Member-only story
Cancel Culture Doesn’t Work
Cancelling someone creates an equal and opposite reaction.
For journalists, media personalities and political analysts working for legacy news outlets like MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post, Donald Trump is the great white whale to their Captain Ahab.
But only if Moby Dick turned out to be some kind of zombie superwhale; one who just wouldn’t die, for all Ahab’s efforts.
A yearly popularity contest was curtailed this year when Donald Trump appeared likely to be named the most admired man, a title worth about as much as any other advertising campaign- that is to say, not much at all.
Not that Trump didn’t win last year; he did. He unseated former President Barack Obama some time ago. It’s no surprise, really; Democratic respondents have been split for years between several admired progressives including President Joe Biden. Together, the Democrats beat Donald Trump easily; the split ticket gives a mistaken impression.
Of course the whole thing is absolute nonsense, about as reliable as any poll and probably less so.
What bothers the legacy media is that Trump is still popular- still- even after his defeat at the ballot box in 2020 and the stain of January 6th.