Dear Donald: You Clever Son of a Gun, You...

As a Communications graduate student, I have learned the ins and outs of Media, and how impressionable it can be on masses. Of the many lessons I've learned throughout my educational journey, one essential ideology has always stuck with me. It comes from researchers Max McCombs and Donald Shaw who conducted a study in 1968 to determine the salience of the media's influence on the public. From the foundation of the researcher's work, Bernard Cohen assisted in the development of 'agenda-setting theory,' which recognized that:

"The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about."

Well, Mr. Trump, you must have taken a chapter (or two) from their books because, your presidential 'campaign' commanded the attention of most prime news networks, and became a trending model on most major social platforms. It seems you knew just the right things to say in order to burn the bridges we were once attempting to restore. Whether we were with or against you, it became impossible to avoid discussing you, debating you, cursing you, all while dancing to the beat of your song like the puppets we have been influenced to be - you just did what any honest and fair man would do, which was use the unrestricted tools that were provided to you.

"I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."

You were every journalist's dream for a cover story: you said whatever you wanted, without regret or a second thought, and provided leverage for those individuals who were too afraid to voice their true feelings until you came along. You gave them a voice, you gave them hope, you gave them a show! Somewhat like our instinct to want to turn our head but still peek at a scary movie or an accident, you were a train wreck that we couldn't miss. Your dominant nature on stage and in front of audiences made for headlines each time, and we expected nothing less.

"No one has more respect for women than me."

The ability to extort fifteen percent more air time than your opponent Clinton, with cruel jokes and false promises is quite impressive - You were the center of political attention. Every day seemed like a nightmare we could not escape; you were everywhere, and I mean that as invasively as possible! But, if the media wasn't completely blown away by your other tactics, you had this natural gift of contradicting yourself, forcing your wretched name to resurface. You have utilized media outlets as a mass hypnotizing device to gather groups and use them as armies of Trumpetting jerks, and it didn't take much effort. News networks made it easy for you to reach and engage the people you needed on your team. And with all of your ducks in a row, there was no way you could be defeated.