It is pretty bad.
This all started in 1992 when Bill Clinton went on Arsenio and played the sax. This was something candidates for President just didn't do. But Clinton found ways to bypass the "mainstream media". Now, they all do it, Republican and Democrat. When I think about it, there was an inevitability of campaigns becoming more and more ridiculous. Social media has only make it worse.
Are you f***ing serious?
What I'm getting at is that Trump going on Dr. Oz is the latest in candidates dealing with serious issues through entertainment channels, rather than the mainstream media. This didn't always happen; it was a big deal when Richard Nixon made a cameo on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In in 1968. (Many Laugh-In creative staff were part of the Nixon 68 campaign.)
Sexism, racism, etc. are problems, but the media is no longer capable of having rational discussions on these topics. If they did, their ratings would go down and alternative media would provide the hot-button stuff that inflames people, but doesn't offer solutions. And candidates feel free to bypass mainstream media these days, getting their message out on social media, talk radio, where the focus is on shock entertainment.
