The first State of the Union address given by President Donald Trump had the second most viewers of any State of the Union Address in the past 25 years. The high numbers are not the news story — the numbers who did not view the State of the Union on network TV is.

Of the nearly 40 million who viewed the address on television, more than 21 million viewed it on cable. I can find no number on viewers for media other than television, probably a much smaller number.

Network TV is going the way of the buggy whip, the VCR and print media. The days of the old saying “Do not pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel or videotape by the mile” being true are gone forever.

Our choice to view or read news on non-traditional media showed itself in the last election; network TV, even cable, was solidly against Mr. Trump becoming President Trump. Many folks will say Fox News channel was solidly for the Trump campaign; not true, never Trumpers were all over FOX News. At best FOX News was 60/40 in support of the Trump candidacy; the other cable and network outlets were 90/10 against.

The media, the old school media, is burying the lead on just how Mr. Trump became President Trump; not surprising as it foretells the death of the networks. Entertainment Network TV is also a dying institution; more folks, even old farts like me, are getting entertainment from AMAZON, NETFLIX, HULU and the others.

In the State of the Union Address, President Trump called for the expansion of high-speed Internet to rural areas, a sound move politically on his part as it will speed the downfall of the king makers in the networks and major print media outlets.

The networks are becoming more socially responsible in their entertainment messages; “socially responsible” has come to be more politically correct, apologies to my left-wing friends as politically correct is a term they detest.

A good example of the Holy Grail per the left of center media is the “Dreamers,” according to them, the DACA folks are the future leaders of our nation. Researching this issue uncovers some interesting facts: DACA folks are much less likely to graduate from college than non-illegals and four times as likely to drop out of high school. A controversial study of crime in Arizona (because it is politically incorrect) depicts DACA folks as committing serous violent crime, not related to their illegal status, at a much higher rate than others in the state.

The DACA supporters cite the DACA folks in the military. They do exist, but are a small number; per USA Today, only about 900 of the nearly 900,000 DACA folks in the country. Those 900 deserve our respect, but .1% is not an overwhelming argument, and programs exist for allowing foreign nationals to enlist even if not in a DACA status.

Network news and their ability to manage the national argument is not dead, but it is on life support. The days of a lead story on a candidate being worth a plus or minus 1,000,000 votes are long gone, President Trump being a grand example.

To be perfectly honest I can’t remember the last time I viewed network news.