The big banner headline across the top of the New York Times homepage as Tuesday got underway — “TRUMP’S TAXES SHOW CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE” — might give the impression that Donald Trump is finally on the verge of political downfall. Don’t believe it for a moment. The same kind of mistaken belief has led many to put undeserved trust in a corporate-media system. But the New York Times isn’t going to save us. Neither is the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN or any of the other mass-media outlets, “liberal” or otherwise. To a large extent, the corporate media — especially the TV networks that gave Trump billions of dollars’ worth of free airtime while raking in enormous ad revenues — made him president. The advertising-and-ratings-bedazzled head of the CBS network, Leslie Moonves, uttered an infamously emblematic comment eight months before the 2016 election, in the midst of a campaign that Trump dominated with TV coverage: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”
Less well-known are
other statements that Moonves also made while speaking to a Morgan Stanley conference in February 2016. “
Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now?” And: “
The money’s rolling in and this is fun.” And: “
I’ve never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It’s a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.” And: “
Donald’s place in this election is a good thing.” At the same time,
CNN president Jeff Zucker — who presided over the network’s “all-Trump-all-the-time” policy during the 2016 primaries — was privately offering guidance to candidate Trump. Zucker had helped build the Trump myth years earlier when he was at NBC
presiding over Trump’s “Apprentice” show, which turned out to be
financially and politically crucial for his path to the White House. Under the ongoing reign of the casino economy, the corporate house is set up to always win.
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