I feel cheated by this election.
Every time I log onto Twitter or scroll my online news feed, I’m not only disgusted at the content (or lack thereof) but also disappointed that this is all there is. Instead of an elaborative discourse on policy and problem solving, the 24-hour news cycle has devolved into a steady stream of “breaking news” that reads more like a criminal record than a presidential campaign. With mere weeks to go before election day, one party’s candidate is spending more of his time firing off a litany of mean-spirited tweets than he is laying out a concrete agenda to educate the American people about how he wants to “lead” us. In the absence of such explicit guidance, the mainstream media fills in the blanks with every tawdry morsel of Trump’s dysfunction they can find. As such, we find ourselves deciding one of the most important elections in recent times based on the latest tabloid scandal, not the most pressing policy imperatives.
It's become an all-too-common refrain: the reckless candidate and the feckless mainstream media that aids and abets him. But how did we get here? Trump's stranglehold on the GOP and the political narrative have often been likened to a chicken coming home to roost, but what of the egg from which he hatched?
On the heels of his Nevada caucus victory on Feb. 24, 2016, Donald Trump famously said “I love the poorly educated.” As it turns out, he had very good reason to, because his greatest source of support comes from Americans with limited education. Ironically though, this obvious correlation has become the third rail of political analysis, because the risk of offending this particular subset of the electorate is now deemed way too high. As we watch the punditry clumsily walk on eggshells around Trump’s poorly-educated coalition, it’s easy to wonder if they remember the last 20 years of the Republican assault on reason and public education. In other words, why is the media so afraid to merely discuss the lowered expectations the GOP has explicitly stated it has—of its own voters?
Have we forgotten George W. Bush’s immense pride in being a “C” student at Yale? Do we not remember Rick Santorum calling President Obama a “snob” for having the gall to suggest higher education as a national goal? Who can forget Sarah Palin’s embrace of the Joe Six Packs of America, or the congressional GOP’s refusal to prioritize climate change science ahead of their Bibles? The truth of the matter is that the entire Republican Party has applauded and orchestrated the dumbing down of its own electorate.
As failed 2016 presidential candidate Bobby Jindal so aptly stated on the heels of Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, today’s Republicans have allowed themselves to become the “stupid party.”
“We must stop being the stupid party. I'm serious. It's time for a new Republican party that talks like adults. It's time for us to articulate our plans and visions for America in real terms. We had a number of Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. We've had enough of that."
While it’s no surprise that his comments did him no favors in the GOP primary, there is also no denying that he foreshadowed the rolling disaster of Trump’s campaign.
"We must stop insulting the intelligence of voters. ... We have to stop dumbing down our ideas and stop reducing everything to mindless slogans and tag lines for 30-second ads. We must be willing to provide details in describing our views."
Instead of heeding Jindal’s advice, the party establishment rode the wave of populist but woefully misinformed rage because it resonates with their poorly educated but religiously enthusiastic base. They also rode the wave because they have a willing propaganda arm at their disposal in the form of Fox “News,” which has scientifically been shown to have the most uninformed viewership. The combination of a captive audience and a colossal media apparatus work in concert to amplify the voices of the uninformed and the politicians who exploit their ignorance for votes. The effect is additive, because their mangled message trickles down to other networks and influences the prevailing narrative of each news cycle.
Ultimately we are left with an election season that is heavy on the superficial and superfluous, but light on substance. Should any of us really be surprised that the poorly educated made such a poorly-informed decision?