Acolytes of Ignorance

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." -- Thomas Gray, 1777

   The blissful ignorance emanating from Trumpworld includes these quotes from the soon-to-be President's acolytes:
   "Facts don't matter any more."
   "Take him seriously, but don't take him literally."
   And these from the Ignoramus in Chief:  "I never said that." (Roll the video.) "Oh, well maybe I did, but what I said was a euphemism."
   He has also alleged that the reason he lost the popular vote count by 2.6 million was because millions of people voted illegally.
   Nevertheless, Trump claimed a "landslide" and a "mandate" as he continued his diatribe against journalists who expose the falsehoods and document the truth.
   Politicians are fond of backing away from embarrassing comments by insisting they were misquoted, or their remarks were taken out of context, and claiming that "What I really meant was ... "
   Nice try, but journalists don't work that way. News writers can only report what you say. As for what you really mean, you should say that up front.
   Put it this way: How are we to know when you are speaking literally or metaphorically, when the phrasing and the meaning is clear?
   When a Trumpworld surrogate says journalists should "take him seriously, but don't take him literally," how is anyone to know the difference? Donald Trump nearly always presents a serious demeanor when he speaks. His jokes are nearly nonexistent. In any case, when a major political leader speaks, journalists report exactly what he says. When a comment comes back to bite, the fault is with the speaker, not the reporter.
   There is no bigger league than the presidency of the United States, and every word that a President or a President-elect says is to be reported and documented to the American public. And it's the duty of journalists to expose inconsistencies, untruths and ignorance in order to protect the American system.
   Unfortunately, the news media got caught in the sizzle cooked up by the Republican candidate, rather than looking for the steak -- which wasn't there. Recently, journalists have been doing a lot of soul searching since the election, and became aware they were derelict in their reporting duties. They reported what was said -- literally, on the assumption that the candidate said what he meant and meant what he said.
   Now the successful candidate Donald Trump and his acolytes insist that journalists were wrong in reporting just what the candidate said, without pointing out and explaining the metaphors and euphemisms.
   Roll the video. There were no metaphors or euphemisms when Trump listed many times what he would or would not do as President.
   A reporter's duty is just that -- to report what is said and done. To expect journalism to explain what a candidate "really meant" when he said something unrealistic, ignorant, counter-factual and even unconstitutional is to believe journalists are "part of the team," and will write only the good, complimentary stuff while covering up the rest.
   Journalists are scorekeepers, not part of the team.