President Donald Trump‘s announcement of a plan to try to help the American movie industry by imposing tariffs on films made abroad has drawn much confusion and criticism. But Hollywood is in freefall. California productions have flatlined and landing a TV writing job is now like competing in The Hunger Games. Can the business, as we know it, be saved—and who is truly to blame for its current implosion?

Here’s a wacky theory regarding the second question from this journalist turned TV writer: Trump viewers have brought Hollywood to its knees, with an assist from the series The Wire and other “prestige” TV projects.

Here’s what I mean.

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When I was a kid, there wasn’t a thing called “prestige” television. There was just television. If it was good, everybody watched it. If it was bad, it got canceled and mostly forgotten.

St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey, The Golden Girls, The Jeffersons—all of these classic shows were mainstream hits, driving cultural conversations, generating massive audiences and winning plenty of critical acclaim. And they were all on network television.

But cable created a class divide. I once had to beg a friend to let me come over and watch

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