Commentary submitted by Randi McGinn
As the nation collectively holds its breath awaiting the incoming administration of Donald Trump (Will America be made Great Again or will chaos & billionaires reign?), I am reminded of my visit to Germany about six months after Trump was elected the last time in 2016.
I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by a German professor at the site of the Nuremburg trials. After he finished his history lesson, I approached the man, who was an expert on autocratic leaders and asked him what he thought of our new president.
He said, “I have some good news and some bad news for you,” he said.
“The good news, is that your new president is no ‘Hitler.’ He does not have Hitler’s charismatic speaking ability nor his uncanny ability to put people in place that will enact his agenda, without question.”
This second observation proved to be prescient. Think Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence and a whole slew of other appointees who gave Trump some push back on his agenda with such “paltry” excuses as “what you want to do violates the law.”
The second time around, Trump has learned this lesson and, with the help of Project 2025, has now lined up a host of “yes” men and women who will have no such qualms.
“The bad and more dangerous news,” said the professor, “is you have in Fox News, a propaganda machine, to rival the one that promoted and white-washed Hitler’s agenda. If he can just convince his followers that Fox is the only source of true information and people stop seeking information from other, more unbiased sources, then he can get away with anything.”
And ‘lo, his prediction has come to pass. We have seen the polarization of journalism, with progressives flocking to media sources that support progressive ideas and conservatives listening to voices that support not just conservative ideas (Fox), but the MAGA worldview (OAN, News Max, The Epoch Times). For each end of the media spectrum to keep their viewership, it is gospel that the reporters cannot criticize the leaders or ideas of their “team.”
More disturbing is the tendency to reject without reading or listening to the ideas of the other side.
When I offered to gift my MAGA younger sister a Christmas subscription to the pinnacle of respected journalism, The New York Times, she responded, “Don’t bother. I won’t read it. It is ‘fake news’.”
This is how the marketplace of ideas dies.
I expect the next four years will be filled with surprises for Trump voters like my sister who walled themselves off from any source that contradicted their world view. Those may include MAGA postal workers who express surprise if Trump makes good on his promise to shut down the U.S. Postal Service in favor of private companies. Retirees who learn of the plan to cut Medicare and Social Security to provide tax cuts to millionaires, only when their benefits are cut. Immigrants who supported Trump only to find themselves on deportation lists or in a detention camp awaiting deportation.
How does one avoid propaganda and find the truth, no matter what side of the political divide you are on? Be curious. Ask questions. Consume media that doesn’t always support your world view. Talk to people on the other side of the aisle and listen to their ideas. Finally, read local newspapers like this one which present both sides and don’t have a political agenda.
One of the things that has made our country great is a free press where everyone in the community can have a voice. Use yours and listen to those of others.
Randi McGinn graduated from Alamogordo High School, majored in journalism at New Mexico State University and graduated from the University of New Mexico Law School in 1980. She now practices law in Albuquerque.