The Trump Era Begins with Historic Marches and an Alternative Reality
By Victor Landa, NewsTaco (4 minute read) 
This past weekend was historic and bizarre at the same time.
It was historic in that the anti-Trump protests organized around the country were, as far as we can tell, the largest of their kind in history.
It was bizarre because, as far as we can tell, there hasn’t been a blatant attempt at misinformation like the one we saw coming from the White House this weekend. And it was blatant because there was no attempt to hide it. Kellyanne Conway, president Trump’s advisor, went on national television and countered the facts presented to her about the number of marchers in D.C. on Saturday by saying there was an alternative set of facts. And she said it with a straight face, like it was gospel and we should be ashamed to disbelieve it.
Here’s what I feel is happening.
Trump and his administration have wasted no time in setting-up the formula that has been successful for them so far.
Trump needs a foil. For the past year-and-a-half he found foils that fueled his campaign: little Marco, low energy Jeb, lying Ted, crooked Hillary. Now he’s setting up the dishonest media – he characterizes enemies in simple language and uses the characterization to bolster his image.
►It’s brilliant . . .
. . . because he can attack anyone or anything by taking shots at the media. No matter the issue, the media is the problem:
How many people were attended his inaugural? The dishonest media undercounted on purpose to make him look bad.
How many protesters were there in Washington? The dishonest media over counted to make him look bad.
What about his tax returns? The dishonest media isn’t reporting on the real issues.
►He’s playing the odds
There will always be 1/3 of the public who will believe anything Trump says, regardless of how ridiculous it may sound. There will always be 1/3 of the public who won’t believe him, no matter what. Then there’s the third in the middle who doesn’t know who to believe.
So if he plays his cards right he’ll have 2/3 of the public that isn’t against him.
►We need an informed public that can tell the difference
It’s always been the foundation of our democracy. We require journalism that’s dedicated to the truth, to verifiable facts that can undress “alternative facts” and call-out those who try to pass them as reality.
►We need an educated public . . .
[pullquote]Trump is doing what he told us he’d do.[/pullquote]. . . that can discern verifiable facts, because the first two days of the Trump administration have given us a sample of what we can expect for the next four years.
Not that we shouldn’t have seen it coming. What Trump is doing with meaningless executive orders, with dismantling the Affordable Care Act, with signaling a renegotiation of NAFTA, with his intention to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with his rattling the foundation of our strategic alliances in NATO, is exactly what he told us he’d do, but we didn’t think he’d be elected, and we didn’t think he’d do those things once in office.
And we need more than just a robust press, we need an involved, educated electorate.
Here’s proof, if you were wondering how a candidate like Donald Trump could be elected. I understand that this past election was mostly decided on economic terms, but there’s also a large racial, gender and educational divide. These are the most recent statistics from the Pew Research Center.
►Latino college attaiment numbers
26 – The percentage of 25 to 34 year-old Latin@s in the U.S. who have a college degree.
55 – The percentage of 25 to 34 year-old whites in the U.S. who have a college degree.
34 – The percentage of 25 to 34 year-old U.S.-born Latin@s who have a college degree.
27 – The percentage of 25 to 34 year-old U.S.-born Latin@s who had a college degree in 2009.
17 – The percentage of 25 to 34 year-old foreign-born Latin@s in the U.S. who have a college degree.
13 – The percentage of 25 to 34 year-old foreign-born Latin@s who had a college degree in 2009.
47 – The overall college attainment rate in the U.S.
10 – The rank of the United Sates’ college attainment among the 35 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The U.S. falls behind:
69 – The college attainment rate in Korea.
60 – The college attainment rate in Japan.
59 – The college attainment rate in Canada.
52 – The college attainment rate in Ireland.
50 – The college attainment rate in Luxemburg.
49 – The college attainment rate in the United Kingdom.
49 – The college attainment rate in Switzerland.
48 – The college attainment rate in Australia.
48 – The college attainment rate in Norway.
I’ll leave you with that.
No hay mal que dure cien años, ni cuerpo que los aguante.
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Be part of a positive change.
[Phopto by Veronica Landa]
