Free Press

Rupert Murdoch Slinks Into the Oval Office to Take His Punishment for Criticizing Trump

Posted by on February 3, 2025 at 2:43 pm. 2 Comments :

Cataloguing the crimes that Donald Trump has committed against the nation (and the world) in the short time since his reoccupation of the White House is already a mammoth operation that will require a team of dedicated documentarians. His assault on the most basic principles of democracy and respect for the law should worry every American patriot.

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Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch

Trump’s campaign of contempt for the Constitution includes his illegal federal spending freeze that starves critical services of necessary funding; his wholesale termination of prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the January 6th Capitol attack and Trump-related investigations; his storming of independent government agencies that warehouse confidential data about every citizen; his pardons for January 6th rioters who assaulted police officers; his threats of tariffs and invasions and annexations of American allies; and so much more…

SEE THIS: Trump is a Terrorist at War with the US Government, and the American People are His Hostages

In addition to that abridged account of Trump’s official atrocities, he has waged a war against the media that he refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” However, his massive yet fragile ego compels him to cling to the attention he garners from the press even while he is disparaging it in the most vile manner.

On Monday morning Trump staged another of his reality TV-style photo-ops contrived solely to venerate himself. The affair was typical in that respect, although there was a curious detail that nearly went unnoticed. Seated with Trump in the Oval Office was Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and a variety of other extremist right-wing media.

The reason for Murdoch’s presence at this publicity stunt was not revealed, although it is known that he met privately with Trump beforehand. However, when reporters were permitted to ask questions, one of them sought to learn whether Trump’s agreement with Mexico to pause his threatened tariffs was a response to the stock market’s precipitous decline following the announcement of his trade war…

Reporter: Was that partially related to the market reaction and a criticism from Mr. Murdoch’s own newspaper? He called it the “Dumbest Trade War [in History]”
Trump: I’m going to have to talk to him. I’ve been right over the Wall Street Journal many times. I don’t agree with him on some things.

First of all, the alleged agreement that Trump claims got Mexico to deploy 10,000 troops to the U.S. Mexico border, is likely as real as a diploma from Trump University. Trump bragged about having secured the same deal in 2019. And Biden actually did negotiate such a deal in 2021, without making hostile and unproductive threats against a friendly neighbor.

As to the matter of the Wall Street Journal article, Trump’s response was a rather jovial dismissal that didn’t much ruffle the feathers of Murdoch, who was sitting a few feet away. That’s a stark contrast from Trump’s comments the day before, when he posted on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, that…

“Anybody that’s against Tariffs, including the Fake News Wall Street Journal, and Hedge Funds, is only against them because these people or entities are controlled by China, or other foreign or domestic companies.”

So yesterday Murdoch was “controlled by China,” and he was a purveyor of “Fake News.” What changed in the few hours since then that softened Trump’s opinion of Murdoch to one of a mere disagreement? Did Trump threaten him with a lawsuit for publishing the truth about Trump?

Is this just another example of the mainstream media capitulating to Trump out of cowardice and fear? Is Murdoch following in the footsteps of ABC News, who settled a meritless lawsuit by agreeing to contribute $15 million to Trump’s presidential library? Or the similar settlement by META (Facebook’s owner) for $25 million? Or what looks to be the makings of another similar settlement of another equally frivolous lawsuit against CBS News’s 60 Minutes?

Two years ago Trump sued CNN for defamation. CNN fought the suit and it was eventually thrown out of court because truth is not defamation. But more recently CNN also kowtowed to Trump by parting ways with one of their most honest journalists, Jim Acosta, who wasn’t afraid to criticize Trump. And unfortunately, it looks like the media isn’t heeding Acosta, who offered his colleagues some sage advice in his final segment on CNN saying “Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope,” and warning that “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.” Sadly, many in the media seem determined to learn this lesson the hard way.

Jim Acosta announces on air that he's leaving CNN and says, "it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant … don't give in to the lies."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-28T16:01:17.662Z

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Trump is a Terrorist at War with the US Government, and the American People are His Hostages

Posted by on February 2, 2025 at 1:10 pm. 3 Comments :

The battle for the soul of America has commenced a mere two weeks after Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second occupation of the White House. And the attacks orchestrated by Trump and his MAGA minions are landing like cluster bombs, destroying everything in the vicinity and blowing up innocent people who are only trying to live their lives in peace.

