Trump and US media: A bitter cat and mouse relationship

Finally, the long awaited (Robert) Mueller Report into Russian collusion with the Donald Trump campaign team before the 58th US Presidential Election held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, is out.
It may be too early to speak, but the highly anticipated torrent seems so far to have petered out into a trickle. This comes on the back of indictments and sanctions against those on team Trump, the likes of Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, Alex van der Zwaan, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, etc, for all sorts of crime - from lying to obstruction of justice on matters related to the election.

On the one hand, you thank the US media for the way the story of the 45th and current President of the US, Donald John Trump, has developed. On the other hand, the maverick and to some, the rather impetuous, arrogant and obnoxious character of the 45th and current President of the US, Donald John Trump, is responsible for it.

Trump’s victory in 2016 took many of us by surprise. The reason being, that the media gave away a lot of his perceived transgressions as to why he was unfit to be a president of the mighty USA. This was a candidate who was trailing in the opinion polls most of the time.
He was held down by allegations of sexual misconduct. He was a bigot, a misogynist, a racist one against Hispanics, so women, Blacks and Hispanics would not vote for him. He lacked experience as a politician, he was an isolationist with his ‘make America great; agenda and so many other things.

Trump did not do himself any favours by being abrasive and confrontational with the media and all those who did not agree with him. The media did not relent either. Then Trump won the election and many did not like it. Trump was not gracious after his victory. He made no attempts to reach out to the vanquished. He instead taunted them as he went on a chest-thumping spree.
The President on two occasions skipped the annual White House correspondents dinner claiming that the media was in the habit of purveying falsehoods (or fake news as Trump refers to it) in a well-orchestrated witch-hunt overseen by insiders in Washington and of course the Democratic Party, which he defeated at the polls.

Remember Trump pledged in his campaign to ‘drain the swamp’ that is Washington. His detractors called in mental health experts on TV panels to discuss and speculate about Trump’s ‘sanity.’ In fact many gave him less than a year before he would be forced out by impeachment because he was morally/mentally incapable and an accident waiting to happen.
We got to know the allegation that Trump hardly puts in any time on the job and does not read reports comprehensively. He instead watches a lot of TV then proceeds to play golf, his favourite sport at which he ‘cheats a lot.’ They gave prominence to every piece of information purportedly ‘leaked by dissatisfied White House officials.’ They highlighted the many who resigned from his administration and those who were fired concluding that the administration was too unstable to govern a superpower country like the US.

So when the special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed, this was seen as a ray of hope for those against Trump. As the indictments of those who served on the President’s campaign team came in one by one in the course of the investigations, it became glaringly obvious that the President would soon be in trouble. The media started talking about the obvious reality of impeachment and it sounded real and credible.
We are now about one-and-a-half years to the next election on November 3, 2020. Trump is still in office. The narrative has changed but remained the same. The media is still on his case, but now reporting prominently and promisingly about whoever comes forward as a Democratic Party candidate; weighing in and betraying their great chances of defeating Trump.

Interestingly for the ‘faults’ of people Joe Biden (Democrat), the former vice president under the Barak Obama’s administration (2009-2017), who is accused of ‘inappropriately touching and kissing’ a Nevada State legislator Lucy Flores, the story is being taken rather lightly. This is especially when one compares the way in which the media mauled Trump when allegations came up about inappropriate sexual behaviour towards several women and the allegation that he procured sex from an adult film actress, Stormy Daniels and it covered up.

The media has been quite silent on the unemployment, manufacturing and the numerous economic indicators that have improved under the Trump administration. Many times, success has been attributed to the policies put in place by the Obama administration. It is going to be very interesting in the coming days, weeks and months in the run-up to the next election to see how intensive the tenacity of the media will become and how Trump will weather the storm or crack under it.

The greatest lesson one learns from this relationship is about the power of the media. It can make or break even the most powerful people in politics. If breaking fails, then at least they will bruise the object. Trump has had his plate full dealing with the media. By the time he leaves office, he would have earned every second he remained in that high office.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. [email protected]
Twitter:@nsengoba