Free Press

Trump Smacks Down His Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Over His Loyalty Pledge on the Free Press

Posted by on September 21, 2025 at 1:46 pm. 0 Comments :

The continuing crusade by the regime of Donald Trump to undermine the Constitution’s First Amendment is hitting new lows as he presides over previously unimaginable assaults on free speech and freedom of the press. He is playing by the rules laid out by history’s most notorious totalitarians that he admires and seeks to emulate.

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Pete Hegseth with Drunk Emoji

This week Trump’s Secretary of Defense (War?), Pete Hegseth, decreed that the press must comply with a sort of loyalty oath before they will be permitted any access to the Pentagon or the military leaders who work for the American people. It’s just what you might expect from a dry drunk whose qualifications for the job consist of having co-hosted a weekend morning program on Fox News. And it affirms the twisted mindset of Trump, who believes that he can dictate what the media reports about him.

SEE THIS: Trump’s 97% Solution is Further Evidence of His Declining Mental Acuity and Pathological Lying

The mandate that Hegseth imposed on the press forbids them to do any investigative reporting, interviewing, or to publish any stories that haven’t been pre-approved by Hegseth’s Pentagon overlords. As reported by NPR, the network that Trump and the GOP have defunded…

“The Pentagon will drastically change its rules for journalists who cover the Department of Defense, two U.S. officials who are not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to NPR Friday. The move drew sharp criticism from news organizations, who said it violated the bedrock of a free press.”

“Going forward, journalists must sign a pledge not to gather any information, including unclassified reports, that hasn’t been authorized for release. […] those who fail to obey the new policy will lose their press credentials.”

When a government agency threatens to revoke the credentials of news organizations that don’t obey their edicts, you don’t have a free press. You have a fascist dictatorship that obviously has some very troubling things to hide. Could it be that Trump and Hegseth are worried that the people will find out that the boats they are blowing up in the Caribbean were just innocent fishermen? Or are they concerned that more details of Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein will be revealed?

The NPR story quoted Hegseth saying that “DoW information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” This, from the guy who disclosed secret war plans in an insecure Signal chat group. He also said that “The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon — the people do.” That’s right! And the press are the people’s representatives. The people rely on the press, not partisan political hacks like Hegseth and his designated cronies, to keep them informed.

Reporting only what those in power have approved is not journalism. It’s stenography. Or as George Orwell put it: “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations.” This has been a long time coming with the Trump regime. In February he issued his own decree aimed at manipulating the reporting about him…

SEE THIS: Trump Kicks Reporters Out of Pentagon Offices, Replaces Them with MAGA Media Mouthpieces

However, in a surprise announcement, Trump is now publicly distancing himself from Hegseth’s pressuring of the press. He was asked directly “Should the Pentagon be part of deciding what reporters can report on?” He replied “No, I don’t think so. Nothing stops reporters. You know that.”

It’s likely that Trump has no idea what Hegseth said, or what this reporter’s question meant. It isn’t as if he has a firm grasp of his administration – or reality. Everything he says is fungible and reversible if it suits his needs. In the meantime, Trump didn’t revoke Hegseth’s policy, so the muzzling of the press stands. Except that “Nothing stops reporters. You know that.” Well, we’ll see.

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Trump’s 97% Solution is Further Evidence of His Declining Mental Acuity and Pathological Lying

Posted by on September 20, 2025 at 12:39 pm. 0 Comments :

The obsession that Donald Trump has with himself is a classic symptom of the malignant narcissism that many have suggested he suffers from, including his own niece, Mary Trump, who is also a clinical psychologist. She even won a court case wherein he tried to block the publication of her book (Too Much and Never Enough) that included her diagnoses.

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Trump Lies

On Friday Trump held court at the White House to dispense more of the disinformation that fuels his phony facade of leadership. And true to form, rather than demonstrating any grasp of the critical issues that the nation faces, he was fixated on his own reputation in the media. And not for the first time…

SEE THIS: Trump Whines that ‘All They Do Is Hit Trump’ and Decrees That ‘They’re Not Allowed To Do That’

This most recent Trump tantrum was triggered by a reporter’s question about the “cancel culture” tactics that Trump and his MAGA minions have been employing against Jimmy Kimmel, and anyone else who dares to criticize Trump. In his reply Trump whined that…

“George Slopadopolous had to pay $16 million to me because of what he said, and that’s ABC. Your network had to pay more than that. I think that’s very sad. I think that reporting has to be at least accurate to an extent. Again, when somebody is given, 97 percent of the stories are bad about a person, that’s no longer free speech. That’s just cheating, and they cheat. And they become really members of the Democratic National Committee is what they are.”