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Donald Trump, Fox News, QAnon

The early stages of the Trump war against America have proven to be grotesquely anti-American, and severely harmful to citizens throughout the country. The broad reach of Trump’s terror campaign will adversely impact every American family. But it also takes aim more directly at the civil servants who keep the government running to serve the people who pay for it. These truths have surely contributed to Trump’s unprecedented unpopularity.

SEE THIS: Trump 2.0 Begins with Approval Ratings that Rank Below Every Other President Dating Back to 1953

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was interviewed Sunday morning on CBS’s Face the Nation. The discussion included an assessment of the damage that Trump is intentionally inflicting on the nation that he cares nothing about, except as a source of wealth and power for himself and his oligarch backers. Warner noted that the Trump administration’s stated goal is to “traumatize” federal workers, which he is carrying out right now.

“We’ve got chaos on steroids going on. We heard from Trump’s OMB, for example, that he wanted to ‘traumatize’ federal workers. Well, that is happening. And these workers are the folks that inspect our fruit, our milk, our eggs. What happens if they all quit?”

Good question! The problem is that Trump’s atrocious agenda will also traumatize all American citizens, because he and his billionaire klan couldn’t care less and won’t be affected. The craving for trauma was explicitly articulated by the Project 2025 author, and Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, Russel Vought, who said that…

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains…We want to put them in trauma.”

Imagine saying that about the people that you expect to show up for work on behalf of millions of Americans who rely on them for everything from Social Security and Medicare administration, to food inspections, to child welfare, to transportation safety, to national security.

The Trump Mafia has effectively declared war on the American government and, thus, the American people. And that war is already seeing horrendous casualties. They are evident in his recent orders to oppress the media that he regards as “the enemy of the people.” He promises to…

Not to mention Trump’s full-on onslaught against democracy and the government institutions that support it by…

And that’s just a sampling of Trump’s two week barrage against America. The latest assault is his imposition of tariffs on our allies and neighbors, Mexico and Canada, that already pose a big risk of “lifting already-high consumer prices at the grocery store, rocking the shaky stock market or killing jobs in a full-blown trade war.” That’s an incredibly stupid move that the Wall Street Journal calls “The Dumbest Trade War in History,” and even Fox News condemned as an inflationary burden on American consumers…

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

Posted by on February 1, 2025 at 11:49 am. NO Comments :

One thing you can say about Donald Trump is that he is working furiously to assure his place in American history as the nation’s first tyrannical despot. No American leader has ever been more hostile to the U.S. Constitution and its democratic principles, or more determined to destroy it.

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Donald Trump

Trump spends most of his time disparaging American institutions and the patriots who serve them. He despises the justice system, the military, free enterprise, academia, science, and even unbiased practices of faith. But perhaps the liberties that he is most averse to are those specifically cited in the First Amendment that protect freedom of the press. He is laser focused on turning the whole of government into a propaganda factory to attack his foes and exalt himself.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Pledges to Plant Pro-Trump Crackpots in the White House Press Room

On Friday Trump issued a new decree to banish several media organizations from offices that they have occupied in the Pentagon for decades. The Department of Defense provided the office space to facilitate access for journalists to the stewards of the nation’s military. However, the message sent by Trump’s DoD is an unmistakable threat to press freedom, and an embrace of shameless propaganda. NBC News, one of the news outlets ousted reports that…

“NBC News, The New York Times, NPR and Politico must vacate their office spaces in two weeks for other news organizations — including at least one that did not request to be added.”

[And that…]

“The new outlets rotating in are One America News Network — which will take NBC News’s spot — the New York Post, Breitbart News Network and HuffPost.”

Needless to say, the Trump-fluffing One America News, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, and MAGA’s own Breitbart News, are not exactly paragons of journalistic integrity. But that’s who is moving into the office space previously reserved for more mainstream media sources that, even with their own imperfect records, are at least not brazenly sycophantic toadies who exist only to kiss Trump’s…let’s say ring. The NBC report added that the Pentagon…

“…did not include further details about the process of the new ‘rotation program,’ including how officials chose which outlets needed to vacate office space first, how the new outlets were chosen and which are next.”

