Considered merely as spectacle, American politics is now perhaps the most diverting in all the world. Extending this notion, one of Mr. Trump’s many claims is that a goodly portion of the American press, however much it exerts itself in contempt and hostility towards his person, actually owes him a great deal. They could not function or exist without Trump as their obsessive, singular, manic focusMainstream media is dependent on Trump, but for the raucous cable channels, he is their very lifeline. But all is channelled through an outraged filter of shallow contempt and a haze of intellectual and moral condescension toward their target, the American president. Much of the media have in this age of Trump forgotten their function, what they are.

Source: National Post January 11, 2019 19:07 UTC