WANNABE FASCIST DICTATOR SAYS WHAT?1?? Trump is making up the 97% number.2?? Secondly, if he's getting a lot of bad press, it's because he's doing a lot of bad things.3?? He's making himself the arbiter of free speech, which is the opposite of free speech.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-09-20T10:04:35.734Z

Let’s just set aside Trump’s typically infantile nickname for George Stephanopoulos, and his lie that any network “had to pay” him anything. They didn’t have to pay. They chose to pay, in order to advance their corporate interests at the expense of the principles endowed by the Constitution.

More to the point, Trump’s claim that 97% of the stories about him are bad is a number that was fabricated by the ultra-rightist Media Research Center. They regard any documented reporting that casts a negative light on Trump as “bad,” even it’s just truthful. So a story about him sending troops to D.C. is counted as bad. If Trump really wants fewer bad stories about him, he needs to stop doing so many bad things. Problem solved.

Even worse, though, is Trump’s assertion that honest reporting about him is “no longer free speech.” That’s because, in his cockeyed cranium, anything that isn’t unflinchingly adoring is “fake news.” He even went on to say that it is illegal.

That’s the end game for Trump’s aspiring authoritarianism. He wants to outlaw any speech that doesn’t glorify him as a modern day messiah. He wants to muzzle everyone who speaks the unvarnished truth about him. He’s already putting his fascist boot down on Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. And he’s filed numerous lawsuits to silence media outlets such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc.

The good news is that, more often than not, when his victims fight back they win. So it is imperative that they exhibit more backbone in these situations. And if they don’t, then “we, the people,” need to let them know that we won’t stand for their cowardice and greed that is selling us – and America – down the river.

TRUMP'S BRAIN IS MUSH!After his embarrassingly bad lawsuit against the New York Times was thrown out, he says he's "winning" because Jon Karl of ABC News Is "guilty" of…Well, he doesn't say what.Except he's losing – BIGLY!MORE HERE: www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=67582

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-09-20T09:28:40.821Z

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More Proof That When You Fight Wannabe Dictator Trump, You Win: NY Times Lawsuit Edition

Posted by on September 19, 2025 at 1:23 pm. 1 Comments :

Securing his place in history as the most litigious WAB (Whiny-Ass Baby) to ever serve as president of the United States, Donald Trump has once again come up empty in court against the media that he regards as “the enemy of people.” It is just the latest humiliation that he has suffered due to his crankiness and pathetically inept lawyers.

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Donald Trump

On Friday a federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the New York Times for defamation, or maybe something else, because his filing didn’t actually present any coherent arguments for any actionable legal complaint. The dismissal was issued just two days after the lawsuit was filed. Which was predictable considering the profoundly ludicrous content in the filing…

SEE THIS: Crybaby Trump’s Hysterical Posting that He’s Suing the New York Times for Hurting His Feelings

It didn’t take long for the judge to determine that the lawsuit lacked any merit, and was thrown out because it “unmistakably and inexcusably” violated the rules that govern civil lawsuits. As reported by ABC News, a federal judge tossed the $15 billion lawsuit, calling it “decidedly improper and impermissible.” And furthermore…

“Judge Merryday, who was appointed by President George H. W. Bush, said the complaint contains eighty pages of repetitive claims and praise for President Trump, but fails to establish the two counts of defamation alleged. He lambasted Trump’s lawyers for forcing him to ‘labor through’ the ‘superfluous’ praise about Trump’s show ‘The Apprentice,’ as well as the size of his real estate empire and the ‘historic fashion’ of Trump’s 2024 presidential victory.”

[And that] “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”

OUCH! Trump’s lawyers were given 28 days to refile the complaint in a proper manner. It remains to be seen if they are capable of that. Clearly Trump is not. When he announced that he was filing the suit, he posted a couple of comments on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, exhibiting his pitifully weak comprehension of the law…

Trump wrote that: “They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal. The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!”

For some reason, Trump has never been able to document this allegedly “longterm” “pattern of abuse.” And with the dismissal of this lawsuit, the Times’ truth-telling about him isn’t going to stop “NOW” either. However, his ranting is also not going to stop now. The next day…

Trump wrote that:: “I am getting amazing feedback on my Lawsuit against The New York Times. The predominant feeling and sentiment is, ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME!’ The case was filed in the Great State of Florida! The Radical Left Media is working hard to destroy the U.S.A. We are going to stop them at each and every level!!! President DJT”

That “amazing feedback” apparently didn’t include any from people who actually know anything about such litigation. His lawsuit never had much of a chance. CNN interviewed several First Amendment experts who all agreed that Trump was way out of bounds constitutionally. Although, his intent may never have been to win, but only to create a media circus within which he could perform his trained monkey act for his cult followers.

