[NBC Opinion Piece] Trump's impeachment trial is being tuned out by America because no one thinks it matters

[WereSalamander]

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opini...eing-tuned-out-america-because-no-ncna1126996

This is an opinion piece, and by someone with a seeming conservative bent. I'm giving it its due dose of skepticism, but it does illustrate certain points that I think are important.

Just over 4 million people, in a country of 320 million-plus, tuned in for the opening arguments on the three big networks last week. That's well less than the 11 million people who regularly watch the soaps on those channels.

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EtcEra might give the impression that people are openly outrage by GOP antics en masse but apparently very few people are watching the impeachment. Of course, they're going by Nielson ratings which doesn't take into account social media activity, and there it could easily be a different story. Still I think the overall mood of the country is that the impeachment trial doesn't matter, and the article gives some possible reasons:

Most Americans are motivated not by the propriety of our politics but by its effects on their lives. In the impeachment and attempted removal of Trump, they've been given little reason to panic — or even care.

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There are many reasons for this that are worth noting. And the main one is probably this: The conclusion seems foreordained.

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This is probably the one most of us are familiar with. It's been a foregone conclusion that he GOP was going to go party over country no matter what. The degree to which they did was shocking but the overall conclusion wasn't out of expectation.

This one disturbs me though:

Furthermore, to the extent that Americans are following the details of these foreign dealings and think Trump did something improper here, there's little to suggest they see it as far outside of normal Washington corruption.

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General American distrust and distaste of government is well-known by this point. This however is concerning because it shows that Americans have been so gaslit by media and propaganda that they think Trump's actions are typical of ordinary government corruption. It is not. Trump's presidency has been uniquely extraordinary in its damage to America's institutions and standing in the world.

Americans have also been conditioned to believe that government corruption will always be a thing so they don't protest about it because they believe it will never change. They believe its like a force of nature which you cannot stop or fight against, only try to weather through and survive. Which is a lie, and one that's been drilled into their heads by propaganda and other stuff.

I see this behavior so often in life. It's like in regards to violence against women. They believe that there will always be rapists and other evil men and you can't change that. So instead of trying to fight and even influence just a little bit the societal factors that make it easy for men to assault women, they instead blame the victims telling them they should've been more careful or should've dressed more conservatively, etc.

I don't understand how people have become so comfortable with being helpless victims and willing slaves to the people and institutions that try to oppress them, and even go to lengths to defend them. It's mind-boggling.

 

[Betty]

I think it's more to do with the fact that his supporters don't care if he does illegal things because the alternative, allowing the Democrats to 'win' in any way, is unthinkable.

They will happily suffer, struggle, starve, die and ruin themselves just to spite the opposition.

 

[Bengraven]

Nah, people are just holding their breath...for one reason or the other.

 

[Kinggroin]

No one in my everyday world (with the exception of one person) seems to care.

 

[Replicant]

Country has changed. People don't care about politics anymore. Less than than half of eligible voters even bother to vote.

 

[WedgeX]

The general degrading of democratic participation in civic life foreshadowed this. And probably signals a major milestone in the decline of the US' democratic republic.

 

[Thorn]

No one in my everyday world (with the exception of one person) seems to care.

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None of my coworkers even knew what the senate trial was for.

 

[shintoki]

It came at the perfect time to bury it with the one two punch of Kobe and Wuhan. While Rs don't give two shits what he did wrong, their nose is so far up his own ass. While Ds know it is a sham. This is a case of Cops investigating themselves.

 

[Lucas M. Thomas]

He's right.

 

[ArrogantBastard]

It doesn't matter.

 

[Common Knowledge]

Everybody knew how it was going to end. Why waste time actually watching it?

 

[Shake Appeal]

The U.S. constitutional system has failed its citizens for so long, no wonder they expect it to fail them again.

 

[Masoyama]

Me included. Just get on with it, the primaries are what matters.

 

[Deleted member 1086]

no one cares because it's been clear ever since this whole thing started that the Senate is letting him off

 

[5taquitos]

Country has changed. People don't care about politics anymore. Less than than half of eligible voters even bother to vote.

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Low voter turnout has been the norm for decades.

Voter turnout in United States presidential elections - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[TheGhost]

I think trump has been on some sort of "trial" for years now. Stormy Daniels, Mueller (remember that guy) and now an impeachment. Nothing is surprising at this point. Even the impeachment by the Democrats seems to be shrugged off. It's no surprise people are tuning out. I don't hear anyone talking about this "off line". It's just another day in America it feels like.

 

[ghostemoji]

I think a lot of people have viewed Trump's acquittal as a foregone conclusion due to McConnell and company.

 

[Gouty]

What's to follow? Everyone knew the outcome before any of this even started. House Dem would impeach, Repub Sen would acquit.

 

[Kernel]

Lulling people into apathy is how autocrats take control of governments.

 

[Loxley]

Republicans: Not watching because they know that their elected GOP clowns in the Senate will make this all go away.

Dems: Not watching because they know that the elected GOP clowns in the Senate will make this all go away.

Everyone, everyone knew from the outset knew this had zero chance of actually removing Trump from office. Folks aren't tuning in because no one wants to waste their time watching the GOP acquit a guy they've said they're going to acquit multiple times.

It's like knowing the outcome of the Super Bowl before it starts. They'd get less than half of the viewership because what would be the point in watching?

 

[Zache]

Is he wrong?

