The liberal hysteria over Trump is nearly unprecedented

[Arbitrage1980]

Looking back in American history, I can only think of 2 presidential elections where one of the major party nominees was this reviled and feared.

1. 1860:  obvious choice. Lincoln was not even on the ballot in the Southern states because not enough electors would publicly pledge themselves to Lincoln. His election was the catalyst for secession.

2. 1896: less obvious but a highly underrated election. The 36 year old William Jennings Bryan seized the Democratic Party nomination with his electric oratory and populist stance on free silver, trade, agragrian policies, anti-wall street. The incumbent Democratic President, Grover Cleveland, was a strong free-market proponent who supported the gold standard. He was so repulsed by Bryan that he refused to even endorse him. The east coast business establishment was so terrified of Bryan that adjusted for inflation, more money was spent to defeat him than any other nominee in history. Banks and other employers openly told their workers that if Bryan wins the election, there will be no job to come to. The northeast was so terrified of Bryan that McKinley even won NYC (one of only 3 republicans to do so). If Bryan had won, the United States would be a very different country now.

[Arbitrage1980]

I will say this, as a left leaning voter, that the media's coverage has become absurdly biased this cycle.  I can't open my iPhone news feed without seeing a new hit piece from the Washington Post attacking Trump.

This chills me to some degree.  As the best country on earth, we should have free and open and at least somewhat reasonably fair journalism and reporting.  I get that there are right leaning papers and news outlets like Fox News to counter balance this.  But the overwhelming majority of papers and news media is left leaning and when they all almost collude to attack one candidate to this degree... it irks me.  It doesn't irk me enough to vote Republican, but it depresses me that in this country we can't get reasonable journalism.

If Trump wins, the media deserves a lot of blame. First, they enabled Trump's rise through free coverage for him, drowning out actual serious Republican candidates with real policy ideas. Second, for too long, the media has demonized every GOP nominee. You cry wolf too many times, and the American people will drown you out. Now a real wolf has appeared, and lot of people aren't buying what the media is telling them.

[Arbitrage1980]

Is it so different from 1964? Goldwater wasn't considered vulgar or a con man, but people thought he'd start World War III.

I left out 1964 for a reason. Goldwater was seen as ideologically extreme, but he still received an endorsement from the prior Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon campaigned vigorously for him. You did not see dozens of GOP establishment policy figures openly denounce Goldwater. Also, there was never any doubt that LBJ would beat Goldwater, so I suppose that tempered the hysteria significantly.

[Arbitrage1980]

I will say this, as a left leaning voter, that the media's coverage has become absurdly biased this cycle.  I can't open my iPhone news feed without seeing a new hit piece from the Washington Post attacking Trump.

This chills me to some degree.  As the best country on earth, we should have free and open and at least somewhat reasonably fair journalism and reporting.  I get that there are right leaning papers and news outlets like Fox News to counter balance this.  But the overwhelming majority of papers and news media is left leaning and when they all almost collude to attack one candidate to this degree... it irks me.  It doesn't irk me enough to vote Republican, but it depresses me that in this country we can't get reasonable journalism.

If Trump wins, the media deserves a lot of blame. First, they enabled Trump's rise through free coverage for him, drowning out actual serious Republican candidates with real policy ideas. Second, for too long, the media has demonized every GOP nominee. You cry wolf too many times, and the American people will drown you out. Now a real wolf has appeared, and lot of people aren't buying what the media is telling them.

I actually wonder if the media promoting Trump's rise was calculated to give Hillary the best chance of winning... rather than just trying to promote someone who promotes news ratings with outrageous statements.  They did create this though, you're right.

Of course. The purpose was twofold: boost its own ratings by covering Trump and give Hillary the best chance to win the presidency since Trump is basically the only Republican she can beat. My liberal friends were mortified of a Rubio or Kasich nomination.

[Arbitrage1980]

I think you're forgetting that it works the other way too with Hillary, hence why trump got this far.