Based on the disreputable outlets that are moving in, we hardly need much elaboration as to how they were chosen. And this is one of the first command decisions of Trump’s new Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, whose confirmation squeaked by in the Senate, despite his history of abusing women and alcohol, and his woeful lack of relevant experience.

This assault on freedom of the press is consistent with Trump’s long held belief that the media is “the enemy of people.” However, it is not the only assault he has made targeting a variety of American liberties. In the short time since he has reoccupied the White House, Trump has…

And this is only the beginning. He is dead set on transforming America into the sort of totalitarian dystopia that his heroes – Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, etc. – are lording over. But he isn’t going to have a clear path to his dictatorial dreams. The American people are not going to sit still while he dismantles democracy. And they already have a decidedly negative opinion him…

MORE HERE: Trump 2.0 Begins with Approval Ratings that Rank Below Every Other President Dating Back to 1953

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Trump’s Press Secretary Pledges to Plant Pro-Trump Crackpots in the White House Press Room

Posted by on January 29, 2025 at 1:19 pm. 3 Comments :

As Donald Trump continues his mission to guide America down the path toward his anti-democratic brand of authoritarianism, his administration underlings are faithfully carrying out his directives in a manner that is familiar to students of tyrannical regimes throughout history.

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Donald Trump and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

Prominent among Trump’s team of neo-fascistas is his Politburo Chief, Karoline Leavitt, whose commitment disseminating propaganda would make Goebbels proud. She has been a devoted advocate of transforming the role of press secretary into a clearing house for Trump’s official falsehoods and MAGA evangelism.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Plans to Turn the WH Briefing Room Into a Pro-Trump Propaganda Mill

On Tuesday Leavitt told reporters about her intention to allow members of “new media” to apply for White House press credentials. by that she means the sort of MAGA friendly Internet influencers that Trump relied on to spread his dishonest campaign messages last year. She said that…

“I take great pride in opening up this room to new media voices to share the president’s message with as many Americans as possible. In doing so, number one, we will ensure that outlets like yours, Axios and Breitbart, which are widely respected and viewed outlets, have an actual seat in this room every day. We also, again, encourage anybody in this country, whether you are a TikTok content creator, a blogger, a podcaster, if you are producing legitimate news content, no matter the medium you will be allowed to apply for press credentials to this White House.”

This would be a good time to remind everyone that in Trump World Joe Rogan and Alex Jones produce “legitimate news content.” So Leavitt would permit crackpots like that to take the seats of credible journalist that Trump doesn’t like, such as Jim Acosta who was just elbowed out of CNN by executives who are partial to, or afraid of, Trump.

SEE ALSO : Jim Acosta’s Parting Words for CNN (and Trump): It Is Never a Good Time to Bow Down to a Tyrant

Leavitt, however, neglected to note that it is not within her duties as press secretary to decide who gets to attend the White House press briefings. While the White House Press Office does authorize access to the White House itself, reporters need to be accredited by the independent White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) and pass a background check by the Secret Service. Something tells me that Alex Jones, and others of his ilk, would have difficulty meeting either of those criteria.

So it took eight days into Trump 2.0 before Leavitt finally held her first press briefing from the White House. And it surely didn’t disappoint those who were expecting a free-flowing festival of partisan flackery. Despite her stated commitment to “telling the truth from this podium every single day,” she lied repeatedly, including in her promise to tell the truth “every single day,” since she’s only been at that podium one day so far.

Among Leavitt’s lies were those that addressed Trump’s halting of federal assistance and grant programs, his inhumane mass deportation plans, his non-existent initiatives to lower consumer prices, his vengeful revocation of security for former government officials, his illegal firing of inspectors general and Justice Department officials, his inflationary tariffs, and his absurd claim that he sent the military to California to turn a magic faucet that would get the water flowing.

Michael Kosta of “The Daily Show” was among those watching Leavitt’s debut performance. And he couldn’t help but notice her attitudinal shift from campaign flack to White House hack. He presented a video clip demonstrating how she has moved forward from her prior role as a Biden basher…

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Jim Acosta’s Parting Words for CNN (and Trump): It Is Never a Good Time to Bow Down to a Tyrant

Posted by on January 28, 2025 at 1:38 pm. 2 Comments :

The media barons who control the biggest news platforms in America have spent the weeks following the election of Donald Trump affirming that they are cowardly supplicants to his tyrannical intimidation, and/or greedy slaves to the almighty dollar. Either way, they are proving to be utterly unreliable sources for honest news that speaks truth to power.

