If 2024 presidential contest All that has been proven is that the mass media no longer drives the national debate.

They can’t anymore incite fear and anger in average voters. They can no longer support terrible candidates.

And, like him or not, President-elect Donald Trump’s success with black, Hispanic and Jewish voters proves that the whole “fascist” scare is a bust, if the exit polls are even close to accurate.

In fact, the establishment press is less trusted than almost any major institution in American life. This is a deserved disgrace.

It is also a tragedy for a free nation that our press is barely functioning.

Reporters probably tell themselves they are unloved because they are fearless truth tellers. But much more likely it is a referendum on their deception.

Concerted efforts to censor and gaslight us about the Russia collusion hysteria gripping the nation or the Hunter Biden laptop story were never taken into account.

Nor will there be accountability for spending years fear-mongering about impending Nazism.

And remember how we got here. By the time the first presidential debate emerged, most of the media had spent four years covering up President Joe Biden’s mental and physical collapse.

It was perhaps the most stage-managed presidency in history, and not a single mainstream media reporter with access to the White House thought it was important enough to let us know that the commander in chief could barely function.

This is much more than a pedantic fact check on Trump’s hyperbole, it’s the reason we need journalists.

When the Wall Street Journal eventually published a well-sourced article detailing Biden’s slide, the newspaper was widely attacked by left-wing media, which pretended there were deep concerns about the accuracy of the sources in the story.

Coincidentally, these are the same people who treat the Atlantic’s anonymously sourced hits as if they were indisputably real.

Those who shared the video of Biden wandering aimlessly were accused of spreading conspiracy theories themselves.

Once Biden’s fragile mental state could no longer be concealed, the political press immediately and without explanation turned its focus to elbowing the president and taking Vice President Kamala Harris to task.

This is not just prejudice, it is corruption.

Then came “Kamalot,” a shameless, sycophantic and contrived campaign to convince voters that a woefully inadequate candidate who had never won a primary contest was actually a generational political talent.

He went a month without giving an actual interview or even making an impromptu comment. In a properly functioning liberal democracy the press would never support this.

When Harris finally began to unleash his swirling sentences full of platitudes, it became clear that he was in over his head.

Once-respected institutions like “60 Minutes” have thrown away what’s left of their reputations by combining one of Harris’ incoherent ramblings with a coherent response. CBS News has not yet released the transcript of the interview.

Rationalization undoubtedly saved democracy.

But much of the media not only rejects the debate, but also refuses to acknowledge it. like that a discussion.

Too often there is not a single person at MSNBC, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, or the editorial pages of many of the largest newspapers in the country who can clearly articulate their positions. Half the country is in your handsI agree much less with any of these.

And no, filling your panels with Trump-hating ex-conservatives who advocate every left-wing policy position imaginable doesn’t count. The zeal of liberal converts really serves no one.

On election night, I watched MSNBC’s Joy Reid, Chris Hayes, and Rachel Maddow cover the loss to Trump. These were the people who kept the news flowing.

Indeed, a satirist would struggle to replicate some of the astonishing cracks I have heard. For example, Reid, He used the word ‘Fascist’ with the frequency with which a normal person uses pronouns.

There is a remarkable lack of self-awareness in much of the established media. For example, not once did anyone on the MSNBC panel bring up the potential downside of blatantly accusing anyone who disagrees with them of being “fascists.”

Rather, they continued to wonder how all these Americans could vote for Hitler.

Even the day after Harris’ defeat, cable news panels were turning into fight sessions and group therapy. It will almost certainly get worse before it gets better.

In fact, Trump’s presence promises higher ratings in these channels.

With each fiasco, the institution gets worse.

There is a more irresistible self-exaltation. More arrogance. More smugness. A greater, unearned sense of moral superiority. It is highly doubtful that much will change.

The good thing is, most people I stopped listening.

David Harsanyi is a senior writer for the Washington Examiner.