight year vacation you’ve all taken. I’m not sure I could pick up a skill so quickly after letting it rust for so long.
This isn’t a problem unique to the left leaning media — Breitbart, as much as I enjoy them, has started down that same path. Their near-constant headlines lately about Kellogg brand cereal is… a bit much. I get it. Kellogs suck. But there’s a lot more stuff going on.
The transition itself isn’t going poorly at all, despite claims to the contrary. The media and Democrats (but I repeat myself) have objected to a few nominees, and aside from Ben Carson, all of their objections are to men who stand up for themselves and their beliefs: Sessions, Mattis, Flynn.
That’d work if people didn’t like them.
(The media is also quite frustrated that their attempts to tie white supremacists around the neck of Trump have continually failed. Usually a lying smear accusing someone of racism is a death sentence politically, but it doesn’t work anymore — the gun is empty.)
None of the nominees have come across as actually heinous or surprising. We knew from the get-go that Sessions would be involved, and we also knew that a great deal of Generals would be in the mix. Steve Bannon was a big part of the campaign and is quite wise, despite all the media hate. The musical chairs for Secretary of State is a bit annoying, but it’s likely that Trump is just testing his options — something he’s done all his life.
It’s a lot better than just sticking a primary opponent in there to shut her wing of the party up.
There’s also been a great deal of smug talk that Trump is changing his tune, that he’s already going back on what he promised, etc etc. Nowhere is this more evident than Al Gore meeting Trump a few weeks after his statement regarding global climate change was taken out of context. The sneers slipped through the masks on that one. But people aren’t too worried about it. Even accepting climate change is our fault does not mean we have to abandon our rights and economy, as the left seems to push so hard. But I’m still skeptical.
The Taiwan call is the sort of story that makes everyday Americans scratch their heads. Sure the headlines and op-eds will claim this is a serious breech of protocol, dangerous even, but most people take it for what it appears to be: a call of congratulations. Why would we ever turn away a phonecall from a world leader? We have to keep options open, and given the talk of Brexit, Itexit, Etcexit, and even Calexit, it’s kind of amusing that folks are so invested in a few borders in Asia.
Mostly, I see a whole lot of temper tantrums and feet stomping going on, and that’s not going to end well for the adult sized toddlers. (Irony, Trump is so thin-skinned but celebrities have claimed to have actual PTSD…) Nobody wants to help coddle a bunch of whiny, spoiled brats.
All is well, all is calm. Except people getting money out of the chaos. I’d suggest we all ignore those raging assholes.