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It's been a week since Donald Trump's landslide re-election and some Democrats are using words like "realignment," "self-reflection" and "regret." It seems most on the losing side are rethinking their far-left policies on immigration and the entire social agenda. Let's wait and see, because for the left these are matters held as near-religious doctrines.
One group apparently having no regrets, remorse or even self- reflection are the media, which overwhelmingly favored Kamala Harris for president. They can't grasp that not everyone has the same worldview as theirs. This attitude is why their TV ratings, readership and credibility continue to decline. It is the only business that refuses to admit the people who live in the vast red territory between New York and California are worth understanding and should be fed a balanced news diet.
CNN.com may have put it best: "Trump's return to power raises serious questions about the media's credibility." If initial media reactions to Trump's sweeping victory are not enough to help them understand their bias problem, what is?
CBS News reporter John Dickerson shed tears during a post-election appearance on Stephen Colbert's show, saying he would struggle not to think about his boys when describing election results to young Americans. Colbert claimed a majority of voters "don't care" about democracy. Tell that to the near record number who cast ballots.
The reliably liberal women on "The View" called Trump's victory "pathetic and disturbing," labels that have been applied by some to them.
On MSNBC (which some conservative critics have called MSDNC for its promotion of all things Democrat), Joy Reid blamed white women for Kamala Harris' loss in North Carolina. What happened to the gender gap touted by the media?
CNN commentator Van Jones said a lot of people were "hurting" because of the election results and that African American women know something about "being talked down to." The media have been talking down to Middle America for years, implying they are ignorant for not embracing the agenda of the far left.
Also on CNN came this laugher from "PBS News Hour" White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez, who said one reason Harris lost is that, unlike Trump, she did not have a "media ecosystem" to help her.
According to numbers compiled by the Media Research Center, coverage of Harris was 78 percent positive and only 22 percent negative, while the numbers for Trump were the reverse, 15 percent positive and 85 percent negative. Talk about a media ecosystem!
There is so much more that is vile, disgusting, scatological and crude, but you get the picture.
The polls were wrong again, none more in error than the Des Moines Register poll. That poll, constantly touted by the media as reliable, claimed Harris was ahead of Trump by three points just days before the election. Trump won Iowa for a third time. The margin was 14 points for Trump. Pollster J. Ann Selzer, who was described as "renowned" by the newspaper, said she would be reviewing her data to determine how she got it wrong. One hopes she shares the results with the rest of us.
In a memo to his staff, Conde Nast chief Roger Lynch pledged to "uphold the principles of independent journalism." Given the media's slanted reporting for Harris and against Trump the notion that journalists reflect ideological independence in their work will be a hard sell for most Americans who have lost faith in the institution.
Few Democrats are suggesting it was their policies most voters rejected and need to be changed. If Democrats remain on the road of denial the 2024 results are likely to be repeated in future elections.
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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.