Many on this forum, myself included, though Hillary was a lock, a blowout, in 2016. It was easy to question the media before that race, but it died on election night. Left, right, mainstream anything died that night. Coverage didn't matter and the polls missed it completely.
People made fun of "fake news" and used it as a punchline, even as it proved true time and time again in the years following. Left and right media outlets alike produced polls which were garbage. Bookies taking bets on the results were the closest source of correct info I found this year and even they missed the margin of victory.
People talk about podcasts becoming the future of media, but bad info and ethics do not care about the platform they use.
I certainly thought that way.
Why did I think it? Because I trusted the media. That, and my own values and biases. Donald Trump is a lout. He talks a LOT of shit. He says things like "they will let you grab them by the pussy." I don't like that. He regularly cheated on his various wives. He engaged in sketchy business practices. He is a deeply flawed individual. I couldn't vote for someone like that in 2016. And I was told that there was no way he could win. I stayed home and didn't vote at all.
...which is exactly what the leftist-led media-political complex wanted. They went all-in on how bad Trump was and how bad conservatives were and how it was Clinton's turn--she was "ready on day one!"--and said there was no way Trump could win.
And despite all of that, Trump won.
And his win gave me something I didn't have: hope. Hope that our country could start returning to the vision that I, and millions of Americans (enough to win an election against the left's anointed queen) had for our country. And it also made me realize that despite all of the othering, all of the invective, all of the "conservatives are evil" and "white people are inherently bad," that I was not alone. That millions of people of all races, both genders, and all income levels, felt the same way.
And then he delivered for the country.
America knows what four years of Trump would look like, because we've already seen it. We've already seen what four years under Harris would look like, because we just saw it. America fundamentally rejected one of those, and embraced the other.
And I think America will be better off in four years because of the choice in this election.
I don't trust the media anymore, and haven't since the 2016 election. I don't trust "the experts" or "the science" after the COVID debacle. I don't trust a lot of things after Afghanistan. I take a lot of outside inputs into consideration, but I trust my own eyes, my own ears, my own experiences, and own analysis.
To be clear, I also don't trust the Trump administration. I've never met any of those people. I don't know them. But I always trust that people will do what's in their own best interests. It's in the Trump Administration's interests to deliver on the promises he made on the campaign trail and to support the future for America that I think is best for my family, myself, and my country. If that changes in the future, I'll re-evaluate. But for now, I'm going to give Trump a chance.