A couple of columns ago I wrote an update to “Message from Trump Country 2.0 - Part One” promising a sequel. Not surprisingly, news events (hurricanes, missile launches, race wars, terrorist attacks… those sort of things) delayed part two. If we don’t finish this now we might never, so let’s get to it.
To briefly recap, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria put together a one-hour special a couple of weeks ago called “Why Trump Won.” He broke it down into “4 Cs”: Capitalism, Culture, Class and Communication. I tackled the first two in the earlier column, now let’s address Class and Communication:
Class 
Zakaria: “The third divide in America today is about class. The Trump vote is in large part an act of class rebellion, a working class revolt against know-it-all elites who run the country. These voters will stick with Donald Trump even as he flails, rather than vindicate the elite, urban view of him.”
Of the four Cs, Fareed is probably warmest on this one. Yes, the vote last year was a rebellion against coastal elites who think they run the country, more so than a total affection for the persona of Donald Trump.

But I get the sense that people like Zakaria keep waiting for the other shoe to drop... that we’re all just one-controversial-comment-by-President Trump away from abandoning him altogether. No, the only thing that will make people who live in “Trump Country” abandon Trump is if Trump abandons his agenda.
Communication
Zakaria: “The final C in this story is communication. We have gone from an America where people watched three networks that provided a uniform view of the world to one where everyone can pick their own channel, message, and now even their own facts.”
Zakaria seems to yearn for the days when ABC, NBC and CBS decided what was and wasn’t news. Twenty-two minutes of content a night. Think about that. Squeezing everything that is going on in the world into 22 minutes with one talking head ultimately deciding what’s important and what’s not.
Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw were the men to anchor news casts that didn’t compete with cable news.
Moreover, the idea that there is a “uniform view of the world” is preposterous. Fox News slants, admittedly to the “Right,” MSNBC to the “Left,” and CNN pretends to be objective but is really often more biased to the “Left” than MSNBC.
The major networks — CBS, NBC and ABC — still have large audiences, but they no longer control what the news is. That’s a good thing. We’re also approaching the beginning of the fourth decade of multiple news sources (the mid-90s, 00s, 10s and soon the 20s) which is about the same length of time that TV news consumption was just three networks (mid 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s). The “good old days” of three networks will soon be long forgotten.
Zakaria is not completely off in his assessment of those of us in Flyover Country, but the disdain and patronizing tone he takes continues to turn people off. 
Donald Trump will no longer be president one day, but those of us who live proudly in the small towns of America are not going anywhere. 

Michael Koolidge lives in Rochelle and hosts the regionally syndicated radio program The Michael Koolidge Show (www.koolidge.com) heard daily on ten radio stations statewide, including Rockford’s 1440 WROK from 9 to 11 a.m. live every weekday morning. Public officials and citizens can reach the show anytime at radio@koolidge.