Here comes the Trump gaslighting

On the fourth anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, the once mainstream now legacy media reported — WITHOUT IRONY — a “Truth” Social complaint from Donald Trump. That complaint went like this: “Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult [as] possible, from Lawfare such as has never been seen before, to costly and ridiculous Executive Orders on the Green New Scam and other money wasting Hoaxes.”

No really. He actually wrote that. I’m not making this up. And, because it came from their toad-god, all the cretins and fools and bad faith actors and Dunning Kruger specimens of MAGAdonia snapped their heads back lizard-like and swallowed it whole and untasted. Meanwhile, in a joint session of Congress, Kamala Harris presided over the peaceful state-by-state certification of the November presidential election without so much as an objection or peep from Democrats.

There were no claims that the election was stolen. There was no violence. No brutalised police officers. No millions of dollars in damage. No pompous assholes standing up and refusing to acknowledge the election. No far-flung conspiracy theories advanced. No sixty-plus SLAPP suits. No disruption of an official proceeding. No threatening phone calls to the Georgia Secretary of State. Just a peaceful, orderly, group of Democratic Senators and Congresspersons obeying the Constitution they swore to uphold and protect.

To be sure, Joe Biden is shoring up the government against the worst incursions of Trump and Project 2025. This is needed, because of the daily horrors promised by Trump and his lawless and underqualified gang. But even in a strictly non-partisan sense, this is nothing new, and has been the ordinary practice of departing presidents since John Adams’ so-called midnight appointments.

Of course, this is Trump, a man who claims to be the healthiest and fittest president in history. So, is Trump really the healthiest president? That would count as an actually stupid question. Have any of the interlocutors seen a photo of George W Bush clearing brush? Or Barack Obama shooting hoops? Or Bill Clinton jogging? Have they then seen a picture of (shudder) Donald Trump on the golf course? I rest my wholly unnecessary case.

In like manner, this transition is just fine, and Trump is lucky (but typically ungrateful) to get it. Trump is enjoying a beautiful and accommodating transition right now, one that he didn’t have the class or good sportsmanship to offer when his time came. And nobody in the once mainstream and now legacy media seems willing to point this out.

Welcome to Trump Gaslighting 2.0. This time around you’ll find that the media will be far more cowed, far more compliant, far less likely to raise a fuss. They’ve learned their place and they’re minding it. That is why they no longer deserve to be called the mainstream media. That is why they are the dying legacy media, the ones who cooperated with evil. It’s only fitting that they get buried with evil. We of the Grassroots Media are here to take over. We’ll do the burying. Rest assured, we aren’t going to let the on-of-a-bitch Trump get away with anything.

Robert Harrington

Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.