WASHINGTON — Every presidential election involving a Republican victor inevitably is followed by self-flagellation by the media. For some reason, gosh, how did we get it wrong this time?

How about every time the media’s guy or gal doesn’t win?

We’re familiar with the routine by now. The public has seen it many times in the last 40 years. It is long past time for some self-examination.

Sure, sure, the models threw the politicos off. The polls were misleading. Republicans did far better than many of the folks who track our politics expected. But the news media’s chief problem is that it’s stuck in a bubble, talking mostly to themselves. Sitting in the Green Room, I would listen to my friends and colleagues discussing the folks out yonder and what they had learned on the hustings, thinking: You can’t get there from here. Dropping in a place for a few hours or days isn’t enough to understand why people think a certain way.

I’ve been watching — and have participated in — this charade for close to 35 years as a columnist. When I hooked a U-Haul trailer to my car and drove to Washington in 2003, I told people I was going to be a spy for Bubba. Having observed national reporters parachuting into my home state every four years to take the pulse of their idea of a native, I was annoyed that my cousins (kidding) were being portrayed as ignorant yahoos.

Some are, but this is largely a function of economics and education, not character. I soon understood that stereotypes of “ignorant rednecks” flourished in no small part because of lazy reporters who might as well sit at the counter at the Lizard’s Thicket, sipping sweet tea and eating gravy biscuits for half a day, before winging back to D.C. in time for their next TV hit.

So began my career as a spy — but not for Bubba, as it turned out. My role in Washington was to be a “southern white woman,” as one MSNBC host once called me. I was quickly embraced by cable-tv producers because I had actually lived among the indigenous peoples and could report on their strange habits, such as going to church on Wednesday night, their attachment to God, guns and the Confederate battle flag.

At a certain point, I wearied of trying to answer a question that often came up when I found myself speaking to groups of people outside my home state: Can you explain South Carolina? South Carolinian politician James L. Petigru’s famous quote after the state seceded from the Union in 1860 — “too small for a republic, but too large for an insane asylum” — had grown stale and, so, I defaulted to shaking my head. This usually got a big laugh; I am guilty, I suppose, of tacitly accepting the notion that there’s no explaining stupidity. In truth, it was simply impossible to explain the South’s complexity to people who would never understand because they didn’t really want to.

In 2004, when George W. Bush won a second term, the media were aghast. Why, they didn’t know anyone who had voted for him! What had they missed? MSNBC’s Chris Matthews suggested that the United States initiate an exchange program between coastal and flyover kids so they could understand each other’s culture. One can imagine the excitement of an L.A. teen bound for Savage Fork, Louisiana, while his country counterpart heads for the Hollywood Hills. But, in truth, it may not have been such a bad idea.

A similar reaction followed President Donald Trump’s near re-election a few weeks ago, prompting commentary by journalists once again trying to understand how they had missed the Republican success in House races. It’s a valuable exercise, if it means anything. We know that Joe Biden’s election made perfect sense to most in the Beltway media, as would have Hillary Clinton’s, as did Barack Obama’s, as did Bill Clinton’s. That’s because most of them supported the Democrats through undisguised, selective coverage.

Many Americans quit trusting the media long before Trump turned them into enemies of the people, but he recognized the value of calling out “fake news” to protect him from incoming. It has worked to his advantage but not to the country’s. We’re more divided than ever, more contemptuous and distrustful of the “other,” and doomed if we don’t do something about it. Earnest efforts post-2016 to better understand the American voter, with editors essentially embedding reporters outside their comfort zone, were well-intentioned if not nearly enough.

President-elect Joe Biden has promised that unifying the country will be a priority of his administration. I trust his intentions, but he can only do so much without the media’s cooperation. I’m not suggesting that reporters should relax their watchdog role, but I do hope that all try to remember whence we came. We’re ink-stained wretches, after all, none of us more important than the people we’re supposed to serve — the readers, television viewers and online followers who expect us to trust them to judge unfiltered facts that we present in good faith.

Why wait for New Year’s Day to make a resolution?

kathleenparker@washpost.com.

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