By Ana Castillo (February 20, 2017)
In Which the Poet, Somewhat Recovered from an Unannounced Televised News Conference that Might Have been a Chapter Titled “WHITE HOUSE VS. THE MAJORITY OF THE MEDIA” in a Dystopian Novel Draft, Reveals Its Narrator’s Internal Monologue For the Random Reader’s Musing:
Republican McCain said it, or at least suggested it: Shutting down the media and installing or legitimizing only State approved media sources is Dictatorship Strategy 101.
From El Id’s alternative facts Spokeswoman’s “Bowling Green Massacre” major faux pas, to his alleged “all the unreported’ terrorist attacks”, to the tweet about a non-existent terrorist attack in Sweden that he misinterpreted from Fox News this past weekend, it would seem the only fake news ‘the people’ are receiving comes from the White House.
Right of the Right Spin Doctor Limbaugh claims his King Tweet has no one but ‘the people’ on his side. Limbuaugh here was referring to what Bannon called the rival “Party,” (no, not the Democrats)– the Media. In fact, El Id has LIMBAUGH. The Talk Radio host has TWENTY MILLION listeners each week (versus the NYT that has approximately 4 million on Sunday.)
El Id has Breitbart, a self-proclaimed white supremacist site. Despite its ‘possibly’ inflated claims (let’s hope) of approx. 240 million worldwide viewers, Breitbart may have approximately as many as twenty million. Its founder, Bannon, as the world knows, is appointed WH Chief Strategist. (You don’t get more official than that. Side note, Bannon’s heroes or at least, whose power he admires are “Satan, Darth Vader, and Chaney.” This is according to Vanity Fair, not yet on the White House Blacklist of Fake News Sources.)
While El Id doesn’t have the popular vote (despite his emphatic alleging of rigged elections where he asserted that the undocumented and dead voted for Clinton in the millions) he is no underdog and nobody’s victim.
He doesn’t have the support of perhaps half “the People” but he does hold untold international power. He has a billionaire and multi-millionaire cabinet that he is building, all with dossiers of private interests and, except for military, next to none in service of ‘the people.’ (Unless, by the people we are now referring to the 1%.) He has his own wealth and, what we may assume, is the unprecedented and unimagined support of worldwide investments. He has their backing and commitment to exploit all human and natural resources for the sake of their personal profit and agenda for power.
And if, in the darkest of times–which this nation has heretofore not seen–the State did successfully shut down the freedom of the press, then, all of those who desired to be writers, whose college degrees did not facilitate their careers to fame, fortune, or even jobs or publications, will be on call to report as witnesses, as the ears and eyes of ‘The People.’ We will require your minds, pens, hearts, and conscience.
