I have been pounding the table, shouting from the rooftops, and ringing the alarm bell about how the so-called "mainstream media" presents the biggest long-term threat to America and Western Culture, with perhaps the education-industrial complex tied in its level of damage done to the country. 

Both are fundamentally corrupt, poison the mind and are driven by a sick ideology of hatred toward freedom and free markets. 

Source: https://t.co/Ff15FmRmkY

— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) October 15, 2024

The decline in trust for higher education is accelerating, and even the K-12 system, which people used to revere, is now getting hammered post-COVID. School choice advocates are suddenly making progress after decades of being stalled by Democrats and their union allies. 

But the decline in trust that has plagued the media has been going on the longest and is now creeping into the consciousness of Democrats as well as Independents and Republicans. 

Thirty-six percent of Americans have NO trust in the mass media, and 33% have not very much trust. Only 31% have either a great deal or a fair amount of Trust, which is excellent and remarkable.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans continue to register record-low trust in the mass media, with 31% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly,” similar to last year’s 32%. Americans’ trust in the media -- such as newspapers, television and radio -- first fell to 32% in 2016 and did so again last year.

For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express “not very much” confidence.

Democrats have long trusted the "mainstream" media (it is obviously no longer so mainstream!) much more than Independents and Republicans, but COVID and the initial years of the Biden administration led to a rebound. All that talk of "misinformation" and the hysteria around COVID led to a "rally around the flag" effect, but that has worn off. I suspect the disconnect between what the media said about the economy and Biden's mental acuity has led to that huge dropoff.

Older folks still have the most trust in the "news," having grown up and developed information-consumption habits back when the media was liberal, but not nearly as corrupt as it is now. Younger folks, on the other hand, have the least trust, probably because they see the huge disconnect between what they are told and what they experience. 

The news media is the least trusted group among 10 U.S. civic and political institutions involved in the democratic process. The legislative branch of the federal government, consisting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, is rated about as poorly as the media, with 34% trusting it.

In contrast, majorities of U.S. adults express at least a fair amount of trust in their local government to handle local problems (67%), their state government to address state problems (55%), and the American people as a whole when it comes to making judgments under our democratic system about the issues facing the country (54%).

Between 40% and 48% of Americans trust the judicial branch headed by the U.S. Supreme Court, men and women in political life, the federal government’s handling of international problems, and the executive branch led by the president. Fewer U.S. adults trust the federal government’s handling of domestic problems (37%).

Obviously, we have work to do in order to make people even more cynical about these other institutions, but the only way we can do that is to keep chipping away at trust in the no-longer mainstream media. Trust in most local government is misplaced, and only some state governments deserve trust, such as Florida. 

Before you celebrate too much, remember that the media still has a lot of control over what people see. Not everybody spends tons of time on Twitter/X or reads alternative media, so while they distrust what they see in the MSM, they may not get to see the whole story. Controlling the flow of information is as important as being able to spin things. That is why censorship is the big project of the left. 

Majorities of Democrats, ranging from 54% to 82%, express a great deal or fair amount of trust in all but two of the entities -- the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. For their part, majorities of Republicans have confidence in the judicial branch and state and local governments.

In addition to the media, Democrats’ trust exceeds Republicans’ by more than 40 points for the executive branch, the federal government’s handling of international and domestic problems, and candidates for public office. Republicans’ trust outpaces Democrats’ in just one of the entities -- the judicial branch.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think one of the big reasons why there is such a strong divide is that many Democrats are susceptible to brainwashing. Their craziness about COVID, their acceptance of gender ideology, and their embrace of censorship are all driven by a desire to have their reality defined by others. They seek the comfort of giving in to the will of others.

It's why you so often see leftists perfectly comfortable believing incompatible ideas. They simply accept what they are told. 

Not all Democrats are like that, of course, and some Republicans surely are. But study after study shows that Republicans are generally more in tune with reality (that is not a prejudice of mine; there really are such studies), and understand Democrats, while Democrats don't understand Republicans. 

There are plenty of Republicans who live in a bubble, too, but the proportions are vastly different. If 50% of Democrats still believe the media, they are brainwashed. They are, as they say, "sharp as a tack" when it comes to understanding the world. 

Brainwashing need not be permanent. There really are plenty of smart people--often very smart people--who simply trust the media and the "experts." Many Democrats had their eyes opened by the June debate between Biden and Trump, and others by the media's coverage of Israel. 

Yet many more need their eyes opened. It is our job to help them get there.