This scandal, the greatest to envelop a sitting president up to that time, had all the ingredients of those that followed involving Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, with one important difference: There was no national media platform upon which to perform. The three national television networks on their nightly newscast, along with the daily newspapers, all reported in great detail on the proceedings.
This repeal was quickly followed by media organizations jumping at the chance to offer opinion programming, with show hosts and guests willing to play to the much larger gallery, with its particular biases and opinions.on radio commenced in 1988; Fox News and MSNBC both launched in 1996. CNN had been a legitimate news channel from the time of its launch in 1980, but moved into a mix of news and opinion. The stage was fully set for the “show-business” era of news.
In limited-turnout elections, the loudest and most vociferous often carry the day. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity,” wrote William Butler Yeats a century ago. This line from his poemexplains much of what imperils our system of self-government today. It explains the outcome of some elections and how the most extreme get elected.
More than 1,100 have since been indicted, including former President Donald Trump and several of his closest advisors. Almost 500 have been sentenced to jail terms. Setting aside the Proud Boys and other similar anarchy groups, it is now clear that many were otherwise loyal, hard-working men and women who got caught up in the emotion of that day and the speeches made that morning, and now are serving jail time, have lost jobs, businesses and families, in some cases.