The inevitable conflict between the mainstream media and Donald Trump has come to boil just four weeks into his presidency.  The media are beside themselves that someone would castigate them at every opportunity and use hyperbole such as “enemy of the American people” and purveyors of “very fake news” to get under their skin, as their narcissism and sense of self-importance knows no bounds.  They fail to understand why they are held in such disregard -- polling has revealed only 32% of Americans trust the media (down from 55% in 2000) and why so many cheer Trump’s visceral attacks.

Over the past half-century, the mainstream media in the United States have evolved into interloculars for and the Praetorian Guard of the Ruling Class.  They constitute a segment of society which is overwhelmingly Liberal, wealthy, self-centered, isolated, and brimming with disdain for the rabble that lives in fly-over country.   Thus, what passes for journalism by the mass media is essentially a defense of the ideology, lifestyle and supremacy of their fellow travelers in the Ruling Class.

Nothing more reflects this mindset than the coverage of the Obama years.  While anger with the media has been gradually building for the past fifty years, the Obama presidency more than amply explains why the current overwhelming level of disgust and mistrust of the media exists.  And why a Donald Trump was elected President.

In January of 2009 the national debt of the United States stood at $10.6 Trillion, today it is $20.0 Trillion -- an increase of 90% (and projected to reach $29.0 Trillion by 2026).  On the other hand, despite the global recession of 2008-09, the debt of all the rest of nations on earth expanded by only 54% since 2008. Meanwhile the nation’s Gross Domestic Product grew by an anemic average of 1.4% per year (inflation adjusted) since 2008 the worst 8-year performance since the Great Depression.  Yet Obama was given an eight-year pass, as the media chose to not question the administration’s blaming George W. Bush for all the economic ills of Obama’s two terms. Further, they willfully ignored or glossed over why the economy was not growing, while nearly every year of the Obama presidency claiming that the economy was on an significant upswing, and that mountainous budget deficits were not a concern.  In essence they assumed the American people were gullible dupes when many were not.

Since the end of 2008, the working age population has increased by over 20 million. However, the number of those employed has increased just 8.9 million.  Meanwhile the number of those unemployed and no longer in the work force has jumped to a staggering total of 102 million -- or 41.2% of the working age population.   This percentage rate has been essentially unchanged since January of 2009, a timeframe and rate approaching the tragic years of the 1930’s.  The American public was deliberately kept in the dark about the extent of the real unemployment situation as the media chose to ignore the negative data and instead focused on whatever positive news, real or imagined, they could find to protect Barack Obama and blame others for his failed policies.  Nonetheless, the people knew the rest of the story – because they were living it.

In 1988 there were 16 million immigrants (including fewer than 1 million illegal aliens) living in the United States.  Today, that number has skyrocketed to 42.4 million (including an estimated 12 million illegal aliens).  This enormous increase (165%) in the immigrant population (while the overall population growth was just 29%) has not only put pressure on a stagnant job market, but also has been a major factor in the decline of median income in the country as well as skyrocketing public spending. Rather than report the facts, the media chose instead to highlight human-interest stories about the plight of an illegal immigrant family whenever one could be found, to extensively and sympathetically cover immigrant marches and demonstrations, to highlight accusations of alleged xenophobia and intolerance, and generally be an ombudsman for the immigrant population.

Since 2008, the Obama cabal has added over 19,000 pages to the Code of Federal Regulations. It is estimated that complying with federal regulations costs the economy over $2 Trillion per year and is, along with taxes and innumerable mandates, one of the principal reasons for the lack of new business start-ups and loss of jobs to other countries. Instead of informing the American people of the devastating impact of an out-of-control regulatory state, the media chose to constantly promote the false narrative of global warming and other hot button Leftist issues, all of which required more stringent regulations.

The upshot of all the above is that since 2008 (adjusted for inflation) the household income of the top 5% has risen 12.0% and the income of the bottom 60% has fallen by 2.0%.  While there has been coverage of income inequality, it has been solely to blame capitalism as the culprit.  The real underlying factors have received little to no coverage by the mainstream media, as it would have harmed the narrative of the day -- that the Obama policies were working when a clear majority of the citizenry knew they were not -- and that the disasterous outcome was not the fault of George Bush or capitalism.

In 2013 American 15 year olds ranked 32^nd among industrialized countries in math, 20^th in reading and 24^th in science.  In 1988 this same age group ranked among the top 5-10 nations in the world in these same categories. While many Americans are aware of the fiasco that is the education establishment, they are unaware of the depth of the problem, except to see that their children are not being educated but in many cases indoctrinated.  The mainstream media, the vast majority of whom send their children to private schools and are thus unaffected, have become the megaphone for the teachers’ unions and other entrenched special interests through their ties to the Democratic Party.  The media have, apparently, chosen to be oblivious to the reality of the nation’s education system as they defend the status quo created by their Democratic Party allies in the Ruling Class.

As for the issue of freedom: in a recent analysis, it was determined that the United States now ranks 12^th among the nations of the world in economic freedom (8^th in 2008) but a dismal 31^st in personal freedom (16^th in 2008).  Could that be, as the authors of the study point out, because of the expansion of the regulatory and the surveillance state the Obama Administration and the Democrats have imposed?  The media have never bothered to expose this headlong rush toward authoritarianism, as they, for the most part agree with it, but the common folks have a gut understanding as to what is happening and why.

Beyond the boundaries of the Washington-New York axis, a significant majority of the people are fully cognizant that a leviathan encompassing the entertainment complex, the education establishment and the Democratic Party, has successfully inculcated a plurality of the American people into believing there are no moral absolutes and that the state can grant any rights it so chooses to whomever they choose.  Further, the nation’s founding documents are arcane, racially insensitive, and unsuitable for today.  Thus, religious liberty, property rights and freedom of speech are under aggressive assault.  The mainstream media have chosen sides and their reporting reflects their alliance with this leviathan, whether it is gay marriage, the second amendment, transgender bathrooms, abortion on demand, limits on free speech and assembly or public expression of religion.  There is virtually no balance in media coverage and to the average citizen there is no doubt that the media has an agenda.

The anger with the mainstream media has been building for years.  The fury reached a boiling point over the past four years and was instrumental in the election of Donald Trump.  To many, the media are, in fact, the enemy, as they have been the tip of the spear in the attempted transformation of the nation into a failed Euro-Socialist secular state.  The citizenry sees that these same media, obeisant to Obama, are now determined by any means possible to destroy Donald Trump -- regardless of any cost to their credibility.  For example, the perception is growing that the media have relied on more anonymous sources in Trump’s first four weeks than they did in Obama’s first four years.

While some of Trump’s comments are over the top and the media are protected under the Constitution, there is no obligation for the citizenry to pay heed to or have any respect for the mainstream media as they are constituted today.  A majority of the American people are contemptuous of the media and will remain so.  A distinction unquestionably earned by the Fourth Estate.