I recently spent two weeks on site at a big law firm as part of my software expert witness slavery. There are TVs in the reception and common areas of the firm, all of them locked to CNN so as to prevent unorthodox thoughts or deeds (e.g., changing the channel to Fox News!). Every time I helped myself to coffee, on-tap fizzy water, or waited for someone, therefore, I was watching CNN.
What did I see on this Channel of the Righteous? Except during commercial breaks, one name was on the screen at nearly all times. Whose name is more important than that of any human on Planet Earth? To Christians, “Jesus,” perhaps, or simply “God.” Thus a program on a Christian TV network might mention “Jesus” or “Christ” in every few sentences. Here are some sample screens:
Yes, the word “Trump” appeared on screen roughly 99 percent of the non-break time during my informal survey.
Could it be that Trump is, from the point of view of CNN viewers, actually God or at least “a god”?
More evidence… a virtuous friend recently shared the following meme on Facebook:
“Every time T says something racist or otherwise offensive, simply respond ‘Epstein‘. That’s what he’s covering up. Don’t take his bait.”
His Facebook friends don’t know Trump personally. If they’re “responding” to Trump without ever talking to him in person, isn’t the implication that they regard Trump as supernaturally omnipresent?
Trump is good for ratings. Even the Trump-haters love to try to learn new reasons for hating him.
That’s a good point. He got the job because he was a reality TV star. It’s similar to Reagan, the movie actor. The same people who complain about the Hollywood entertainment industry want to elevate its stars.
If you were in a place with Fox News on the televisions, you might think that their viewers think that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the real world of the US Congress, a House member has to re-elected a few times before they have any influence. Capitol Hill reporters usually don’t bother to learn the names of first-term House members. In the Fox realty, she’s the most important member of her party.
Expert witnesses are the real gods of our generation. Trump is a demi god until he reads greenspun.com & changes career paths. You get to stay in the best hotels, eat at the same fancy restaurants as the lawyers & get paid a lot more than the jury from whoever loses the case. Expert witnesses have to have lots of degrees, business suits & prestige. All for sitting through the same hours of mindless drivel that the jury goes through.
Hmmm. Maybe they’re hoping he’ll be “The God that Failed” of 21st Century America?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_that_Failed
To be fair, right-wingers’ obsession with Obama was just as deranged during his presidency, and it still lingers. The Bushes, thankfully, are largely forgotten.
Our president serves as a monarch in the collective psyche, whatever his actual legal duties might be. In him we lay our hopes and concentrate our fears
I’ll buy the second part but not the first. I think TDS is greater than ODS and BDS combined. Nobody set themselves on fire at the Ellipse during Obama’s or Bush’s presidencies.