It's hard to pick Trump's most outrageous tweet. During his presidency, Trump has posted over 17000 tweets so far. In fact, there's even a book about it available on Amazon: Trump Tweets: A Collection of Donald Trump's Most Outrageous, Offensive, and Deleted Tweets From Trump's Twitter Page.
Even if you don't follow the 45th President on Twitter, nevertheless, you've come in contact with his tweets plenty. That's because the news media covered each one of them. Hosted by their prime time anchors, over 4 years, every day cable news has put together panels with their most respectable political analyst to dissect each of the 140 characters in every tweet.
News media on each side of the political spectrum have covered Trump posts more than the news itself.
Words do matter, and the president's rhetoric is a powerful tool to govern. So it's only natural that every word coming out from the president's office is considered news, and traditionally it would be. Well, that was until it became only disinformation warfare. Claiming to be a disruptor, Trump used disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda to control his entire presidency's political narrative.
The liberal media have done well at calling out the presidents' outrageousness, but the constant reporting only helped feed the disinformation and the polarization. From covfefe to witch hunt, and everything in between, the Press covered it all with the same mix of indignation and enthusiasm.
This persistent agitation around someone who clearly doesn't play by the rules ultimately amplified his rhetoric and created more confusion.
In 2016, when Trump came to the political arena's center stage, he showed us right off the bat his complete disregard for the rules and the truth.
At first, it came out as a shock for the Press and people in general. But fast forward to 2020, and the media still reports his words more than his policies. In addition to that, the blunt partisanship of the conservative and liberal news outlets fueled the noise and polarization. Both sides need to be accountable for it.
It's like the Press has cried called the wolf too often and too much. At first, people were horrified; but the nonstop barrage of reporting on every little outrageous tweet soon became background noise, though. Americans became numb, and Trump kept throwing spaghetti on the wall, leading the country's narrative and creating a sense of distrust and confusion.
The effects of Trump's presidency will last much longer than his years in power, and either you support him or not, we all suffer the consequences. We are all responsible for it too. So it's the Press.
The Press and News Media are called Fourth Estate or fourth power because of its explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political issues. An extremely polarized and partisan Press and News media cannot fully live up to its mission. It needs to be accountable for its role in creating more confusion by its hysterical news report aimed mostly to increase ratings. The Reality Show President found its best ally in the Press because both had one thing in common: ratings.
Now we all wonder what will be of cable news after Trump? Trump managed successfully to turn political coverages into tabloid news.
In 2019 cable news ratings went up 72%, and last October Fox News reached a historical rating increase.
The Press has talked a lot about the need for the country to reconcile with the truth and come together as a nation after Trump is gone. The Fourth Estate must use this critical moment to reflect on its responsibility in everything that is going on in America. Otherwise, when they are speaking the truth, no one will listen.