Dear Gail Collins
by tristero
First of all, I very much enjoy your columns for the NY Times and often find myself laughing out loud as I read them. That is a Very Good Thing (tm) right now, when there is so little to laugh at. But today, apropos Donald Trump, when you write:
We had no idea how bad this guy was going to be. Admit it — during the campaign you did not consider the possibility that if a terrible tragedy struck the country involving all of our worst political ghosts of the past plus neo-Nazism, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz would know the appropriate thing to say but Donald Trump would have no idea.
I can only respond that yes, I did know how bad this guy was going to be. Nearly every one of my friends did. The only exceptions were people like you, professional journalists.
But not just any old professional journalists. To be very clear, the only people I know who are in the least bit surprised at how awful Trump would be are top journalists, my talented, hard-working reporter/editor friends who have won major prizes - including the Pulitzer - and who work for major media - including, dear Gail, your own paper.
So the "we" you are talking about, the only ones with any intelligence who somehow convinced themselves that Trump would - what's the phrasing? oh, yes, "pivot" and "become presidential" on January 20. Despite clear evidence that he was a racist, an anti-Semite (despite his son-in-law), more ignorant of world affairs than a deer tick who grew up in solitary confinement, and thoroughly corrupt and incompetent. Every single friend of mine could see what was coming quite clearly - except for those of you who toil for the mainstream media.
I assume this is just groupthink. Like every other other cohort, journalists mostly talk to other journalists and form a group consensus about things that concern the group. But had you truly listened to any of your non-journalist friends instead of dismissing them as just misinformed civilians with a blatantly liberal bias, you wouldn't be the slightest bit gobsmacked at what's going on- and you'd be doing a much better job of reporting it..
But ironies of ironies, when it comes to national political trends, mainstream journalists as a group often don't listen carefully, especially when it comes to hearing out the concerns of liberals, scientists, and other normal people. Even the New Yorker's David Remnick - no dummy - fell for George Bush's lies about Iraq partly because he wouldn't listen to clear, evidence-based voices that debunked those lies but fell outside the purview of his mainstream journalist vision. And just two days ago, the New York Times fell for rightwing false equivalence framing by publishing before his obscene press conference a disgraceful article that could easily be construed as equating a few shoving counter-protestors in Charlottesville with the violence of the Nazis.
Sadly, if you actually read this letter (very unlikely, I know), you'll surely dismiss it, or vigorously defend your colleagues. Many of us have failed when we've tried to tell our journalist friends that they are being played for suckers by rightwing liars and mountebanks masquerading as sober, reasonable, serious people.
Sure, afterwards, after the Iraq debacle was clearly a catastrophe, after Trump received billions in free publicity, the mainstream media published mea culpas - and then fell again for the next set of rightwing talking points and lies.
So, Gail, because I so admire your work, I urge you to listen to your non-journalists friends, the ones who strike you as thoroughly cynical about the GOP and the rightwing - and not just the Nazis, but the Ryans and the Kasich's, too.
Unlike you and your peers, we believe Trump, his cronies, and most of the nationally prominent GOP are extremely dangerous and have no incentive to mitigate their extremism. And we know - absolutely know - that far worse lies ahead. These people have barely started.
Much love and great respect,
tristero