With the dismissal of this New York Times case, Trump is adding to his resume of failure. It’s already a long list that includes, but is not limited to…

  • A case against CNN for reporting about his “Big Lie” that he won the 2020 election was dismissed.
  • A case against Harvard University, who prevailed in litigation against Trump when he tried to withhold federal grants.
  • Harvard also won when Trump tried to block the enrollment of international students.
  • Several law firms won temporary restraining orders prohibiting Trump from punishing them for engaging in litigation against him.
  • Journalist Bob Woodward beat him in a suit where Trump sought to prohibit him from using audio tapes recorded during an interview.
  • A case against Hillary Clinton alleging that she lied in her campaign against him in 2016. Trump was ordered to pay Clinton nearly $1 million for legal fees.
  • And writer E. Jean Carroll scored about $90 million in a judgment against Trump for defamation in a suit involving his sexual abuse of her in a department store dressing room.

The lessons that ought to be learned here are if you fight Trump, you stand a good chance of winning. The parties that previously caved in – including CBS/Paramount, ABC/Disney and a few weak law firms – received nothing for their cowardly capitulation.

Going forward the targets of Trump’s wrath need to show some backbone. And if they do, they will not only have a shot at victory, they will retain their dignity and self-respect, and the respect of of their fellow Americans.

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Trump Flunky Kari Lake is Blocked From Silencing the Voice of America By a GOP-Appointed Judge

Posted by on August 29, 2025 at 3:00 pm. 1 Comments :

High on the priority list for Donald Trump in his second occupation of the White House has been his fierce determination to subjugate the media to his will. He has endeavored furiously to clamp down on the free press and to reshape the White House press corps into a slobbering cabal of sycophants.

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Statue of Liberty, Blind, Muzzled

In the process, Trump installed blindly loyal and unflinching servants to his anti-democratic and flagrantly censorious agenda. Among them was the failed Arizona gubernatorial and senate candidate, Kari Lake. Trump created a new position for her to reign over what used to be the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees multiple international broadcasting networks including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Television Martí, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Voice of America (VOA). And Lake began immediately to dismantle the entire operation and/or redefine its mission to become a Trump Propaganda Disseminator.

SEE THIS: Trump Flunky Kari Lake Taps MAGA Propaganda Network, OAN, to Be the Voice of Voice of America

Fortunately, the Trump/Lake Department of Disinformation suffers from the same inherent flaws that have hobbled almost every other government agency over which Trump rules: terminal stupidity and incompetence. And as a result, it is struggling to complete its unholy mission of strangling one of the most effective international news networks ever conceived. As reported by NPR (another network that Trump is trying to destroy) reported that…

“A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Trump administration official Kari Lake can’t unilaterally fire the director of Voice of America, saying she’s breaking the law in trying to do so.

“Instead, by law, Lake must have the explicit backing of an advisory panel set up by Congress to help insulate the international broadcaster and its sister networks from political pressure. As President Trump dismissed six of the seven members of the panel shortly after taking office and has not named their replacements to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lake cannot take such an action.”

Lake and her Justice Department lawyers were humiliated in court when U.S Senior District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that “The defendants do not even feign that their efforts to remove [director of VOA, Michael] Abramowitz comply with that statutory requirement, There is no longer a question of whether the termination was lawful.”

Lake expressed confidence that she would prevail on appeal because “elections have consequences.” Which is precisely the sort of rank politicization that the law was crafted to avoid. Then she made an obtuse and irrelevant reference to the Constitution and called Lamberth a “radical.” Never mind that he was appointed to the bench by conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Lamberth warned the Justice Department attorneys that they were “verging on contempt of court” for failing to provide information that he had demanded for months.

It remains to be seen how this matter will resolve. Trump has demonstrated that he is not averse to ignoring judicial mandates. Which is why the rule of law is in such a precarious state under the wannabe dictator currently smelling up the Oval Office. But at least the courts are remaining true to the law and the Constitution – for now. And if the people and their representatives remain stalwart in defense of American principles, we will prevail in the long run. Keep hope alive!

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Crybaby Trump Whines About Getting Bad Press and Demands that the Offending Media Be Terminated

Posted by on August 25, 2025 at 12:50 pm. 0 Comments :

The massive, yet fragile, ego of Donald Trump is utterly incapable of tolerating even the slightest criticism from anyone. Particularly the media. And his delusional impression of himself as the infallible, messiah-like overlord of America often results in his frantic condemnations of those who fail to show him the worshipful adoration that he’s convinced that he deserves.

