This presidential election season could be one of the turning points in history, for better or for worse. Anyone who watched the debate between the Republican and Democratic candidates would have no idea that this was a great battle of competing ideas and visions of the future. It was a campaign of smears and bullets, with some candidates avoiding discussing ideas at all costs and even avoiding the media at all costs. The other candidate avoided two assassination attempts while hurling red meat rhetoric at an understandably angry public.
More than ever before, it was an election campaign in which mainstream media completely abandoned the idea of being a neutral source of information and entered the ring on the side of one candidate. In one debate between presidential candidates, the mainstream media gave one candidate a “fact check” and gave the other a “pass.” “Fact-checking” turns out to be false information, which mainstream media excels at, but they remind us that by the time the actual facts are reported, people have already absorbed the falsehoods. I have been aware of it for a long time.
According to the Conservative Media Research Center, mainstream media coverage of the Trump campaign was 85% negative, while coverage of the Harris campaign was 78% positive. If that's accurate, it would explain why the public despises the media so much.
What I felt was missing from this campaign was a discussion of the real issues we face. The destruction caused by interventions in our economies, our lives, and the rest of the world. Nothing was said about the Federal Reserve and how it hurts the middle class, helps the wealthy, and fuels the war machine.
And finally, things got interesting. Republican Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance said last week that he has come to the conclusion that the Federal Reserve is not the benevolent force its supporters claim it to be. He didn't say it exactly, but that's what he meant. Then President Trump's surrogate campaigner, Elon Musk, made an announcement that undoubtedly horrified the Washington, D.C., swamp. If Mr. Trump were to take on his proposed government efficiency job, he would start with a bang by cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget!
There was a little fun. I posted an encouraging post on Musk's Twitter/X, and he responded that he was willing to let me help him find a place to cut. The last thing I want to do is look for another job, but the outpouring of support has encouraged me to do everything I can to correct the wrong path we're on, a path to complete bankruptcy. I would be happy to help.
Perhaps the most encouraging development of this election cycle is the understandable decline in the influence of corrupt mainstream media. Elon posted a funny meme of the two of us cutting down the government on his Twitter/X platform, and it received nearly 50 million views. Compare this to the steady decline in mainstream media viewership. Alternative ways of reporting and analyzing the events of our time are emerging on the ruins of legacy media, and it is driving the media crazy. good.
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas. This article originally appeared on the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and is reprinted here with permission.