Only Obama in '08 and McGovern really pulled off the same amount of fear from the hysterical far-right.

The hysteria over Obama 08 was from a fringe element in the right. Obama got around 20% of conservative voters, and it was the nutjobs who thought he was a secret Muslim manchurian candidate. We also were not excited about McCain and weren't weeping when Obama won. Now, Romney's loss on the other hand, was super hard for me. I genuinely like the guy and think he would have been the best POTUS since Reagan.

[Arbitrage1980]

I will say this, as a left leaning voter, that the media's coverage has become absurdly biased this cycle.  I can't open my iPhone news feed without seeing a new hit piece from the Washington Post attacking Trump.

This chills me to some degree.  As the best country on earth, we should have free and open and at least somewhat reasonably fair journalism and reporting.  I get that there are right leaning papers and news outlets like Fox News to counter balance this.  But the overwhelming majority of papers and news media is left leaning and when they all almost collude to attack one candidate to this degree... it irks me.  It doesn't irk me enough to vote Republican, but it depresses me that in this country we can't get reasonable journalism.

If Trump wins, the media deserves a lot of blame. First, they enabled Trump's rise through free coverage for him, drowning out actual serious Republican candidates with real policy ideas. Second, for too long, the media has demonized every GOP nominee. You cry wolf too many times, and the American people will drown you out. Now a real wolf has appeared, and lot of people aren't buying what the media is telling them.

I actually wonder if the media promoting Trump's rise was calculated to give Hillary the best chance of winning... rather than just trying to promote someone who promotes news ratings with outrageous statements.  They did create this though, you're right.

Of course. The purpose was twofold: boost its own ratings by covering Trump and give Hillary the best chance to win the presidency since Trump is basically the only Republican she can beat. My liberal friends were mortified of a Rubio or Kasich nomination.

As a person who is moderate to liberal, I believe you are probably right.  And even though it will probably help get my preferred (somewhat) candidate elected, it sickens me to a degree.  Our journalists should be better than this.

We need more sensible liberals such as yourself.

[Arbitrage1980]

So is his campaign, though. It's not like this is Romney 2012 pt. 2 and liberals are just more upset this time. He's launched an all out attack on many liberal ideals (gun control, immigration, climate change, nuclear proliferation, common sense, to name a few).

To be fair, in 2012, liberals accused Romney of being a heartless plutocrat who wanted to kill old people, take away people's jobs, and hated women. Liberals have cried wolf too many times.

[Arbitrage1980]

The media has been too kind to Trump. They treat him as if he is some sort of serious candidate - not the dangerous buffoon that he is. But what can you expect from such a vapid and supercilious group. "Journalists," especially the cable tv variety, really are to blame for this catastrophe. The whole lot of them are either too dumb - or at the least too self important - to do any real informing.

But he WAS and IS a serious candidate.  In what measure is he not?  Money?  A following?  Name recognition?  Experience in management at the highest levels? 

How ethical would it be if the media had just ignored Trump?  There has long been a call for an outsider and a businessman to run for President and Trump filled the bill.  Is it the MEDIA'S job to "weed out" candidates?  Is it the media that determines that a candidate is "serious"? 

He is a major party nominee, so we should take him seriously, but that is different from saying he is a serious candidate in a meaningful sense. Trump has never held elected office, a cabinet secretary position, or served in the military. Nor does he possess a strong knowledge of policy and key issues or even the desire to learn them. His sole credential is that he ran a large real estate business and was a reality TV star. But his business acumen is mediocre to say the least. Trump is NOT self-made like Bloomberg for instance; he inherited a major empire from his dad and got lucky when he bought Manhattan property when the city was at its nadir and then later recovered. Whenever Trump ventured outside of real estate, such as his foray into the US Football League, Eastern Airlines, casinos, Trump University, Trump Mortgages, and a host of other businesses, he has failed miserably. Trump's only real talent is self-promotion and entertainment. Call me old fashioned but that is not a qualification for the most important job in the entire world.