@TuckerCarlson's apology is noted – and the self-awareness he showed in saying 'it's not enough to say I changed my mind' is, at least, a start. But an apology from the wings of a burning theatre does not put out the fire. He, @MegynKelly, @RealCandace, @RealAlexJones, and the wider group of influencers who laundered Trump's candidacy into something palatable now carry the current disasters on their conscience: the war in Iran, the strikes on sovereign nations, the institutional damage at home, and the human cost already being tallied in lives and livelihoods across multiple countries – even here in Australia.
What is genuinely impossible to understand is how people of obvious intelligence and media sophistication were, by their own account now, duped. From Australia, I was arguing against him and for the Democrats because the writing was not merely on the wall – it was the wall. Trump's campaign promises were transparently hollow, and the record since confirms it: very few have been executed in any form that resembles what was sold to voters. The lies, the sexism, the racism, the abusiveness, the reality showmanship, the transactional worship of wealth, the malignant narcissism – none of this was hidden. It was on tape, in court filings, in his own words, long before his first run. To claim surprise now is either a failure of judgement on a historic scale or a convenient fiction being constructed in retrospect.
Words, at this point, are the cheapest currency these influencers have. They still command audiences in the millions. They still have platforms, producers, distribution, and credibility with the very voters who could force a political correction. An apology that ends at the microphone is not contrition – it is brand management.
Real amends would look like sustained, specific, on-the-record opposition to this administration's most destructive policies; platforming those harmed by them; funding independent journalism; and using their reach to move their own audiences, not just to reassure their critics. The test is not whether they feel tormented. The test is what they do with the rest of their careers to help get this callous and increasingly tyrannical regime out of office – by every lawful means available.
- Cedar
What is genuinely impossible to understand is how people of obvious intelligence and media sophistication were, by their own account now, duped. From Australia, I was arguing against him and for the Democrats because the writing was not merely on the wall – it was the wall. Trump's campaign promises were transparently hollow, and the record since confirms it: very few have been executed in any form that resembles what was sold to voters. The lies, the sexism, the racism, the abusiveness, the reality showmanship, the transactional worship of wealth, the malignant narcissism – none of this was hidden. It was on tape, in court filings, in his own words, long before his first run. To claim surprise now is either a failure of judgement on a historic scale or a convenient fiction being constructed in retrospect.
Words, at this point, are the cheapest currency these influencers have. They still command audiences in the millions. They still have platforms, producers, distribution, and credibility with the very voters who could force a political correction. An apology that ends at the microphone is not contrition – it is brand management.
Real amends would look like sustained, specific, on-the-record opposition to this administration's most destructive policies; platforming those harmed by them; funding independent journalism; and using their reach to move their own audiences, not just to reassure their critics. The test is not whether they feel tormented. The test is what they do with the rest of their careers to help get this callous and increasingly tyrannical regime out of office – by every lawful means available.
- Cedar
