"My head's made up. You can't confuse me with the facts." -- Chester A. Riley
Demagogues succeed only so long as they have an audience. These days, news media enable demagogues by providing microphones and cameras for their rantings.
Politicians learn early in their careers how to manipulate the media for maximum exposure for their views. To the extent that radio, television and print media provide a platform, they are demagogue enablers.
Unplug the microphone and turn off the camera, and the demagogue is silenced. Further, when reporters and editors ignore the speechifying, they serve as news filters, separating the valuable from the dross.
Conservatives are fond of saying they speak for the American people. Reality check: They speak for some, not all. One member of the House of Representatives speaks for one faction of one party in one district in one state as part of one part of the Congress in one branch of government.
That person does not and cannot speak for all Americans, because that person does not represent all Americans.
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