 

[maigret]

Haven't heard a single person even bring this up at work, despite it being only the second time it's happened in most of our lives. Generally in American workplaces politics talk is a social no no but still, nobody even casually mentioned it.

 

[Monkey D.]

republicans wont vote against him so yes it doesnt matter. its sad but true.

 

[Mekanos]

My opinion has been that the last four years have been an exercise in outrage fatigue - Trump's bullshit has gotten to the point where it's just normal and part of living in America now, love it or hate it. You can only get mad for so long if nothing changes.

 

[Duxxy3]

The system is designed to over represent underrepresented areas. It's a mistake the founding fathers didn't or couldn't foresee.

 

[Deleted member 1086]

as an aside that web page is an affront to the eyes, good god

 

[thisismadness]

I tuned out because I knew republicans would never allow a fair trial and they were going to acquit Trump because it is in the best interests of their party.

I imagine that is why most people aren't bothering to watch.

 

[Mahonay]

Well they just voted to not even see witnesses, so it's obvious it's being fast tracked by the traitors to acquit Trump, despite the mountain of evidence that clearly shows he chose his own interests over the country.

 

[devilhawk]

I couldn't go an hour without this being brought up at work. But I'm in a highly educated (phd and md) field where no one would dare publicly support Trump.

 

[Lebron]

We all knew how it would play out. Why bother stressing

bring on November

 

[TheRuralJuror]

No one in my everyday world (with the exception of one person) seems to care.

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I care deeply, vote religiously and stay on top of news, but outside of my nearest and dearest, trump is a topic I just don't want to discuss with most people, so I'm sure there's some situations similar to mine as well. I didn't watch because I knew it was a farce.

 

[DongBeetle]

It doesn't matter. They will acquit him ASAP

 

[IMCaprica]

Tuning out of the farce means nothing. It's when the democrats inevitably stop talking about it completely next week that'll kill America.

 

[Stall_19]

Kinda where I'm at. Seems like a gigantic waste of time. Republicans are never gonna go against party lines so what's the point? It's a forgone conclusion he stays in power. Only way to remove Trump is to vote Democrat come election time.

 

[dodo]

Iowa is this week. It's been clear for a long time that the Senate was never going to convict him. While I certainly wouldn't say an impeachment is meaningless, it's really not very material to the average american, staring down the barrel of an actual election, how many official frowny faces go next to Trump's name in the history books.

I feel like it's really tempting for people who are invested in the impeachment to spin this as defeatism, but I really don't think that's the case. I just think it shows that getting here took way too long.

 

[CrankyJay]

They will happily suffer, struggle, starve, die and ruin themselves just to spite the opposition.

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A lot of his supporters aren't going through any of these things though.

 

[Dennis8K]

At my work nobody is talking about this.

 

[Dyle]

It doesn't matter more than anything else the gop does, this is business as usual for them. I listened to maybe 15 minutes and that was more than I could handle, listening to any more of it live was clearly going to be a waste of my time

The delay also really killed impeachment's momentum too. People would not have tuned out as fast if it had started two weeks earlier

 

[Deleted member 1476]

Kobe dying and the coronavirus destroyed any traction it could have.

 

[peppersky]

him being impeached on some technicality would change literally nothing, so there is seriously no reason to follow it at all

The system is designed to over represent underrepresented areas. It's a mistake the founding fathers didn't or couldn't foresee.

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lol no
the system was specifically designed so that property owners would have more voting power than non-property owners. the system working this way wasn't a mistake

 

[StarStorm]

Hard to care when the Senate wants to protect him at all cost. We all know what the result is going to be.

 

[UltimateHigh]

100% why im not watching any of it.

sham

 

[Mammoth Jones]

no one cares because it's been clear ever since this whole thing started that the Senate is letting him off

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Exqctly.

 

[LBsquared]

They're not wrong. If I thought the outcome wasn't predetermined, I would have cared, but it was, so I didn't.

 

[Deleted member 176]

I haven't been following it all and I don't know anyone who's talked about it. Even the Trump loving family members won't talk about it. Everyone is more concerned about November.

 

[Deleted member 8741]

I am very engaged politically overall, but I've kinda tuned it out too. I read the updates, but I know what's going down at this point.

It's sucks, but it's true. People are exhausted by all of this. It is exhausting. Doesn't mean we shouldn't care, but staying engaged 24/7 is just too much for most people.

 

[Fushichou187]

Well they just voted to not even see witnesses, so it's obvious it's being fast tracked by the traitors to acquit Trump, despite the mountain of evidence that clearly shows he chose his own interests over the country.

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Such a monumental miscalculation by vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year. They could have easily heard witness testimony— at a bare minimum John Bolton— and still acquitted trump with the facade of "fairness". Now though? Open season.

 

[Yunyo]

Everyone already knows the results because we know the Republican Senate could not give less of a shit. Additionally, we know the Republican Party as a whole does not give a shit about accountability.

If you want people to tune in and care then there has to be some tangible result that can be achieved from this. That's why everyone's so focused on the upcoming election instead.

 

[Feep]

I'm very politically engaged and I'm not following closely. It was plain as day a long time ago that this would be a sham. I have no interest in watching people make a mockery of my country and will canvas and volunteer for the Democratic candidate in the general.

 

[TripaSeca]

Just wait until a leftist tires to do 1/1000th of what Trump ever did.
Streets would be crowded, everything on fire.
They don't care because it's a bit rich white man