How did we get here? The dumbing of America, from Reagan to Trump and beyond

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How did we get here? The dumbing of America, from Reagan to Trump and beyond
Every Trump tantrum makes headlines, while the actual president's work is ignored. This is Reagan's legacy

By BRIAN KAREM
Columnist
PUBLISHED AUGUST 31, 2023 9:05AM (EDT)


(Salon) How screwed are we? I'll tell you.

On Wednesday, the news was all about a big bag of wind destroying Florida and flooding the South, spreading destruction and threatening pestilence and death.

Then there's Hurricane Idalia.

....(snip)....

Welcome to politics 2023. One man, who claims to support Christian values, continues his run for the highest office in the land based on revenge and hypocrisy, while our president, a devout Catholic, is insulted by the likes of Ted Cruz, accused of being anti-Catholic and "the face of corruption" in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Biden, in case anyone cares, goes to church every Sunday. Trump never went once in his four years at the White House. Rumor was it would burst into flames if he did.

It would be easy to claim that all of this is new. But that would also be wrong. The seeds of today's political division and reporting began with Ronald Reagan.

....(snip)....

Well, the press itself is different too. Reagan destroyed the FCC's "fairness doctrine" and encouraged media consolidation. Decades later, as social media rose to take the place of the corporate media's diminished role in providing vetted information, the slide accelerated. ............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/08/31/how-did-we-get-here-the-dumbing-of-america-from-reagan-to-and-beyond/