Before Trump became president bad behavior at the top was usually
sanitized with public relations. The corporate media and others among
the ruling elites hid atrocities in plain sight with appealing
narratives and good photo opportunities. They excused politicians who
routinely benefited the 1% and disadvantaged everyone else. The end
result is an ugly system that is made to look pretty with the right
amount of marketing.
This phenomenon was especially true during the Barack Obama
administration. He had the all-important buy-in from corporate media.
They turned the Obamas into an American version of a royal family and
then used his personal popularity to make the case for war crimes and
bank bailouts. They worked hand in hand to make dirty deeds look clean.
Obama and his predecessors undermined climate change
agreements and made them toothless. Trump did one better by opting out
but tremendous damage was done by a president who was called an
environmentalist. Obama was called the peace candidate when he expanded
wars. He fought hard to ratify the undemocratic, job
killing TPP trade deal which was stopped only by Trump’s white
nationalist ideology.
-- Margaret Kimberley, "Freedom Rider: America’s Embarrassment" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).