Donald Trump has become a monster, and the media must share the blame

All America’s politicians and pundits declared confidently that Donald Trump was a joke as a presidential candidate, and he would be finished as soon as real campaigning began.

Yet, it’s mid-February, and Trump is triumphing: a crushing victory in New Hampshire and huge leads over his conventional Republican opponents. Bookmakers have shortened the odds on him becoming president, making him second only to Hillary Clinton. Some pundits, even those on the left, now say Trump could go all the way to the White House.

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But there will be a terrible price to pay – for America and the world – unless Trump is stopped. That is tough because of the deep corruption in the American system.

Trump is a toxic by-product of the capture and purchase of the American polity by Wall Street and its corporate allies.

Trump himself is commonly misperceived as one of the giants of big business. He is a maverick. His business reputation is actually far from the slam-dunk success he pretends. He has built his political platform pandering to the ordinary folk of middle America, many of whom are victims of modern capitalism. That is also why the Republican establishment, entwined with big finance, is uncomfortable about his rise.

He is a billionaire when money politics is driving the presidential race, which may cost up to US$5 billion, against US$2.6 billion spent in 2012. But Trump is living on the free air of media attention. In New Hampshire, he spent just US$3.7 million, against more than US$36 million that Jeb Bush spent to come in fourth.