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Donald Trump, CNN

The Constitution’s shielding of the free press is apparently insufficient to buttress these weak-hearted pseudo-journalists whose primary objectives now appear to be sucking up to Trump and his MAGA cult disciples. They behave as if they are hostages being forced to deliver fear-drenched messages prepared by their captors. And the Trump team isn’t shy about hurling threats aimed at the media that he regards as “the enemy of the people.”

SEE THIS: Trump’s Free Press? His FBI Flunky Kash Patel Threatens to ‘Come After the People in the Media’

On Tuesday morning CNN’s longtime, respected anchor, Jim Acosta, announced on the air that he is leaving the network after 18 years. His decision to quit came after Trump-fluffing executives at CNN sought to banish him to a sparsely watched overnight time slot. Rather than take that insult and ingratitude for years of service, Acosta chose to head for greener pastures. And on the way out the door he gave a moving account of the principles that have guided him throughout his career, and that also serve as a warning to his media colleagues…

“You may have seen some reports about me and the show, and after giving all of this some careful consideration and weighing in alternative timeslots CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on. […]

“As the son of a Cuban refugee, I took home this lesson: It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant. I have always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account. I’ve always tried to do that here at CNN, and I plan on doing all of that in the future.

“One final message. Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope.

Jim Acosta announces on air that he's leaving CNN and says, "it is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant … don't give in to the lies."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-28T16:01:17.662Z

Those are powerful words that, under normal circumstances, would have a profound affect on fellow journalists, Unfortunately, these are not normal times. CNN and other news organizations have already given in to the lies and the fear. And the source of both is the current pathological fear monger occupying the White House. As evidence of just how dangerous Trump’s menacing assault on the media is, he provided an example in his response to Acosta’s resignation…

“Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the Midnight hour, ‘Death Valley,’ because of extraordinarily BAD RATINGS (and no talent!). Word is that he wants to QUIT, and that would be even better. Jim is a major loser who will fail no matter where he ends up. Good luck Jim!”

True to form, Trump lashes out like a colicky infant who is consumed by his toxic narcissism and thirst for vengeance. He doesn’t bother to offer any support for his allegations that Acosta is a “dishonest reporter.” But that’s only because there isn’t any support for that. Although Trump does project his own leadership in the “major sleazebag” competition onto Acosta.

Furthermore, while CNN’s ratings have been pretty dismal of late, Acosta’s program has led the network in each of the time periods where he has been scheduled. So Trump’s assertion that Acosta’s fate was determined by “extraordinarily BAD RATINGS” is a flagrant falsehood. And Trump’s prediction that he “will fail no matter where he ends up,” is unlikely to pan out. Acosta can only improve his status by moving to another network, almost all of which have better ratings than CNN. And he can also choose to start his own media operation that could surpass the boundaries of legacy media.

It’s uncanny how many of the adjectives that Trump unleashed in his harangue against Acosta that apply more accurately to Trump himself: “worst,” “most dishonest,” “major sleazebag,” “fake,” “no talent,” and “major loser.” And while he did manage to swindle enough gullible voters to regain the presidency, he will still fail miserably, because that’s all he’s ever done at anything he’s attempted.

Sadly, Trump’s failures now will draw a lot of other innocent people down with him. So it is more imperative than ever to remain alert and to resist his destructive agenda. Remember, the mid term elections in 2026 could return Democrats to the majority in Congress. And Trump has already committed numerous impeachable acts.

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Snowflake Trump Lies About Rachel Maddow’s Ratings and Predicts the ‘DEATH’ of MSNBC and CNN

Posted by on January 25, 2025 at 1:11 pm. 2 Comments :

Donald Trump fancies himself to be the world’s foremost expert on everything. He says that he knows more about the military than the generals; more about healthcare than doctors; more about the environment than scientists; more about the economy than the Nobel Laureates who study it.

