Donald Trump refused to attend the 28 January 2016 Republican debate — why? He cites the press release below as the reason, coupled with his dislike of Megan Kelly, who was one of the moderators.

“We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”

A serious news source that all of a sudden turns into a Saturday Night Live skit — are they after Mr. Trump? Megan Kelly also caused a few questions when she hosted Michael Moore on her show the night after Mr. Trump announced he would not bend his knee to the conservative media deities. Mr. Moore, a hero of the far left and a person disliked by most conservative Americans, applauded and praised Ms. Kelly’s treatment of Mr. Trump profusely during the entire interview.

The next day I watched a few hours of CNN and they had a hate Trump telethon going on, maybe 90 seconds of pro-Trump in three hours of “news.” So for balance I turned to MSNBC, and their coverage was even more negative; according to MSNBC Mr. Trump hates Wounded Warriors, women, African Americans, the poor, immigrants (legal and illegal), the handicapped, unions, children, the military, working people, dogs and cats, hamsters and a few more small furry animals for good measure. The hate-a-thon was reminiscent of the media’s coverage of President Reagan when he was running in 1980s.

Mr. Trump represents the worst nightmare for the big government types, politicians, media types and those dependent on the government for largesse, and those who hugely benefit from the governmental status quo.

Senator Bernie Sanders is not seen as a serious threat to the gravy train for the media and political elite, so the long knives have not come out for him as yet. However, if he wins Iowa and New Hampshire, and he just may, the media will host an unending hate-a-thon targeting Senator Sanders, who also dares to seriously question the current broken system

The elite media is downplaying the importance of the first two primaries as too white and too rich, mostly because Senator Sanders may win, both terrifying to the Democrat/Media establishment. I do not agree with Senator Sanders on most things, but the media’s principles of fairness and truth are being abandoned the closer he gets to victory in the first two primaries, and it is not impartial.

The last time we have seen the establishment media/government happily married couple anywhere near as upset with a candidate as they are with Mr. Trump and Senator Sanders was when Governor Reagan was running for President in 1976  1980. The proliferation of alternative news outlets makes it more difficult for the puppet masters to be the king makers and ordain the next president.

I am fond of saying I was sentenced, for good behavior, to three years in Washington D.C. No true soldier wants to be on the cocktails and canapés circuit. The three years was nothing if not educational. Washington is surreal; good people enter the District of Columbia and they not so slowly mutate into bureaucrats with an oversized sense of importance, and a true belief in their own brilliance and divine wisdom.

The political and media classes are happy with the status quo and want a traditional political type to be president. In plain language, Mr. Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, Carla Fiorina and Senator Sanders scare the hell out of the establishment. The media-approved list of candidates includes Secretary Clinton, Governor Bush and all the cookie-cutter politicians running in both parties.

Only Senator Sanders and Mr. Trump advocate doing anything of substance, or making any real change.

The media/political elite have a good thing going and staying the course is the goal. Sure, a new president can come in and change a few minor things, like changing the wording from happy to glad on a few programs but in the end nothing changes and that is the way those who run things want it. Millions of federal bureaucrats and media elite have carved out fiefdoms and retaining power is their first, last and only mission.

A real election with real meaning would be between Mr. Trump and Senator Sanders. Do we return to our constitutionally-mandated free enterprise Democratic roots, or do we become a Democratic Socialist nation? It would be nice to be given a real choice for a real change.