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Donald Trump and Media - ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX

On Monday morning Trump posted a couple of comments to his failing Truth Social propaganda platform that expressed his outrage at the press for not drooling over every atrocious initiative that he shoves down the nation’s throat. Such as his recent threats to deploy military troops to occupy various American cities that just happen to be led by Black mayors or governors.

SEE THIS: Trump Threatens to Send His StormTrumpers to N.Y., L.A., and Chicago, Where Crime is Declining

Trump began his harangue by bragging about his imaginary popularity. For the record, he is languishing near the bottom of the garbage heap of unpopular presidents. A recent Pew Research poll puts his approval at a dismal 38%, with 60% disapproval. That’s in line with almost every other credible poll. But it’s not the way that Trump sees it. He raged that…

“Despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the greatest 8 months in Presidential History, ABC & NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES. IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC. I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!! MAGA”

Whenever Trump cites something “according to many,” he is referring to his slobbering sycophants and/or the disembodied voices in his mush-filled head. In reality, the past eight months have seen the cost of living rise due to Trump’s taxes (tariffs), continuing and escalating wars, assaults on civil liberties and the Constitution, degradation of the environment, efforts to rig upcoming elections, and many more steps toward the dystopia that he hungers for.

Naturally, Trump takes out his anger and fear on the media, like almost every other totalitarian usurper before him. If he doesn’t want to have 97% bad stories, he might want to try not doing 100% bad things. Among which includes his threats to suppress the media by revoking their licenses. [FYI: National broadcast and cable news networks are not licensed by the federal government, so there are no licenses to revoke. Although he could threaten local broadcast affiliates]

Trump’s complaint that the free press is a “threat to democracy” is just another example of his projection in an attempt to impose his agenda of censorship. You’ll notice that he isn’t worried about networks like Fox News or Newsmax or OAN, where he gets 100% positive press. But he was just getting started. A second posting seethed that…

“Why is it that ABC and NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the absolute worst and most biased networks anywhere in the World, aren’t paying Millions of Dollars a year in LICENSE FEES. They should lose their Licenses for their unfair coverage of Republicans and/or Conservatives, but at a minimum, they should pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!! Crooked ‘journalism’ should not be rewarded, it should be terminated!!!”

True to form, Trump is fixated on the financial component of this matter. He views everything in terms of how it might impact his pocketbook. However, his tantrum over what he perceives as “unfair coverage of Republicans” is grossly misplaced. Even if he were correct (he’s not), it would be totally inappropriate for him to dictate how the media reports the news. It is perfectly legal to have opinions and take sides. And doing so does not justify dictating how the coverage should be framed in his own biased opinion, or penalizing the press for exercising their constitutional rights.

Finally, Trump closed his tirade with his demand that any media that doesn’t comply with his dictates “should be terminated!!!” Which is a lesson that he has learned from his mentors and idols, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. He would love to see journalists kowtow to him out of fear, the way they do in Russia, China, and North Korea. Even though the American media has bees extraordinarily lenient with him, failing to follow up on his relentless lies and ignorant babbling. In a sane media world, deliberate crapola like this would never be allowed to go by unchallenged…

LOLOLOL: Trump's posts are starting to look more and more like the posts by Gavin Newsom mocking him. @GovPressOfficeTrump is such a pitifully infantile embarrassment to America. How can his cult followers continue to worship him?

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-08-25T09:34:31.572Z

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Trump Congratulates OAN for Getting ‘Millions of New Viewers’ That They Didn’t Actually Get

Posted by on July 31, 2025 at 2:52 pm. 0 Comments :

People often forget that Donald Trump was in the television business for many years. In fact, that was likely his primary source of income, since his real estate ventures were failures, including four casinos that went bankrupt. Think about it… No real “billionaire” would have the time or inclination to host a reality TV game show for fourteen seasons unless he needed the money.

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Donald Trump, OAN

Ordinarily, someone with that sort of experience in the TV business would learn something about it. But there is nothing ordinary about Trump. His inability to process and retain information is exhibited on a daily basis in his bizarre and incoherent ramblings on subjects having to do with his current grift: the presidency of the United States. What he has learned about that business would fit onto a used gum wrapper.

FOR INSTANCE: Trump Unloads Dozens of Deranged Comments in a Morning Rage that Confirms His Mental Infirmity

On Thursday morning Trump let his cult followers on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, know just how ignorant he is about his prior profession. He posted a comment about the growing prospects of the One America News Network saying that…

“OAN is making a huge comeback, with millions of new viewers. Congratulations to OAN and all of those who worked so hard to get you there!”