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Donald Trump, Snowflakes

In addition to this extraordinary store of imaginary knowledge, Trump also regards himself as a crack media analyst whose experience as a reality TV game show host qualifies him to offer commentaries on the state of the television news business that he both despises and relies upon to feed his expansive ego. It’s why he obsesses so feverishly over the ratings of his frequent TV appearances that often fail to draw significant numbers of viewers.

SEE THIS: Trump Gets Hit Where it Hurts: TV Ratings for His Inauguration Fall 27% Below Joe Biden’s

Late Friday night Trump posted a desperate wail on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, that attacked one of his favorite cable news foes, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. He raged that…

“Wow! Rachel Maddow has horrible ratings. She’ll be off the air very soon. MSNBC IS CLOSE TO DEATH. CNN HAS REACHED THE BOTTOM. This is a good thing. They are the Enemy of the people!”

There is a remarkable quantity of trash in that tirade. Let’s begin with the fact that MSNBC’s ratings have been quite good lately. In fact, according to Adweek, for the week of January 13, 2025…

“MSNBC’s primetime lineup averaged 758,000 total viewers and 64,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for week-to-week gains of +5% and +16%, respectively. […] Among all basic cable networks, MSNBC remained in third place in total primetime viewers.”

So MSNBC’s ranking is rising and placed third among all basic cable networks. As for Maddow, her program drew almost three times as many viewers as the network’s total day average during the period. These are not exactly stats that forecast doom. And they come as Maddow returns to a 5-day-a-week schedule for the first 100 days of Trump’s occupation of the White House. Which is likely one of the factors that triggered his tirade.

GOOD NEWS: Rachel Maddow Will Return to Airing 5 Days a Week for the First 100 Days of Trump 2.0

It’s not surprising that the “death” that Trump is predicting for the network has no basis in reality. Likewise, his celebration of the network’s demise is totally in his own mangled mind. He has long been afraid of Maddow and MSNBC, and has explicitly – albeit impotently – threatened them in the past…

FOR EXAMPLE: Trump Threatens to ‘Come Down Hard on’ MSNBC and ‘Make Them Pay’ for Daring to Criticize Him

But then, what else would you expect from a wannabe dictator who calls the free press “the enemy of the people,”? and opines that the networks that he doesn’t like should not be permitted to exist?

WHAT 1st AMENDMENT?Wannabe dictator Trump posts comment whining that CNN and MSNBC "shouldn't even have a right to broadcast."

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-01-23T09:54:37.215Z

UPDATE January 29,2025: Ratings continue to climb for MSNBC as the network posts a 61% gain since the Trump Inauguration.

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Tyrant Trump Decrees that it is Verboten for Government to Call Out Mis- and Disinformation

Posted by on January 23, 2025 at 1:30 pm. 1 Comments :

For as long as Donald Trump has been a political figure, he has expressed his animosity toward the free press, regularly referring to it in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” Despite his dependence on the media to disseminate his lies and propaganda, he can’t seem to refrain from lambasting journalists and news organizations in the most vile manner.

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Donald Trump, Constitution

Among the most disconcerting prospects of the new Trump administration is his intention to clamp down on the media and impose the sort censorship that is explicitly prohibited by the First Amendment to the Constitution. It’s a core principle of his authoritarian aspirations. During his campaign he made his intentions known in a commentary calling for the revocation of broadcast licenses for all TV news networks. No, really…

SEE THIS: Tyrant Trump Demands ALL TV News Licenses Be Revoked

On Thursday Trump spoke to the global elites gathered at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. And nestled into a long and rambling speech filled with his hallmark lies, threats, and self-exaltations, was a hidden gem of despotic dreamers everywhere. He bragged about his executive order banning misinformation and disinformation as subjects that could not be discussed by government. In other words, he could now spew all the blatantly false propaganda he wants and no person in any official capacity would be permitted to criticize it for being mis- or disinformation, even though that’s exactly what it is.

“I’m pleased to report that America is also a free nation once again. On day one, I signed an executive order to stop all government censorship. No longer will our government label the speech of our own citizens as misinformation or disinformation, which are the favorite words of censors and those who wish to stop the free exchange of ideas.”

