[chiefalchemist]

"He's not a victim of the media."

I don't agree. The (news) media is misleading, if not deceptive, in how it presents itself. The major of the time it's not news per se, but shit that will draw the most eyeballs and attract the most attention, etc. Even for the casual observer it's easy to get sucked into that vortex.

Fake news is not simply a matter of truth or not. It's also about importance and relevance. For example, I took a dump this morning. That's a fact. But that doesn't make it news. So any any given moment, the news isn't pushing news, it's pushing - like everything else - increased engagement.

Intended or not, active participants or not, we are all victims of that because it manipulates broader perceptions, agendas, etc.