What would media say about naked Hillary statues?

Donald Trump’s naked body was on full display around the country yesterday, in tall, proud, statue form. A group calling itself INDECLINE planted statue representations of the presidential candidate in busy parts of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Cleveland.

The statues featured Trump’s signature coif and grimace, along with the sculptor’s imagining of a sagging derriere, and a sprawling gut overhanging some miniscule genitalia. 

{mosads}The figure was also, shall we say, sans testicles. The “artists” behind the project titled their oeuvre “The Emperor Has No Balls.”

As if the statue had not sufficiently nauseated the general population of Americans, media around the country, increasingly estranged from the country they actually live in, did their part to make the situation worse. Esquire characterized the display in Union Square as “a brief, beautiful moment in New York City history.”

The New York Daily News  headlined: “The Trumperer has no clothes.” “The Huffington Post, not to be outdone in the upper realms of smuggery, observed, “Just when you thought you couldn’t possibly take one more hateful slur, tuft of yellow hair, idiotic threat, or troll-sized orange finger … this happens.” Hilarious! 

In a country once rocked for two weeks by the inadvertent appearance of Janet Jackson’s nipple at the Super Bowl, media condemnation of the objectively vulgar statue suddenly proved non-existent. The mood in the national press was rather jubilant and lauding.

The tone of the media wouldn’t concern if bias in its coverage of the presidential election and cultural affairs in America was not already so out of control.  

Picture, if you will, a naked statue representation of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, erected (erm…) by cover of night in Times Square and on the boardwalks of Los Angeles, the sculptor’s artistic license given free reign. Imagine the sagging breasts, the flabby tum tum, the far-less-than-pert buttocks, and for the coup de grace, creative depictions of the male genitalia. Would the sculptor go very short, or very long? 

It is impossible to quantify the rage that our media would unleash on the nation and heap upon sexist and racist, so-called artists. See, there is at this point, no irony in, no shame from, and no end to, the parade of contradictions that mainstream media will foist on its viewers and readers.

When it comes to Trump, the same rules simply do not apply. He cannot speak for himself; the media will speak for him. He cannot be entitled to dignity; the media will strip it from him however they can. And it’s not because he’s Trump. It’s not because he angered the fans of Univision. It’s because he’s Republican. If it were Jeb Bush, the statue in Times Square would have been of Jeb Bush; the media criticism all the same.

Anyone who’s honest will admit that the media has long favored liberals, but the bias has been worse than ever in this election season. Bashing a political figure’s looks, private lives, and even personally attacking their family members is totally fair game — as long as that political figure is a conservative.

Just look at the coverage on Melania Trump’s white dress at the RNC. Elizabeth Wellington, a fashion writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, suggested that Trump’s dress symbolized racism. “To many, that outfit could be another reminder that in the GOP, white is always right,” she wrote.

Vanessa Friedman of The New York Times wrote, “Ms. Trump’s choice of a white dress…sent all sorts of interesting subliminal signals.”  Just a week later, Wellington gushed over Hillary Clinton’s all-white DNC outfit. “White is a hue that’s both soft and strong.

But it was appropriate: Her acceptance speech was a coming out of sorts. Clinton’s white pantsuit is telling us she has arrived. This is surreal. A dream come true….”   

What would the reaction be if a mainstream journalist made even the slightest negative comment about Clinton’s or Michelle Obama’s attire at the DNC? What if they were called “too old looking,” “too fat,” “too weak”? We all know the answer to this question.

Trump is right when he accuses the mainstream media of protecting Hillary Clinton. Some outlets seem to have abandoned any attempts to appear objective at this point, running nonstop coverage of the nominee’s missteps or proudly filing Trump stories in the “Entertainment” section.

The situation is unfair for Trump. But this situation is his reality. If he wants to win in November, he must stop complaining about it. It’s time to stop whining and start winning. If Trump can focus his bold, brash attitude on the issues he can still turn around his flailing poll numbers. 

Kristin Tate is a Conservative Columnist and Author of the book, “Government Gone Wild: How D.C. Politicians Are Taking You For A Ride and What You Can Do About It“

The views expressed by Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.