BREAKDOWN: Biggest Winners and Losers of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

The Biggest Loser:

The biggest collective losers of the campaign were the mainstream media. Some of course were worse than others, but all of the old fashioned mainstream outlets were terrible. They operated on a basis of contempt for the honest concerns of ordinary people. They hid Hillary Clinton’s scandals from public view as though oblivious to the fact that in the internet age, the truth cannot be hidden nor suppressed by the failing media-industrial complex.

Long before Donald Trump declared his candidacy, the systematic problems of mainstream media in the west were well known. The total deceit with which they cover international affairs, slandering countries which do not actively pursue neoliberal policies, was in full view. Their job is to report the facts and collect information. Instead they have acted like mad agitators for their pet geopolitical projects.

As the mainstream media begins to collapse, so too are common misconceptions about war and peace. In 2003 when mainstream media still had a fairly stern grip on public consciousness, many were duped into believing Bush and Blair’s lies about Iraq. Thanks to new media, people in the west have a far better understanding of the realities in the Middle East than they did thirteen years ago. It explains why popular support for war in Syria and by extrapolation on Russia, something that the likes of Hillary Clinton have wildly campaigned for, remains deeply unpopular with ordinary people.

As Donald Trump began gaining more and more popularity with voters, the mainstream media which was already barren and dishonest, went into full panic mode. In terms of both policy and style, Trump represents everything they hate. Rather than courting the media, Trump used online platforms to get his message through and it resonated louder and clearer than the propaganda bullhorns of old media.

His distaste and disdain for Wall Street, the globalised world order, the military-industrial complex, the obsession with painting Russia as evil, all put him at odds with the narrative  relentlessly pursued by the tired hacks in the mainstream media. Because of this, they continually vilified Trump whilst ignoring every story on Hillary’s trail of corruption. But it didn’t work.

Trump’s attitude also put him at odds with the very social existence one is expected to adhere and aspire to, if one is to be lionised by the mainstream media. He conducted his campaign his way and in doing so, he exposed the total lack of credibility amongst the mainstream media. To paraphrase the next President of America, ‘what a bunch of losers’.

The Biggest Winner: 

After Donald Trump, the biggest winner was Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Wikileaks did what honest journalists ought to do, they publish information that is vital to the public interest without having a hidden agenda. Assange expressed his personal disdain for both Trump and Clinton and recently explained the scientific reasons why Wikileaks released damning information on Clinton and not Trump. In all he said he was fair minded and open minded.

This remained the case despite Hillary and her supporters making death threats to Assange and Assange having his internet connection at the Ecuadorian Embassy in which he remains captive, cut off after the US State Department put pressure on the Government of Ecuador. But Assange persisted and leak after leak showed American voters and the wider world who Hillary Clinton actually is. It is a very different image from the sugar coated picture painted by the mainstream media.

Wikileaks exposed Hillary’s connections to ISIS and Al-Qaeda through her corrupt relationship with the Saudi and Qatari regimes. Wikileaks exposed how Hillary says one thing in public and other to her friends in Wall Street. Wikileaks exposed lie after lie, cover-up after cover-up.

Whilst Trump won the political race and deservedly so, Wikileaks outpaced the mainstream media, becoming the real voice of authentic journalism in the election. Julian Assange’s place in history as someone who has exposed the lies of politicians like Hillary Clinton is now assured. He is owed a debt of gratitude by all those who value truth and justice. I hope in time, he will regain the liberty he has been so spuriously been deprived of.

Today’s election has changed the face of the media. There’s a new king in town, it’s Julian Assange!