If there was anything the signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted to prevent among the citizens of a new nation, it was the lethal combination of apathy and cynicism. 

In 1776, the Founding Fathers needed Americans who were committed and connected to the cause and believed these men were truly and honestly pledging their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor,” not just to each other, but to the people United States as a whole.   

As the country marked its 248th birthday yesterday, we are a nation marinating in ever deepening apathy and cynicism as the elite axis of the governing class and the national news media are trying to extricate themselves from years of callous dishonesty.

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Consider the laughable idea the media elite suddenly discovered on an Atlanta debate stage that the elderly president of the United States has significant cognitive impairment and is increasingly physically frail.  

As if until then President Joe Biden had the sweeping vision of Jefferson, the rhetorical brilliance of Churchill and the fancy footwork of Patrick Mahomes. And then in a head-slapping moment they said, “Good heavens he was sharp as a tack yesterday. What happened?”

One D.C. insider newsletter asked how the media could have “allowed our audience to be surprised about the basic condition… of the president.” 

Flash: They weren’t surprised. In your arrogance, you thought Americans view reality only through your filter. 

The real surprise was it took so long for the leftward-leaning New York-DC media to admit to what average folks have seen for years. 

We saw it every time the president was off script or off leash. 

The White House is full of reporters who certainly knew — and know — the president has no business being president. They cynically chuckled in silence as Biden’s press secretary said videos of the stumbling, bumbling Biden were “cheapfakes.”

That may have been the biggest fake of all. 

The former executive editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson, was quoted in Semafor putting her finger on the totality of the problem facing not only the media but, by extension, the entire liberal pundit class.   

“Too many journalists didn’t try to get the story because they did not want to be accused of helping Donald Trump,” she wrote.

Bingo.

Stopping Trump is all that matters. It overshadows the media’s fundamental duty to report the facts and let the chips fall. It even overshadows concern for their own credibility — or the critical need for a fair, unbiased and aggressive media to hold both political parties accountable, not just Republicans.

It’s a damaging disconnect. 

A Pew Research survey from 2022 showed the chasm between journalists and their audience. In the survey, 55% of U.S. journalists agreed with the statement that “every side of a story does not always deserve equal coverage.” Only 22% of Americans  shared that view. However, 76% of Americans agreed “journalists should always strive to give every side equal coverage.” 

It’s how agenda journalists justify their four-year commitment to prop up Joe Biden and paper over his massive problems. It’s also why they turned on him now.

They are suffering collective incontinence at the prospect of Trump redux. 

When Joe Biden presented a credible wall to the restoration of The Donald, the media had his back. When that wall crumbled, Biden had to go. 

They turned on him faster than the Mafia against a rat. And they didn’t even want to take the cannoli. 

This is just the latest illustration of why Americans have lost faith in institutions such as the news media. It’s also why they are increasingly cynical, questioning whether one can believe anything that emanates from the media capitals of D.C. or New York. 

Increasingly, they tune it all out, including when it’s time to vote. Just one in four Colorado voters could be bothered to mark a ballot in the June primary, down from 33% two years ago.

Disbelief breeds cynicism. Cynicism breeds apathy. And apathy is a cancer in a self-governing republic, causing us to be saddled with not the best and the brightest, but the worst and the dimmest. 

It’s a real question as the nation shuffles toward its 250th birthday: is it too late for an American revival?

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.