It’s easy to argue that the nation is precariously nearing war with itself. A review and the results of the 2024 presidential election make that clearer than ever.
Ensuring that a strong and determined credible news media reports on what’s to come is a priority.
Here in the Aurora area — where Trump lost the election by a whopping 20 points — about 100,000 residents voted for him.
It seems unfathomable that a man who, for years, has been such a prolific and proven liar, who has repeatedly slurred immigrants and people of color, who has been convicted of serious criminal charges and faces many more, could make the ballot, let alone get elected president.
Academics and historians will be pouring over polls and interviews for the next several weeks, months and probably decades trying to explain how someone like Trump became president, twice.
Initial analysis reveals an explanation nearly as unsettling as the result. Despite the constant barrage of reputable news about both presidential candidates, many American voters have made clear they paid little attention, or simply didn’t care about Trump’s personal, legal and veracity problems. They’re simply fed up with high prices and unnerving stories about immigrants.
For those in Aurora, and across Colorado, repulsed by the national vote results, residents can take some comfort in local and regional politics. Numerous state and congressional officials have promised to stand up to Trump’s threats of political revenge and unconstitutional malevolence toward LGBTQ+ citizens, legal and undocumented immigrants, reputable media and even his personal political nemeses.
To a lesser degree, city officials in this deep-blue city, currently led by far-right Republicans, have at least said they will apply the rule of law as everyone discovers whether Trump has offered another presidential term of bluster or genuine blunder.
Aurora, and the state, are depending on leaders like Aurora Congressperson Jason Crow, Attorney General Phil Weiser, Gov. Jared Polis and others to keep their word to stand strong against a feared wave of federal overreach and attempts to punish Colorado for its resilient Democratic, independent or liberal voters.
There has probably never been a time in the history of the nation, since it pushed away from the British monarchy, that the role of the press and news media have been more critical.
Whether residents are avid fans of Trump and his chaos, or whether residents just unwisely voted for him in hopes of positive change, or whether readers are repulsed by Trump’s election, factual reporting during his term will be critical.
Because Trump is such a notorious liar, and because his acolytes are so prone to repeat or even defend his lack of veracity and accuracy, only trusted and credible media will be able to tell Americans what’s really happening.
Only regular review and analysis by reputable and trusted fact-checkers can allow residents to feel confident about understanding the effects of Trump’s imminent presidency.
Only credible, independent news media can provide the transparency and accountability that the nation will desperately need and depend on during Trump’s tenure.
Tragically, the news media must not only take on the Herculean task of shining a bright and antiseptic light on Trump’s presidency, it must do so hobbled by incessant propaganda purposely targeting media credibility. Trump, his newest ally, Elon Musk, and an army of misguided or miscreant followers work to discredit responsible and reputable journalism for the sole purpose of elevating acceptance of Trump’s own lies, distortions and propaganda.
The Sentinel joins other trustworthy media in ensuring readers can be confident that the mission and goal of our work is to provide accurate, factual and relevant news and context for the community and the region.
Supporting these quality and trusted news sources, and holding them accountable to their mission and goals, will ensure Trump and his administration know they have license from voters to enact legal and constitutional policies. Only the news media can be trusted to ensure that Americans are apprised of factual accounts of what Trump, his administration and his backers say and do.
I guess this means we can expect a negative story from the Sentinel staff about the coming Trump administration several times per week; if not daily. It worked during his last administration and caused his loss 4 years ago. Not sure it will be as effective this time around as most Americans no longer trust the mainstream media for fair unbiased reporting.
Why the Sentinel keeps the steady drum beat of Trumps convincing success is some kind of a violation of a solid democracy mandate sure seems odd. When and if the Sentinel ever captures what reality looks like, they would take the time to analyze and pinpoint what the Harris/Walz crew truly offered. Not Much. Trump was beatable, but by these two characters, no-way! These two offered nothing more than a continuation of what we have just been through. Most American voters figured that out and were willing to give it another try with a sincere hope for big changes.
Every word true.
But so many refuse to hear them. Everyone thought Hitler would bring a new dawn to Germany, too.
How did that work out?
Don’t know if you caught on but the Trump is Hitler line didn’t work. Time to gather together with the Dem hivemind to find a new lie.
But you’re not “credible and independent,” you’re in-kind mouthpieces for the Democratic party.
trump was not defeated by the fact-based press in 2020. then and now, too many got all their news from Fox and were entirely uninformed. It was a close election and his loss was because of his own abysmal performance with Covid, lack of any empathy for the country, and his planning & pushing through the Jan 6 insurrection, then praising the rioters and lying about it when we all saw it in real time – we knew it was not a lovefest of tourists but he kept saying so. 2024 election is actually now even closer than 2020, trump may not win the popular vote and is only a point ahead of Harris with millions of votes still to count – no mandate. All the crazy stuff trump now planning and the horrific nominations and complete delegation to the “other presidents we did not vote for” like musk/kennedy – all unqualified, no experience in any of the areas they are being given free rein, just want to blow things up and make $ off it – a complete boondoggle unseen in our history is going to unfold under trump. The $2Trillion tax cut trump wants to pay back the billionaires that funded his campaign will need a $2Trillion budget cut, meaning slash important programs that are not entitlements but earned and paid for by us, like social security and medicare. trump voters are going to be shocked when they see services for disabled, veterans, our healthcare, education, transportation, maufacturing, energy, environmental protection, disaster relief (we just saw how much that has increased and costs) – it’s all going away – all being slashed and burned…it’s not about the cost of your eggs and gas at all and you got major played. He has to now pay back all the bribes he promised and make a bunch of $ himself off the presidency, like last time. But with tariffs you still will pay a lot more for not just groceries and gas but everything that trump decides benefits him and hurts you anyway – that’s why we need the honest, competent, fact-based pro-democracy press to cover it and expand their networks too, digging deep. That never includes Fox, NewsMax, X, or any other right-wing news which is at best entertainment media, but mainly just 24-7 lying machines and performative entertainment with no journalists involved, and a lot of trump ass-kissing. Buckle up trump voters.
That’s a lot of words to say nothing of value to anyone.
You do realize there are tariffs in place currently, right Debra?
Here, I’ll even give you hand–it’s called the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, and you can browse through all of them at the USTIC’s web site.
And for the mathematically challenged, I offer the following from the September 2024 Treasury Statement:
FY24 Deficit: $1.83 billion
Revenues, Table 4, page 10
Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
$386 billion
Outlays, Table 5, page 14
Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services: $2.147 trillion
$2.147 trillion-$386 billion = $1.761 trillion
See that? It means nearly all of our national debt can be found just in the delta between FHIT revenues and CMMS outlays. So unless you and everyone else is ready to start paying 50% or likely more of your own paychecks just to cover these programs alone–because running up taxes on “the rich,” i.e. anyone who makes $1 more than you, won’t cover it–you’re not ready to pay for anything else, either.
For an editor to state as fact in the Opinion section that his publication is “trustworthy” is both sad and laughable.
Reliable, trustworthy media no longer exists, Dave. You helped kill it with your harshly left-wing propaganda that pretended to be news.