he would be less reliant on alliances and could instead use the increased power of the United States to broker new deals, whether that be increasing defense within NATO countries, ending the Russia - Ukraine war, limiting China’s influence on the world stage, and
taking the lead on cryptocurrency.
Such would be much easier, of course, if Trump controlled the agenda – specifically, if he could control the medium and the message. Trump has always had disdain for mainstream major media channels like ABC, NBC, CNN, etc. and public platforms like NPR, who were willing to fact check him in real time, as he considered them all as liberal and consequently anti-Trump. He much preferred nontraditional platforms like Twitter (now X), his own Truth Social, Rumble or even podcasts as these served as mouthpieces for his supporters and their version of truth. Consequently, he was willing to go on record punishing journalists and journalistic outlets he saw as hostile. This was particularly true after he won his defamation suit against ABC for $15 million.20 It didn’t stop there. Trump had pending lawsuits against CBS for ‘deceptive conduct’ over an interview with Kamala Harris. And he threatened a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register ‘over a poll’ and vowed to continue filing suits against news outlets whom he's long accused of bias.21
Thus, we had multiple news outlets – specifically, the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times – refusing to issue an endorsement, though that had long been tradition prior to the election. And now we have such respectable outlets as Time Magazine and The Financial Times honoring Trump with “Man of the Year.” (Lest one forget: Hitler was honored as Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1938.)
Forget a free and independent press being
regarded as the Fourth Estate. America First was/is Trump first.
Culture Wars
Making inroads into the working middle class, Blacks, and Hispanics by pushing threats to jobs and economic well-being and America First, the Trump campaign was able to capitalize on the fear and anger generated during the culture wars. And this went well beyond the traditional arguments that conservatives protected traditional values while liberals did not, to a much more sinister campaign that focused on woke policies, transgender rights, and the tyranny of the elites.
Woke policies – specifically those focused in and around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – formed the foundation of the attack. Trump played upon people’s fears about losing their job and not being able to support their family or pay for their child’s education, to raise the specter that woke policies and not the skills a person brought to their profession would determine access to and success in jobs. Each played to fears of losing one’s job to foreigners, living within a community of strangers, and/or experiencing a loss of lifestyle due to criminal elements.
Again, these claims were mostly baseless and relied on anecdotes. But they played to the
Making inroads into the working middle class, Blacks, and Hispanics by pushing threats to jobs and economic well-being and America First, the Trump campaign was able to capitalize on the fear and anger generated during the culture wars.
42