The danger is not Trump riding the wave. The danger is the wave itself. And Edsall and the clerisy do not see that.

Three things.

Over the past several months, I keep seeing old mainstream media outlets downsizing.  National Geographic let their writers go.  Sports Illustrated just fired all their staff.  LA Times just downsized their number of journalists by 20%.  The Washington Post let go 10% of its reporters.  NPR downsized by 10%.  And on and on.

Why now?  Get Woke, Go Broke! probably is one part of the collapse.  The uncertain economy of the past twelve months may have disrupted advertising budgets sufficiently to drive the cost reductions.  For whatever reason, the reading and listening public just are not buying what the old establishment mainstream media are selling.  

It's the timing that is interesting to me.  Trump in 2016 was a financial bonanza for the legacy mainstream media.  They could not get enough of him.  They reported inaccurately and badly but it really juiced their bottom line.  Heading into a new election cycle, it would seem likely that they would be looking forward to a new bonanza.

But apparently something has changed.  They are shedding staff just when you would expect them to start beefing up for the good times.  Why?

Second.  I don't quite know how to interpret this.  Thomas Edsall of the New York Times is traditionally a left leaning essayist but has also always been strong on data.  Disagree with him you might but he has at least a passable basis for his opinions.  Unlike his colleagues, he tends not to be quite so excitable not so prone to storms in tea cups.

But look at the recent headlines for his essays:

We Are Normalizing Trump Again

Can the former president forge an enduring coalition out of the cult of his personality?

Jan. 24, 2024

The Deification of Donald Trump Poses Some Interesting Questions

Why do so many evangelicals see the former president as God’s anointed one?

Jan. 17, 2024

A ‘National and Global Maelstrom’ Is Pulling Us Under

Trump has ushered in the age of the “great misalignment.”

Jan. 10, 2024

‘I Am Your Retribution.’ Trump Knows What He Wants to Do With a Second Term.

The first Trump term was both deeply alarming and a comedy of errors; a second Trump administration will be far more alarming, with many fewer errors.

Dec. 20, 2023

Trump ‘Could Tip an Already Fragile World Order Into Chaos’

“Would Trump see himself as a friend of the authoritarians? Absolutely.”

Dec. 13, 2023

‘This Is Grim,’ One Democratic Pollster Says

This is what’s keeping the Biden campaign up at night.

Dec. 6, 2023

Has No Labels Become a Stalking Horse for Trump?

Whatever its intentions, there is a reason the organization is supported by major Republican donors like Harlan Crow.

Nov. 29, 2023

The Roots of Trump’s Rage

Just how stable is the "very stable genius"?

Nov. 15, 2023

It is Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) all over again.  Apocalyptic language and visioning.

From the January 10 column:

The coming election will be held at a time of insoluble cultural and racial conflict; a two-tier economy, one growing, the other stagnant; a time of inequality and economic immobility; a divided electorate based on educational attainment — taken together, a toxic combination pushing the country into two belligerent camps.

I wrote to a range of scholars, asking whether the nation has reached a point of no return.

Really?  Insoluble?  Racial conflict?  etc.  Yes, the Biden administration has had a string of disappointing policies and outcomes.  Yes, the Biden administration has among the lowest performance marks from the public of any President in modern times.  

But those are issues with Biden's performance and nothing to do with Trump other than that they stand in such contrast to the economic performance of the Trump administration prior to Covid, not to be mention the reduction in global tensions, withdrawal from conflicts and the historic Abraham Accords.  

Interestingly, many times in Edsall's columns he has hinted at the real issue which is not partisan polarization.  The national parties are weaker than ever and attract less support than ever.  More and more people are either effectively or functionally independent.  The toxocoty has nothing to do with partisanism or with class divisions.  

It seems to me that what Edsall and his ilk (the clerisy, the Mandarin Class, the Woke, the deep state, etc.) are facing and what they are frightened of are the public.  The public is tired of the shenanigans of the unaccountable and badly performing Mandarin Class who cannot manage inflation, cannot secure the borders, cannot provide personal and property protection in the streets of our cities, who cannot even manage social programs within budget and to the specified outcomes.

Trump is merely the manifestation of that public discontent.  He rides that wave but he is not the wave itself.  In the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and elsewhere, we are seeing the same phenomenon.

An ineffective Mandarin Class acting without the consent of the governed, abrogating their core governance responsibilities and then painting any protest as somehow unauthentic or dangerous.

James Carville was famous for once saying:

Stay focused. Talk about things that’ll matter to the people, you know? It’s the economy, stupid

The Mandarin Class and clerisy long ago lost focus on the needs and wants of the electorate, instead pursuing utopian dreams, products of the opium of intellectuals - Wokeness.  

Edsall has alluded to much of this governance dissolution over the past few years.  The danger is not Trump riding the wave.  The danger is the wave itself.  And Edsall and the clerisy do not see that.