Apparently Trump’s idea of a “free nation” is one that allows him to lie with impunity, while prohibiting any speech that he doesn’t like. Furthermore, in Trump’s Orwellian speak, accurately identifying something as disinformation is itself censorship and must be…well…censored. And you’ll never guess who Trump thinks is one of the main the offenders of his censorial edict. Just one day prior to his diatribe at Davos, Trump whined on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, that CNN and MSNBC should be barred from the air…

WHAT 1st AMENDMENT?Wannabe dictator Trump posts comment whining that CNN and MSNBC "shouldn't even have a right to broadcast."

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-01-23T09:54:37.215Z

And that wasn’t the only time. Nearly a year ago he wailed that…

SEE ALSO: THEY’RE EVIL! Wannabe Dictator Trump Says MSNBC ‘Shouldn’t Even Be Allowed’ to Be On the Air

In addition to Trump’s remarks at Davos, he also announced that he will be appointing L. Brent Bozell III to run the United States Agency for Global Media. Among other things, the USAGM oversees Voice of America, for which Trump has named failed MAGA governor and senator candidate, Kari Lake, as its new director. Bozell is the far-right extremist who ran the pure propaganda purveyor, Media Research Center. His son is a convicted felon who was sentenced to nearly four years for his role in the January 6th insurrection, for which he was just pardoned by Trump.

All of this is consistent with Trump’s mission to kneecap the press and turn its hobbled remains into an outlet for MAGA lies and propaganda. And in the early days of Trump 2.0 the media has not demonstrated much courage in resisting Trump’s bullying tactics.

So it will up to patriotic citizens to make their views known and to influence the cowardly elements in the media to do their damn jobs and report honestly about the nefarious acts being proposed and carried out by the felonious occupant of the White House.

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REALLY? Trump Proposes Allowing the US Government (and China?) to ‘Police’ Americans on TikTok

Posted by on January 21, 2025 at 2:11 pm. NO Comments :

On Monday, January 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn into office as the 47th president of the United States of America. It was a day that will live in infamy because he’s also the first convicted felon and adjudicated rapist to occupy the White House.

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Fox News, Maria Bartiromo, Donald Trump

Trump lived up to his criminal inclinations by issuing a tsunami of execrable executive orders, including one that granted pardons to the more than 1,500 January 6th insurrections who stormed the Capitol, assaulted police officers, and threatened members of Congress, in order to help Trump undermine democracy. His inauguration address, and subsequent speech to his cult followers, were testimony to his tyrannical aspirations, and were riddled with lies.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Inauguration Day Rants Affirm that He is a Wannabe Dictator and a Pathological Liar

Further evidence of Trump’s anti-American leanings were revealed during his executive disorder signing ceremony in the Oval Office. There were innumerable comments that exposed his malice and ignorance. But when he was presented with the order to delay the banning of TikTok – as required by law – he volunteered a statement that confirms his aversion to the Constitution…

Passed in Congress, it gives the president the right to make a deal or to close it. And we have 90 days to make that decision. But I could see making a deal where the U.S. gets 50% of TikTok. Polices it a little bit, or a lot. Depends on them.

There’s a lot of derp to unravel in that drivel. Let’s start with the fact that the law does not “give the president the right to make a deal or to close it.” The law requires that TikTok be sold or blocked from U.S. users. There is a 90 period within which a challenge may be filed, but that’s a legal challenge, not the prerogative of the president.

Furthermore, there is nothing in the law that allows the U.S. government to own 50% of the social media app. That would be blatantly improper and illegal. This was previously spelled out when Trump first floated his proposal for “saving” TikTok from the evil American “communists” who seek to prohibit the app run by “friendly” Chinese communists….

Trump seems to think that the U.S. government can be a business partner with a Chinese social media company that is suspected of improperly utilizing data collected from American users. That is wrong on many levels. First of all, it puts the U.S. in the position of collaborating with China to “spy” on American citizens. Secondly, it makes the U.S. government a profit partner in an otherwise private business. And thirdly, it violates the First Amendment by putting the U.S. government in a position to moderate (i.e. approve and/or censor) the speech of U.S. citizens.

The last item in that analysis has now been affirmed by Trump who says that it would be okay if his unlawful joint venture with China “Polices it a little bit, or a lot.” That could not be a more flagrant breach of the First Amendment. It puts the U.S. government in the position of censoring free speech. Even worse, it could also give China the same power over the speech of Americans. But Trump wasn’t through parading his recklessness and ignorance. He also said that…

“I may not do the deal or I may do the deal. TikTok is worthless. Worthless, if I don’t approve it. […] If I do the deal it’s worth maybe a trillion dollars. […] If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half.”