Notice that Trump doesn’t bother to cite any source for that congratulatory statement. Like most of what he says, it is either misinterpreted, grossly exaggerated, or utterly false. Pathological liars don’t need facts to support their fabrications. And if they have devoted disciples like the MAGA minions, it hardly matters. They will believe whatever he tells them to believe.

What Trump is likely referring to is that Spectrum recently added OAN to its channel lineup, making it available to millions of Spectrum subscribers. That doesn’t mean that any of them actually watched it. It’s like a restaurant adding a shit sandwich to the menu. That doesn’t mean anyone is going to order one.

Nielsen doesn’t track OAN’s audience because it is too small to register. They did briefly in 2019 and found an average of only about 14,000 viewers. Since then OAN lost distribution on major cable networks such as Verizon Fios and DirecTV. So it’s difficult to suggest that their viewership has increased since then.

Nevertheless, this is what Trump regards as a “huge comeback” worthy of a glowing, public congratulation. But no matter what Trump says, he still can’t manage to get his flock to abandon Fox News. Not that he hasn’t tried…

SEE THIS: As the World Burns: Trump Whines that ‘MAGA HATES Fox News’ After New Poll Shows Him Floundering

Trump didn’t mention another source of potential new viewers for OAN: The Voice of America. In May, Kari Lake, who is currently serving as Trump’s special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), announced a partnership with OAN to provide newsfeed services to USAGM networks, including the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Martí, and Voice of America (VOA).

MORE HERE: Trump Flunky Kari Lake Taps MAGA Propaganda Network, OAN, to Be the Voice of Voice of America

The usurpation of these networks by Trump’s propaganda regime completely destroys their intended purpose to broadcast honest and reliable news into countries where it is otherwise prohibited. And delivering OAN’s notoriously untrustworthy programming to the world can only result in humiliation for the U.S. The network has been – and is being – sued for its false reporting. However, in an ironic twist, Trump has also presided over the defunding of the USAGM and directed his team to put their staffs on leave. So there may be no one to implement the OAN broadcasts.

What’s more, Trump’s efforts to dismantle the USAGM are being challenged in court where the funds allocated by Congress, and the original staff of real journalists, could be reinstated. In the meantime, Trump can be expected to continue disseminating lies and decreeing mandates that weaken the free press. But the only new viewers that OAN will gain in any of this will be in Trump’s fertile imagination.

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Trump’s FCC Chair Says that CBS News Will Have to Employ a ‘Bias Monitor’ to Police Their Reporting

Posted by on July 26, 2025 at 1:38 pm. 0 Comments :

Just in case there still people who are not convinced that Donald Trump is plotting to replace America’s democracy with a totalitarian dictatorship, he has dispatched his chairman of the FCC (Fascist Communications Commission) to Newsmax to announce his latest anti-free-press initiative.

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Donald Trump and Media - ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX

FCC chair, Brendan Carr, has been making the media rounds this week to rollout the Trump agenda to clampdown on any journalistic enterprise that thinks it has the freedom to criticize Dear Leader Trump or his MAGA movement. Last week Carr bragged to Fox News that Trump had defunded PBS and NPR. And he told them that Trump was responsible for the cancelation of “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” because Trump is “not gonna play by the rules of politicians in the past and let these legacy outfits dictate the narrative and the terms of the debate.” Of course not. Dictating the narrative is a privilege reserved for Trump and his confederates.

SEE THIS: Did Trump Arrange to Get Stephen Colbert Fired? That’s What His FCC Chair Implied to Fox News

Not satisfied with those assaults on the free press, Carr also visited with Newsmax to announce a unique provision that was snuck into the FCC’s approval of the merger between Paramount (the owner of CBS) and Skydance Media. Carr sat for a friendly chat with Newsmax host Greg Kelly that included the following exchange…

Kelly: We heard a little about what they’re gonna have to do on 60 Minutes. Is there anything beyond that you can tell us about what they’re gonna do differently, fact-based? You know, that’s kind of a cultural shock to them.
Carr: Yeah, it might be news to some folks over there. One of the things they’re going to have to do is put an ombudsman in place for two years. So basically a “bias monitor” that will report directly to the president. So that’s something that’s significant that we’re going to see happening as well to broadcasters.”

