Not long after the election of 2016, I wrote Tweet This. It was a long-winded rant about the new president’s penchant for fighting back when attacked politically. That has often been a terrible strategy for someone in public office.¹

They are supposed to be above the fray. Either that, or they were supposed to find a more subtle way to deal with the matter. Primarily, they are supposed to find a way to minimize coverage of the accusations, falsehoods, or outright gossip thrown at the person being attacked.

That was not, and still isn’t, former president Trump’s style. He is a brawler, and as his son made clear on a morning news show recently, he is not likely to change. I tend to agree with the younger Trump’s opinion on the matter. However, as I wrote in Tweet This, the former president is heading down a rough road.

If he can prevail in the political conflict surrounding his every move, he may change the face of politics in the United States in a way it is hard to imagine. If he does not, the media will rule this country, and no president in the future will be willing to take the talking heads and their backers on.

In the previous paragraph, some may feel I am too pessimistic and dramatic. If that is the case, I will gladly admit my mistake, but I am not worried about making any apologies soon. The objective news media, if it ever truly existed, was praised by everyone in times past.

Today, objectivity and news are far down on the hierarchy of what drives journalists, reporters, commentators, experts, and anyone else falling into the information business category. Today, the objective is numbers. The number of viewers one can garner, the number of clicks one receives, and the size of the paycheck is more important to those in the media today than facts, objective reporting, and honesty.

Trump is still battling; only time will tell how this works out. Many believe the indictment by the New York District Attorney is simply another response to Trump’s challenging the establishment. How that matter turns out may be a harbinger of what will come.

Whether you like Trump, loathe Trump, or think he’s crazy, he has taken on the political power brokers and is still standing. Can he remain standing and successfully run for the presidency again? Only time will tell. However, as I said in Tweet This, the outcome will set the tone for future challengers who think they can change Washington and how it does business.

That was my prediction in 2017. It is still my prediction.

*I delayed publishing this to see how the indictment hearing went. There was a chance Trump would change his tune and be a bit less challenging in his response. That was not the case!

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