True to form, Trump is making up preposterous numbers to validate his delusional thinking. For one thing, TikTok has value that transcends its U.S. user base. In fact, TikTok has about a billion users worldwide. About 170 million of them (17%) are in the U.S. So while the loss of that audience would be significant, TikTok would still have 83% of its current users.

Also, what the heck does Trump mean by “we should get half.” Who is “we”? What part of the U.S. government would the ownership of TikTok fall into? Would it be run by the White House? The Treasury Department? The Agency for Global Media that oversees the Voice of America? Who knows? And Trump doesn’t say. Also, where does the money go?

These are just some of the questions raised by Trump’s nonsensical meanderings. And finally, it’s notable that Trump’s current support for TikTok is a flagrant flip-flop from his prior position…

As Trump tries to take credit for "saving" TikTok, remember he was the instigator of the ban & bragged about it 2 years ago. The bill he advocated was introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX). Democrats opposed it."Right about everything"? More like right-wing about everything.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-01-19T21:06:04.990Z

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Trump’s Press Secretary Plans to Turn the WH Briefing Room Into a Pro-Trump Propaganda Mill

Posted by on December 20, 2024 at 2:10 pm. NO Comments :

From the earliest days of Donald Trump’s political life he has had a love/hate relationship with the press. He loved when it brought him the attention that he craved. But he hated when it failed to exalt him as Gawd’s gift to humanity.

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Trump’s malignant narcissism is evident in nearly every public utterance he makes. And the common thread that weaves through all of his inbred hostilities is his abhorrence of the media that he regular refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” Just since the recent election, Trump has taken to threatening the national news networks with revocation of their broadcast licenses (which don’t exist), and the nomination of his devoted cult disciple, Kash Patel, who shares his animosity toward the press…

SEE THIS: Trump’s Free Press? His FBI Flunky Kash Patel Threatens to ‘Come After the People in the Media’

One of Trump’s primary goals for his reoccupation of the White House is to remake its relationship with the media. To that end, he dispatched his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to deliver a message via his Ministry of Propaganda (aka Fox News), regarding the restructuring of the White House Press Briefing Room. Leavitt openly explained precisely how she intends to poison the process by which the press informs the public about presidential affairs.

“I hope the legacy media will take a step back and realize that the American people haven’t listened to their lies. Trust in the legacy media is at an all-time low. And Trump ran in an untraditional media lane on the campaign trail. Big part of the reason he won. Because he sat down with podcasters and social influencers and new voices that the American people are clearly listening to. And as Trump’s press secretary, we’re gonna find new ways to bring those voices into the briefing room as well. Which I think will be a very effective way to continue to get the president’s message out to the American people.”

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https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1869937440485704102/

Leavitt is right that trust in the media is low. Although a big part of the reason for that is Trump’s constant whining about any criticism of him as “fake news.” Another reason is that much of the press has been too timid to call out Trump’s blatant lies and his inability to speak coherently on any subject. The result is that he gets to filibuster interviews with deceit, deflection, and gibberish. None of that inspires trust.

However, Leavitt is wrong to propose that the White House Press Room should open its doors to the sort of “podcasters and and social influencers” who kissed Trump’s – let’s say ring – during his campaign. The Press Room is not supposed to be an outlet for partisan propaganda. It is there to provide journalists with access to the president and his staff in order to inform the public.

Leavitt’s vision – and Trump’s – is to turn the Press Room into a propaganda mill where only those who have sworn allegiance to Trump will be able to ask questions that they know will illicit positive responses that glorify Dear Leader. That’s the recipe for fascism that is cooked up by the totalitarian dictators who Trump reveres and seeks to emulate.

If the press ever hopes to raise the level of trust that they receive from the public, they need to reject this new perversion of press relations with the White House. They need to condemn it as a farce that violates the Constitution’s First Amendment protecting freedom of the press. And they need to resist Trump’s efforts to subjugate them to the servitude of his ego. Will they rise to the occasion? Stay tuned.

