The night of the 2016 election I had stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning waiting for the results. Suddenly the word Trump appeared before my eyes on my computer screen. Now seven years later the former president still roams the earth thanks in large part to news media outlets that cannot get enough of this individual. Why does the media devote so much time and resources to an individual who has driven this country to the brink of authoritarianism and who has unleashed the destructive forces of homophobia, racism, sexism and white supremacy? The news media is fascinated by his exercises in entertainment and disinformation rather than report his lies and distortion of our history. As a former history teacher I am appalled by his recasting of our history in order to serve his own narcissistic and demonic purposes. I challenge the print and broadcast media to devote more attention to the problems of food insecurity, housing insecurity, health insecurity, economic insecurity, mental health of our children, and the trashing of our public schools and public colleges. The print and broadcast media must do its job and stop being complicit in the subversive and criminal acts of the aforementioned individual! Exercise your freedom of press and speech!

Kip Fonsh

Leverett

]]>