Trump's FCC Chair says he will put a "bias monitor" in place who will "report directly" to Trump as part of the deal for Sky Dance to acquire CBS

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) 2025-07-25T16:08:59.336Z

HOLY CRAP! This is unprecedented. Carr is revealing that the government is exerting its full force to demand that a news network hire a censorship czar to police the content of CBS’s reporting, as well as that of other broadcasters. But not to worry, we can rest assured that he will execute his role as Bias Judge with the utmost neutrality, right? And he will also mandate bias monitors for Newsmax and Fox News, right? RIGHT?

[UPDATE: This story was corrected to note that the “bias monitor” would not be reporting to the president of the United States as originally stated. Carr’s remarks on Newsmax were not clear, but Talking Points Memo reviewed the text of the agreement which they report refers to the president of Paramount]

This brazenly autocratic conduct is not new for the Trump regime, or for Carr specifically. He recently told CNBC that “the media industry across this country needs a course correction.” And he believes that it is the proper role of government to impose that correction and determine the course. It’s a political philosophy that he and Trump acquired from their heroes, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.

CNBC: Colbert is a comedian. You keep talking about journalism and fairness in news, but we all remember Carson and Jay Leno giving Reagan the business. Where does that fit in?FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CARR: Frankly, the media industry across this country needs a course correction

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-07-25T15:05:29.181Z

The goal of these initiatives is to reshape the media into a Trump-fluffing platform of pure propaganda. If they get their way, all voices of dissent will be muzzled, and those who engage in it will be sent to gulags in El Salvador, or worse. Some in the media have already capitulated to Trump. Which makes it all the more imperative that every American speaks out and supports independent media and free speech. If we don’t do it now, we may not be able to do it at all.

UPDATE: Trump has weighed in on this with an inane comment posted on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social calling for the licenses of news networks to be revoked if he thinks they are too nice to Democrats and/or too mean to him…

“Networks aren’t allowed to be political pawns for the Democrat Party. It has become so outrageous that, in my opinion, their licenses could, and should, be revoked! MAGA”

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Did Trump Arrange to Get Stephen Colbert Fired? That’s What His FCC Chair Implied to Fox News

Posted by on July 24, 2025 at 3:57 pm. 0 Comments :

The history of broken democracies that descend into totalitarianism almost always begins with an aspiring dictator who lashes out at the media and seeks to muzzle any criticism from a free press that resists being censored. The honest journalists and others with the courage to speak truth to power are systematically identified and silenced.

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Stephen Colbert & Trump Baby

That strategy can currently be seen playing out by Donald Trump and his neo-fascist MAGA movement. It began years ago with his frequent reference to the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” and continues with his recent attacks on news organizations with multibillion dollar lawsuits and threats of regulatory punishment should they defy his divine will.

SUCH AS: Paramount Caves to Trump’s Extortion, Disgraces CBS, Pays a $16M Bribe to Settle a Bogus Lawsuit

Last week Stephen Colbert announced that his corporate bosses at Paramount had told him that his contract would not be renewed beyond this season that ends in May of 2026. Paramount is currently trying to complete a merger with Skydance Media that needs the approval of the Trump administration, The cancellation came as a shock to Colbert and his audience, considering that his program has been the number one rated show in its time slot for many years. And it came just two days after Colbert castigated Paramount for capitulating to Trump and agreeing to pay what Colbert called “a big fat bribe” in order to settle an entirely meritless lawsuit filed by the Litigator-in-Chief. What else did Paramount/Skydance promise Trump to secure his approval for their merger?

One person who was not shocked was Donald Trump, who rejoiced over the news, and looked forward to more of the same sort of government suppression for Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and others who dare to laugh at Trump. Which may have prompted Fox News host, Bill Hemmer, to engage with Trump’s Federal Communications (FCC) chair, Brendan Carr, about Trump’s possible role in the ousting of Colbert. Hemmer asked Carr, “Did Trump have anything to do with the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show?” And Carr gave a long-winded dodge that still managed to give Trump credit for axing the decades long, awarding winning program. Carr replied…

“Well here’s what’s important to keep in mind as a broader dynamic. When president Trump ran for reelection he ran right at the legacy broadcast media outfits and the New York and Hollywood elites that are behind it. And he smashed the facade that these are gatekeepers that can control what Americans think and what Americans can say. And once you do do that, you’ve exposed the business model of a lot of these outfits as being nothing more than a partisan circus.

That entire rant was pure, nonsensical, bullshittery. First of all, Trump may have campaigned against the media, but he won with one of the smallest margins in modern history. So he had no mandate to crush what he believed was a “partisan circus.” What’s more, neither Colbert, nor any of his colleagues, had any power as “gatekeepers” who could control what anyone thinks or says. If the American people didn’t like what they were seeing, they could always change the channel or go to bed. Instead, millions tuned in every night.