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Trump Hurls Hate and Fear at All of the Media He’s Suing Following the ABC News Capitulation

Posted by on December 16, 2024 at 2:42 pm. NO Comments :

The forecasts of doom that have proliferated since Donald Trump managed to squeak by to win a second term occupying the White House are coming true even before he’s been inaugurated. And the reality is proving to be even worse than the predictions. He is promising to rule in the model of his totalitarian heroes, and his proposed Cabinet is a House of Horrors.

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Donald Trump

Last week ABC News agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump against the network for $15 million. The suit alleged that “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos had defamed Trump by asserting that he had been found liable for rape by the jury in the defamation case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll. However, it was the judge who, after the fact, said that Trump’s assault amounted to rape, as the term is generally understood. The jury only found that Trump was liable for sexual abuse. And Trump seems to regard being a confirmed sexual abuser as a victory.

SEE THIS: TRUMP WINS? ABC News Settles His Lawsuit Confirming that He Was Found Liable for Sexual Abuse

Following the ABC News settlement, Trump is already talking excitedly about his efforts to punish other media with vengeance-fueled lawsuits. It is his way of terrorizing the free press that he refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” So in an impromptu press conference Monday morning, Trump lashed out at the media in his typically hostile manner.

Trump began his rant about suing the media (at 30:33 in the video below) with an inane threat to sue the Des Moines Register over a poll that showed him losing the election, which he called “fraud” and “election interference.” Then he went to discuss his lawsuit against CBS News saying that…

“We’re filing one on 60 Minutes, where they took Kamala’s answer, which was a crazy answer, a horrible answer. And they took the whole answer out and they replaced it with something else she said later on in the interview. […] And that was fraud. and election interference by their news magazine, a big part of CBS News.

Of course, none of what he said is remotely true. 60 Minutes did nothing more than to make routine edits for time and clarity. Nothing they did impacted the content or context of the interview. But that didn’t stop Trump from demanding that the license for CBS – and ALL broadcast networks – be revoked. [Note: The federal government does not license networks, only individual stations]. And he was just getting started. He continued…

“We’re involved in one, which has been going on for a while very successfully, against Bob Woodward, where he didn’t quote me properly from the tapes. And then on top of everything else, he sold the tapes. Which he wasn’t allowed to do.”

Once again, Trump is lying. Woodward taped his conversations with Trump for the book, RAGE!, and used them for that purpose. Furthermore, he quoted Trump verbatim, and has the tapes to back that up. In the book Woodward documented how Trump lied and downplayed COVID when he knew just how deadly it was. But he still wasn’t finished. He went on…

“And we have one very interestingly on Pulitzer, because reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post got Pulitzer prizes for their wonderful, accurate, and highly professional reporting on the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. Well, it turned out to be a hoax, and they were exactly wrong.”

This may be the most absurd lawsuit of them all. Trump isn’t suing the New York Times or the Washington Post. He’s suing the Pulitzer committee at Columbia University, who are entirely within their rights to award prizes as they see fit. What’s more, Trump claims that the articles documenting his unsavory associations with Russia “turned out to be a hoax,” that “now everybody admits.” Which could not be farther from the truth. Even the Republican led Senate Intelligence Committee report affirmed the Trump/Russia connections.

SEE ALSO: GEEZ! Trump is STILL Obsessed With the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax’ that is NOT a Hoax

Trump also spent some time flattering his Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News. He babbled that…

“Sean Hannity got it right. Many people got it right. Tucker [Carlson] got it right. Jesse [Watters] got it right. Laura [Ingraham] got it right. Jeanine [Pirro] got it right. A lot of people got it right. They didn’t get anything. They gave it to reporters that got it absolutely wrong. And now everybody admits it was a hoax. And I want them to take back the Pulitzer prizes and pay damages. […]

I feel I have to do this. I shouldn’t really be the one to do it. It should have been the Justice Department, or somebody else. But I have to do it. It costs a lot of money to do it. But we have to straighten out the press. Our press is very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections.”

The only things that any of them got right, at least from Trump’s perverse perspective, was their unwavering adoration of Trump and conformity to his worldview. And any deviation from that will result in punitive measures that will be carried out by his administration, overseen by his nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, who has sworn to “come after the people in the media.”

Will the media allow this unconstitutional persecution of the free press to proceed? Hopefully the surrender by ABC News isn’t the consensus answer to that question.

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