Donald Trump has pointed out the great divide in American politics and society.
Donald Trump has for a decade spoken of the “fake news.” There is nothing new there. What is new is his lack of care about the opinions or feelings of reporters on the left. In the past, he appeared to want reporters at the New York Times and elsewhere to like him. Those days are over. Of late, he has been attacking CNN, claiming that nobody watches it. Kaitlan Collins is so abused by Trump and others at the White House that she may need to enter a witness protection program.
Recently, Donald Trump claimed that CNN hates America. The network was so gobsmacked that Dana Bash had to lead off the news by claiming seriously that CNN does not hate the country. It turns out that both Trump and Bash are right. There are two visions of America, nearly split 50:50 at the polls, and they are nearly mirror opposites of each other. By landmass, over 90 percent of the US is “red,” while the major urban centers with the large mass of voters vote blue.
Let’s take a look at features of the Two Americas:
Donald Trump’s America, the one that he loves and CNN hates would include the following:
*Closed borders and ejected illegal aliens
*Freedom of speech and an unfettered right to bear arms
*Manufacturing in the U.S. with U.S. energy independence
*Strong military and great patriotism
*U.S. calling its own shots and not being run by the U.N., W.H.O., I.C.C. or any international body
*Strong religious ethos in the country
*No guys in women’s sports or spaces
*World leadership based on a Jacksonian model
*Low taxes and strong economic growth
Now let’s look at the America of Dana Bash, CNN, Joe Biden and those on the left. It is worth noting that Bash was caught on at least three occasions trying to help a confused Biden during his sole debate with Donald Trump last year.
*An open border and free movement of people into America
*High taxes and an overall distributionist approach to wealth and property
*Heavy-handed online disinformation patrols and significantly reduced gun ownership rights
*U.S. as one cog in a bigger international program: the U.S. would have to follow the orders of the U.N., W.H.O., etc.
*Men and women, boys and girls are completely interchangeable
*Religion should be at home and have zero influence in the public square
*Who cares if China makes all of our stuff? Trade and budget deficits are just fine. No DOGE
*A need to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and go completely green
So, CNN does loathe Trump’s America and the Americans who buy into the president’s vision; CNN does not hate the America that they had under Joe Biden and which they hoped would continue and only become more internationalist under Kamala Harris. So whose vision is right? We did not have such polarization say 40 years ago when everyone in Congress and public life was more or less Christian. Nobody had to debate guys in women’s locker rooms or castrating children to make them "trans." There were many accepted norms and the arguments were mostly on levels of taxation, the best way to deal with the Soviets, and how much the government should be invested in dealing with poverty. Today, with much of the population completely detached from religion and religious values, two Americas have come into existence, and there is almost no room for a common language between them.
The obvious answer to the question of whose vision is right is that the approach of Donald Trump shows the greatest fidelity to what America has been since its founding. If the Founding Fathers were to reappear and visit the U.S., they would not understand an open border or having guys in women’s sports or trans soldiers. They would definitely side with Trump’s America if forced to choose. CNN’s America can find a preview of their U.S. in Europe, where one can get a nocturnal visit from the police for the “crime” of expressing your patriotic views online. And soon, America will also have to choose which America it wants because the two cannot coexist.
The Trump and CNN visions of America are not compatible. Democrats and weak-kneed Republicans tried to invent a compromise on the border that would have allowed 5,000 illegal aliens to enter legally each day. That idea was nonsense: either the border is closed or it’s open. And the same is true for every subject. Either women have their own sports or the guys have League A and League B. Either we hire the best or we hire based on meaningless factors like skin color and last name. The U.S. will have to choose its future. Right now, President Trump and his people are lining up behind 80/20 issues that are supported by all types of Americans. Trump’s policies are popular with the working class, long abandoned by their former champions, the Democrats. If the Democrats want to talk about oligarchs, they had more billionaires supporting Harris than Trump had supporting him.
CNN does not hate the country that they want to have; they do hate the country that Donald Trump is building. They don’t want DEI to DIE and they like open borders for anyone to come join the American dream, when in reality unfettered immigration guarantees that no one will have an American dream. CNN and its ilk cannot find its footing with Donald Trump and his associates moving so quickly on so many fronts. Dozens of executive orders join billions cut through DOGE efforts and stark changes like insubordination not being tolerated in the military—they can barely catch their breath between stories.
Support for “MAGA” has gone from 20 percent to 36 percent. Everything that Donald Trump is doing is the fulfillment of a promise on the campaign trail. What are the Democrats for at this moment in history? Returning violent gang members to the country. Stopping DOGE from uncovering fraud and waste in the federal budget. Keeping their cities sanctuaries for illegal alien criminals. The Democrats don’t have a plan because Donald Trump has staked his position on the normal side of virtually every issue. They don’t like the tariff plans? So what is their alternative? They don’t have one. Cory Booker spoke 25 hours on the Senate floor and never proposed a different approach for dealing with unfair trade practices.
Like so much, CNN is a relic of an America that is hopefully gone. Like Harvard, they want the country to change for them rather than adapt to a new/old vision of what America should be. They don't particularly like the government of, by and for the people. They have chosen the wrong side of the argument.