However, Carr wasn’t finished gaslighting the Fox News viewers. He eventually got around to answering the original question about whether Trump deserved credit for ridding television of Colbert. And Carr implied that he did…

“So there’s a lot of consequences that are flowing from Trump deciding ‘I’m not gonna play by the rules of politicians in the past and let these legacy outfits dictate the narrative and the terms of the debate.’ And he’s succeeding. Just look at what’s happening. NPR has been defunded. PBS has been defunded. Colbert is getting canceled. You’ve got anchors and news media personalities losing jobs. All of the is downstream of president Trump’s decision to stand up. And he stood up for the American people. Because the American people do not trust these legacy gatekeepers anymore.”

FOX: Did President Trump have anything to do with the cancelation of Colbert's show?FCC CHAIR BRENDAN CARR: When President Trump ran for election, he ran right at these legacy broadcast media outfitsFOX: I did not hear an answer

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-07-24T14:04:39.172Z

So according to Carr, Colbert’s firing was the result of “consequences” that flowed from Trump who wasn’t “gonna play by the rules” of the past, wherein viewers decided what they wanted to watch. He boasted that Trump was succeeding by defunding beloved institutions like NPR and PBS, and causing journalists to lose their jobs. Once again, giving the credit to Trump. Furthermore, Carr made the preposterous statement that all of this anti-free-press turmoil, was because Trump “stood up for the American people.”

MORE HERE: Trump Threatens Republicans Who Fail to Defund the ‘Monstrosity’ Public Broadcasters, PBS and NPR

Apparently Carr thinks that the nation was clamoring to get rid of such subversive fair as the PBS News Hour, All Things Considered, Masterpiece Theater, and Sesame Street. Even Fox’s host was less than satisfied with Carr’s respopnse, saying that “I asked you a very direct question. I did not hear a yes or a no in your answer. I heard ‘maybe.'” Although Carr did hint at his view that Trump was responsible for Colbert being cancelled. He just took the long way around to delivering a weaselly reply. Which is a skill that many in Trump World have had to master.

The bottom line here is that Trump is determined to cleanse the media of anyone who refuses to worship and obey him. And the supplicants in his administration will see to it that Trump’s will is done by any means necessary. And that’s true for his political agencies as well. Because that’s how authoritarianism works. And that’s what Trump wants. He must not be allowed to succeed.

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Scaredy Trump Kicks the Wall Street Journal Out of the Press Pool for His Next Junket Overseas

Posted by on July 21, 2025 at 3:23 pm. 0 Comments :

The six month old tenure of Donald Trump’s second occupation of the White House has been a debacle of epic proportions. He has presided over a faltering domestic economy that has resulted in a higher cost of living. And his foreign policy is anchored by fascist round ups of migrants, betrayal of international allies, and threats to Panama, Greenland, and Canada of forced annexation.

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Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch

In the midst of all of that, Trump also seems to be intent on preserving his place as the most hostile American president toward the free press and the protections granted it in the First Amendment of the Constitution. His animosity toward honest, unfettered journalism is evident in his reshaping of the White House press office that is now populated by MAGA cult propagandists and Trump-fluffing Internet trolls. Including a Russian funded MAGA podcaster.

SEE THIS: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump has now banished the Wall Street Journal from the press poll that will accompany him on his upcoming trip to Scotland. Some folks might wonder why Trump would single out a markedly right-wing newspaper owned by his friend – and Fox News owner – Rupert Murdoch. Well, as reported by Politico…

“The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering the president’s weekend trip to Scotland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO. The move follows the Journal’s report alleging that President Donald Trump sent a sexually suggestive message to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.”

That’s right! Trump is lashing out like spurned child against a playmate that was insufficiently adoring and obedient. The article in the Journal described a birthday card that Trump allegedly signed for his pedo-pal, Jeffrey Epstein, as having a line drawing of a naked woman with Trump’s unique and disturbing birthday wish saying that “may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump has already filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for their article. That case has now been assigned to a judge in the Southern District of Florida who was appointed by President Obama. Ironically, it’s the same District as Trump flunky judge Aileen Cannon. This sets up precisely the scenario that Trump wants. When he loses this meritless case he will blame the judge for being biased and assert that the whole justice system is corrupt.

In the meantime, Trump is proving that he is too afraid to face any questions about his relationship with Epstein, the story about the birthday card, or the lawsuit itself. Trump’s Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who couldn’t even muster a denial that he is on the Epstein client list, released a statement saying…

“As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces. Thirteen diverse outlets will participate in the press pool to cover the President’s trip to Scotland. Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board.”

