So…it turns out the infamous Trump tax cuts really were for the wealthy.  I mean, I knew it at the time but a segment of our population genuinely believed they’d help everybody.  All of the corporate supporters promised new jobs and new investment.  So far, very little has been done in that arena.  In fact, jobs are being cut.  As one example, AT&T promised the tax cuts would create 7,000 new jobs!  Awesome, wow!  Instead, AT&T has CUT 23,328 jobs.  NOT so awesome but…wow.  The bosses at the top made plenty of money, though.  The thing is, there’s an entire segment of our population who doesn’t know this.  They just…don’t know.

There’s an old adage that teaches that quality information is the life-blood of democracy.  But if quality information is the life-blood of democracy, what do we say about media outlets that knowingly inject fraudulent information into the discussions?

Think of the guy who never has a nice word to say about his wife.  He speaks of her disparagingly at every opportunity and his comments aren’t just disrespectful.  They are mean.  He says she’s was ugly.  He says she’s stupid.  She doesn’t cook well.  She’s no good in bed.  She’s a terrible mother.  There’s not ONE area of life he has anything nice to say about her.  Yet, if you ask, he says he loves her.  It doesn’t feel like love to anyone listening and if he says he does, it sounds more obligatory than true.  He’s expected to love his wife so he says he does.  But there’s nothing else – nothing anybody can point to – that would cause anybody to think he loves his wife.  It’s lip-service.

That’s how I feel about conservative media.  They tear at and tear down the United States government at every opportunity.  They only speak of the government disparagingly and the comments aren’t just disrespectful.  They’re intended to undermine the respect and authority the government once enjoyed.  (I do NOT hold that the government has been perfect in every measurable way at all times…)

I’ve long said the conservative media never – EVER – tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  I’ve recently learned that it was designed that way from the start.  Some self-serving rich assholes decided they were too good to pay taxes and they should, by rights, be above the law and free from regulation.  Of course, that’s a hard sell to the people who are going to have to drink the polluted water, breath polluted air, live on polluted land, eat polluted food, and do more so they can do less and they knew it.

So they used some of their lucre to create conservative media.  They’ve used every marketing trick in the world to seduce and deceive a large swath of “Joe Six-pack” Americans into taking stands and actions against their own interests and, instead, pampering the already privileged elites.  Then, when life gets harder for the masses, the conservative media creates excuses and blames others.  It always comes back to the same story, though: a handful of rich people want more.

Here’s the thing, though: constantly attacking the American government is – well, not to put too fine a point on it – anti-American.  We expect such drivel from world leaders who don’t like us but it’s harder to declare an anti-American bias against other people claiming to love America.  But I don’t care that some conservative outlet dresses it’s sets in red, white, and blue.  They’re anti-American.  Every effort they make to undermine this once-great nation is anti-American.

So, I’ll tell you this: for me, from this point forward, it’s not just “conservative media.”  It’s the “anti-American conservative media…”