Final Word from Wednesday, March 6, 2019

British historian David Runciman told Lidové noviny last month that one reason he expects Donald Trump to lose the U.S. presidential elections next year is his failure to take control of the media. In this statement is the assumption that Trump wants to take control of the media. We respectfully disagree. The opposition media are a big factor in Trump's success. If he didn't have Rachel Maddow beating on him five days a week, Trump and his friendly media would lose many of their talking points. And if Trump did "take control" of the opposition media through abuse of the Federal Communications Commission or some other underhanded method, he would lose many of his Republican supporters. Andrej Babiš is in a similar position. He can claim that ODS and the other traditional parties "created" him, but a large share of the thanks goes to the opposition media. The best way for the media to defeat Trump or Babiš is to start providing fair coverage of them. [ Czech Republic MSNBC United States visit White House ]