If allegations about “fake and defamatory conduct” are the standard for whether a news organization is granted access to the president, then there aren’t very many news organizations that would pass Trump’s test. In addition to the Wall Street Journal, he has already sued ABC News, CBS News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. And most of the rest of the media he has declared is “fake” news. That’s why his press pool is infested with suck-ups like One America News, Breitbart, and various online fraudcasters.

If this case actually goes to trial, Trump is unlikely to win. He would have to show evidence that what they published was either knowingly false, or that it had reckless disregard for the truth. And the claim that the Journal “maligned President Trump’s character and integrity” would be difficult to prove, considering that he has no discernable character or integrity.

Nevertheless, some of the other targets of Trump’s multibillion lawsuits have settled with him for a few million dollars due to fear of him using his governmental powers to retaliate against their corporate owners. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t appear to have any pending business that would make such threats viable. And for the time being they are standing firm with a pledge to vigorously defend themselves and their reporting.

However, given Trump’s willingness to abuse the vast power of the federal government, and his friendship with Murdoch, time will tell if they can weather this storm of litigation, or persuade Trump to lay off. In the meantime, they have been shut out of the press pool, along with the Associated Press, and others who offended Trump’s tender fee fees. That’s the risk you take if you comply with an aspiring dictator who seeks to control the media and silence any and all dissenting voices.

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Trump Threatens Republicans Who Fail to Defund the ‘Monstrosity’ Public Broadcasters, PBS and NPR

Posted by on July 11, 2025 at 12:47 pm. 1 Comments :

One of the staples of Republican right-wing anti-media conservatism has been their obsessive animosity toward the beloved public broadcasters, NPR and PBS. The GOP has been determined to kill them for decades, despite the overwhelming support they have from the American people who favor continued funding by a nearly two-to-one majority.

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Donald Trump, Censorship

The fierce aversion to public media by Republicans is driven by their hatred of an informed and educated populace. And their perverse passion for eliminating any and all sources of such information has never been more pronounced than it is today. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention to the second coming of Donald Trump, who famously gushed that “I love the poorly educated.” How else could he get elected? No wonder Trump despises the media that he refers to as “the enemy of the people,” and especially public media…

SEE THIS: Trump and MAGA Rep FREAK OUT that ‘Monsters’ at NPR and PBS ‘Hate Christians and America’

Trump’s latest salvo aimed at public broadcasting came in a comment posted to his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, that unleashed a vicious threat of retribution should his MAGA cult followers in Congress fail to behave obediently. Trump wrote that…

“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions (sic) Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together. Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Do you hear that Republicans? You do not have free choice in the Era of Trump. And you may not act in accordance with the wishes of your constituents. You must obey Dear Leader or suffer the consequences. To be clear, Trump is deploring his MAGA troops to fight back against the “monsters” that produce Sesame Street, Antiques Roadshow, All Things Considered, and This Old House, along with highly respected news programming.

Trump is raising this issue now as the Senate approaches a July 18 deadline to approve a Rescissions Bill that implements $9.4 billion in DOGE-inspired cuts that were passed by the House June. In addition to the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the bill eliminates funding for USAID, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). So Trump’s demands will not only make Americans less informed, they will result in extraordinary hardship and millions of deaths worldwide. (More info here from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities}

Trump has been on a recent crusade to coerce Republicans to defund public media. Just in the past three months he has raged that…

  • June 12, 2025: “For decades, Republicans have promised to cut NPR, but have never done it, until now. NPR and PBS are a Radical Left Disaster, and 1000% against the Republican Party!”
  • April 1, 2025: “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”
  • March 27, 2025: “NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms (Networks!), should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY. Republicans, don’t miss this opportunity to rid our Country of this giant SCAM, both being arms of the Radical Left Democrat Party. JUST SAY NO AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

It is troubling to consider that the likelihood of defunding these American institutions is frighteningly plausible. The Republican majority in Congress is devoted to obeying every command from their Dear Leader Trump. Even if it means canceling treasured programs, maligning honorable people, and trashing the Constitution’s First Amendment protections of freedom of the press.

However, there is still time to defeat this abomination by Trump and the GOP. If the Rescissions Bill is not passed by the deadline, the cuts will not go into effect. And that means all the cuts, including those to foreign aid.

So this would be a good time to let your senators know how you feel. Success will will not only save public media, it will save lives. And it will also have the added entertainment value of seeing Trump withhold his endorsements from all the senators who disobeyed him. Here is how you can take action: Protect My Public Media.

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