A Final Reminder: Here’s Who ‘Owns’ the Trump Presidency and Who Will Get the Blame/Praise

As we all brace for the official start to a Donald Trump presidency which most of us never thought would happen, it is important to set down some markers. Specifically, who will get the credit/blame for whatever happens next as we find out what is really behind the mystery door America somehow chose on this all-too-real version of “Let’s Make A Deal.”

If we are being honest, no one knows what this unprecedented excursion into presidential lunacy is going to bring. As an ardent Trump-critic, even I am moderately hopeful that we are strong enough to survive the worst of it, and I legitimately expect some of what we get will actually be pretty darn good. However, I can’t shake (especially since his transition has shown absolutely no signs that the gravity of the circumstances have magically changed him) the very strong sense that, like watching a drug user ride the rollercoaster of addiction, it just can’t end well.

So, with that in mind, in no particular order, here are some of the more prominent people and entities who most “own” the Trump presidency and are therefore in line for the blame/praise for whatever ends up happening starting on Friday:

Jeff Zucker and CNN: Trump’s current favorite network to bash played a very key role in helping him take control of the Republican primary process when, led by his family friend Zucker, they provided him with hours of unfettered access to the airwaves and giving his candidacy far more credibility than it deserved, all for ratings and revenue (which they got). Now they get rewarded with at least four years of exciting content, and probably more great ratings.

Morning Joe: The MSNBC show which was by far the most schizophrenic when it came to either being a Trump suck-up or a critic, also sold out to him for access/ratings in a way which was very helpful to his nomination. When/if Joe Scarborough finally jumps ship for good will be a telling indicator of Trump’s presidency.

Sean Hannity: No one gave up more of their previously proclaimed principles in a more overt ploy for Trump-induced ratings than Hannity. He often declared when he thought Trump would lose the general election that “Never Trump” conservatives like me “owned” a Hillary Clinton presidency. Now he gets to “own,” for better or worse, what happens for at least the next four years. Sleep well Sean.

Bill O’Reilly: Hannity’s hated rival at Fox News, seeking ratings during a slow summer period, also gave Trump’s campaign far too much credibility when it was still fledgling. Then he provided his “milkshake” buddy with plenty of free airtime without any fear of being hit with difficult questions, but I’m sure he was just protecting “the folks” which make up his audience.

Rush Limbaugh: The man who became a legend as the voice of conservatism was the only one person who, had he decided to put it all on the line to stop his golf pal during the GOP primaries, could have done so. Instead, he decided to go along with the ratings wave and allowed conservatism to effectively die, probably forever. Weirdly, his massive wealth will only be enhanced by this development, but I am sure that is just a coincidence.

Megyn Kelly: While seen as a Trump-critic (which worked very well for her career), she actually helped protect Trump by withholding potentially key pieces of information about him so that she could save them for her post-election book.

Roger Ailes: One of the more remarkable facts of this utterly insane political cycle is that the former Fox News Czar was somehow largely responsible for making his pal Trump the GOP nominee all while his empire was crumbling due to sexual harassment allegations which resulted in his departure.

Breitbart.com: My one-time close friend Andrew Breitbart’s creation completely embarrassed itself by openly campaigning during the primary for a guy Andrew knew was a liberal conman and against legitimate conservatives. Now their CEO is a senior presidential advisor, and I’m sure they are in much better financial shape than they were a year ago, but they will never get their soul back.

Matt Drudge: The man who created the once-great Drudge Report, in a key development, sold out totally to Trump very early on in the process and his website has now become about one step (on a good day) above a bizarre combination of InfoWars and Pravda.

Sarah Palin: The woman who I spent almost two years of my life defending became the first big-name conservative to endorse Trump, despite the fact that on two of her most passionate issues (abortion and disabilities) Trump is an embarrassment. In return for this betrayal of her own values she got… basically nothing. Who knew the soul of a once good person could end up being worth so little?

Ted Cruz: Of all the GOP candidates who went soft on Trump during the primaries because he wrongly thought that he could pick of his supporters when the fake billionaire inevitably crashed and burned, Cruz was the only one who had a chance to attack him from a position of strength when he pulled even with him in polls at the end of 2015. Instead, he wimped out and then spent most of the next year intermittently being humiliated by Trump, giving up his own principles, and sucking up to the new King.

Jeb Bush and Mike Murphy: Bush and the head of his Super PAC, having made the tragic miscalculation that they could ignore Trump, spent enormous amounts of capital attacking Marco Rubio, who, it turns out, had the best chance of both stopping Trump and beating Hillary. Had Jeb never selfishly/stupidly gotten into the race to begin with (thus giving Trump the perfect “low energy foil”) then I doubt that Trump is about to be president.

GOP Opposition Researchers: How in the world did hardly any of the voluminous amount of devastating audio/video of past Trump statements never come out until it was far too late to stop him from being the GOP nominee?! It appears that even Trump himself was shocked by this. Of course the news media itself was also way too slow to go after Trump with full guns ablaze because they were afraid they would kill their golden goose prematurely and never thought he could actually win.

Twitter and Media Fragmentation: Of all the many elements of the “perfect storm” which led to Trump winning both the GOP nomination and the presidency, the most underrated is the radical change in the media environment which fundamentally altered the business model and thus the focus of news media outlets. The end of “broadcasting” in favor of “narrowcasting” created a situation where a celebrity with over ten million Twitter followers and the backing of a conservative media industrial complex desperate for ratings to save them from a broken business model, could dominate a presidential primary which began with 16 candidates.

James Comey: With all the talk of Russia’s involvement in the campaign, it seems to me that the obvious impact of the FBI director’s two letters to Congress very late in the campaign (and ultimately based on nothing substantive) has been greatly underreported. While we will never know for sure, the evidence indicates that had he not sent those, Trump would not have won.

Pollsters: While not nearly as wrong about the final results as the perception which was created on Election Night, the pollsters underestimating Trump’s strength, or Hillary’s weakness, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida (which, by the way, are about the only places they did so) definitely created a false sense of security among Democrats, which muffled their turnout in those decisive states.

The Media’s Relationship with Obama: Because the mainstream news media so overtly slobbered all over President Obama through both of his presidential campaigns, as well as during his entire presidency, they lost what was left of their credibility with a huge portion of the population. When a salesman from a GM dealership tells you that cars from Ford are the worst ever made, it shouldn’t be surprising that no one believes them, no matter how true that might be. To borrow a phrase from Obama’s former favorite pastor Reverend Wright, in 2016 the news media saw the chickens come home to roost for their past sins.

Liberals: Years of liberals helping political correctness run amok created fertile ground for Trump to reap the benefits of the inevitable backlash. Their over-the-top demonizing of good people like George Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Mitt Romney, like the proverbial boy who cried “wolf,” destroyed the ability of their cataclysmic warnings about Trump to be taken seriously.

The Hillary Campaign: When you have over a billion dollars to spend, most of the news media clearly behind you, a popular incumbent president backing you, and an opponent with about a 60% disapproval rating, you should win, regardless of how awful your candidate is or what letters the FBI director sends to Congress. When you bank your entire campaign on a Midwest “firewall,” perhaps you should actually bother to spend some time and money there.

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John Ziegler hosts a weekly podcast focusing on news media issues and is a documentary filmmaker. You can follow him on Twitter at @ZigManFreud or email him at johnz@mediaite.com

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.