Vivian Medithi
On Nov. 8, I and various members of The Daily Iowan staff live-blogged the presidential election. Like most, we generally expected a victory for Hillary Clinton. You can see the exact moment, time-stamped in digital amber, that we realized most election models were wrong.
Many of us felt upset, though as journalists, we swear by impartiality. This election, consistently labeled as the most polarizing in recent memory, had high stakes for Americans of all identities. Journalism is about fair, unbiased coverage of the facts, which makes some see it as inherently apolitical. Nothing could be further from the truth. Journalism, at its best, is a way to speak truth to power, to use facts and anecdotes alike to steer political discourse.
In the wake of Election 2016, it is hard not to feel despondent about the state of journalistic ideals. Despite Clinton’s widening margin of victory in the popular vote (more than 600,000 and counting, according to Cook Political Report), the Electoral College will ultimately reify the power of a man who does not care for fairness, un-biasedness, or fact.
Donald Trump pontificates at length about a media crusade against him; to be frank, he seems to have a bigger problem with facts than journalists. Trump has repeatedly shown himself to be a hypocrite and a bold-faced liar, even now, mere days after winning the election. He continues to tweet at the New York Times about its coverage of the Republican President-elect prior to Election Day. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the Times dishonestly claimed he believed more countries should have nuclear weapons. Ninety minutes later, Times correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted about an interview among her, President-elect Trump, and David Sanger (also an Times correspondent). Despite this summary fact-check, many will take Trump at his word that the Times is biased against him and treat his word accordingly.
Trump was an enigma, in the sense that his actual policy plans remained shrouded in mystery until after the election. His 100 Day Plan shows some spots of light: his desire to end the revolving door, wherein individuals switch between the realms of politics and corporate lobbying, is a particularly bright one.
Yet the majority of his policies remain rooted in the bigotry he campaigned on and his transition team embodies. Yes, Trump has a black man, and a gay man, and a white woman on his team. No, that representation does not suddenly erase the racist, homophobic, and sexist things Trump has done, said, and endorsed, both during this election and prior.
Given Trump’s fragile ego, inability to grapple with the truth, and lack of political or military experience, the work of journalists over the next four years will be tantamount. I say this not because I think journalists are anything special but simply because knowledge is power. Trump’s alliance with angel investor Peter Thiel forebodes a dark future for journalistic freedom; Thiel is best known in recent memory for bankrolling Hulk Hogan’s defamation lawsuit against Gawker, a now-defunct news site that Thiel held a personal grudge against. Based on the Trump campaign’s 100 Day Plan, men such as Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and Newt Gingrich will have the majority of political power behind the scenes, with Trump serving as president in title only. This eminence will lead to an expansion of homophobic policy, restriction of women’s medical freedoms, the abuse of the surveillance state, expansion of Giuliani’s post-9/11 racist policing policies, and a wave of deportations that will tear apart families.
On Nov. 8, I was in a small house on a dark corner in a quiet street in Iowa City. It was just past midnight, and people were crying. I cried, too. But the “Trumpocalypse” is not the end of the world. It will be bad; the environment will suffer, human-rights abuses will be rife, and hate crimes and suicides alike have spiked since Trump’s election. But, the Sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, and the press will do its best to bring you, the American people, the facts you need.
