Censorship

Trump’s Propaganda Secretary Lies to Fox News About Terry Moran, the AP, and the Constitution

Posted by on June 8, 2025 at 12:57 pm. 1 Comments :

The shamelessness of how Donald Trump is advancing his intentions to reign as a supreme monarch over the United States continues to rocket to new heights of abhorrent anti-Americanism. He ignores every principle upon which this nation was founded as he rolls roughshod over them. Which he will do literally on June 14, with his North Korean style military birthday parade in Washington, D.C.

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Donald Trump and Karoline Leavitt

This week Trump celebrated what he said was a big win over the Associated Press when a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court voted 2-1 to allow him to continue to ban the Associated Press from presidential press events in the Oval Office and other locations that he deemed private.

Trump’s problem with the AP was their refusal to comply with his vain decree that all media refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Which other countries do not recognize. So in retaliation he took over the White House press pool, which was previously determined by the independent White House Correspondents Association. Under Trump the pool became populated by slobbering pro-Trump hacks.

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

The ruling that thrilled Trump so much was actually just a temporary stay of a prior federal court ruling that declared Trump’s ban unconstitutional. The stay was a 2-1 decision issued by a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court and is in effect until the full court hears the case. The two judges deciding in Trump’s favor are Trump appointees. The AP is expected to appeal the ruling to the full court or the Supreme Court. D.C. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao wrote that…

“These restricted presidential spaces are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion. No one suggests the Oval Office is a traditional public forum such as a park or sidewalk held in trust for expressive activity.”

That’s a twisted conclusion that ignores the fact that anywhere that the media is permitted general access, there may not be any exclusions based on viewpoint discrimination. That would be a violation of the First Amendment whether it is in the Oval Office or a park.

On Sunday morning, Trump’s Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took up her usual position on Fox News (where she spends most of her time) to flagrantly lie about several matters related to the media (video below). Among them was her defense of how Trump has reshaped the White House press corps to mirror his totalitarian image. Leavitt told Fox’s Senior Trump-Fluffer, Maria Bartiromo, that…

“In president Trump’s White House we have made so many significant and much needed changes to press access and transparency in the White House. We have invited in new media. We have shaken up the White House press pool.”

Indeed, They have “shaken up the White House press pool” by limiting the access of credible journalists and replacing them with fringy Internet trolls who worship Trump. And that includes a Russian funded MAGA podcaster. That isn’t transparency as much as it is blatant promotion of Dear Leader’s manifesto. And it has resulted in some painfully comical episodes of bullshittery.

FOR EXAMPLE: Trump Escalates His War on the Press – and the Courts – with Predictably Preposterous Results

Leavitt also addressed the Associated Press affair, bragging about the imaginary “major victory”. She mocked the AP for thinking that “they had a constitutional right to walk into the Oval Office or to fly on Air Force One,” which they do. She went on to say that “those are privileged spaces that belong to the president of the United States,” and calling it “a great ruling for democracy.” Which is the polar opposite of the truth. It’s grotesquely arrogant to suggest that the Oval Office is a “privileged space” for the president. And censoring journalists hardly makes it a banner day for democracy.

Finally, Leavitt complained about a commentary posted by ABC News correspondent Terry Moran, who engaged in some courageous truth-telling about Trump and his designated Goebbels aide, Stephen Miller. Moran said of Miller that “It’s not brains. It’s bile. Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater [and that] his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.” And about Trump Moran wrote that “his hatred is only a means to an end, and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”

It would be hard to argue with Moran’s assessment. But Leavitt managed to find a way. She told Bartiromo that…

“ABC is gonna have to answer for what their so-called journalist put out on Twitter in the wee hours of the night […] Hopefully this journalist will either be suspended or terminated. You cannot go on these unhinged rants against administration officials and the president of the United States.”

Moran later deleted the tweet. It is impossible to discern if that was because of the complaints by the Trump administration. However, ABC did suspend Moran pending further review. But it’s notable that ABC is also in the middle of a lawsuit filed against them by Trump that is complicating their proposed merger with another media company.

That, however, doesn’t justify Leavitt’s threat that you can’t go “against administration officials and the president of the United States.” Never mind that the Constitution says that you can. This fascist-leaning administration won’t permit it. And if the media doesn’t start defending itself – and the Constitution – they will soon be unable to do anything but praise Dear Leader.

Leavitt: "ABC is gonna have to answer for what their so-called journalist put out on twitter … we have reached out to ABC. They have said they will be taking action, so we will see what they do … hopefully this journalist will either be suspended or terminated."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-06-08T14:21:49.375Z

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Marco Rubio Bans Visas for Officials Who Censor Americans – Such as Marco Rubio and Trump?

Posted by on May 28, 2025 at 1:23 pm. NO Comments :

After nearly two and half centuries, the American Constitution remains one of the most revered documents of independence and liberty ever written and adopted as the legal foundation of a democratic republic. It defines the basic governing principles for a free society that is truly made of, by, and for the people.

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Donald Trump, Censorship

That said, if there is one thing for which Donald Trump has distinguished himself throughout his occupation of the White House, it is his fervent aversion to the Constitution and especially its prohibitions on abridging freedom of the press and free speech. He has literally taken control over the once independently managed White House Press briefings in order to transform it into a pro-Trump puppet show of pure propaganda.

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

On Wednesday Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, accelerated the autocratic aspirations of the Trump regime by issuing a new decree aimed at foreign government officials and other diplomats seeking to visit the United States. Rubio tweeted that…

“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights.

“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”

Paging Mr Orwell, Mr George Orwell. Please come to the White courtesy phone.

— digby (@digby56.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T18:15:01.190Z

Rubio’s policy specifically references foreign nations and/or persons engaging in the moderation of social media in order to mitigate hate speech, disinformation, and efforts to incite violence. It’s the sort of responsible moderation that was practiced in the U.S. until Trump coerced American tech platforms to discontinue it so that Trump and his cult followers could rabble-rouse uninterrupted.

However, the flaming hypocrisy of Rubio’s decree is impossible to ignore. The Trump administration is the most censorious regime to assume power in America since the 1950’s blacklisting and McCarthyism. Trump has been persecuting Harvard University and other academic institutions who refused to kiss his… let’s say ring. He has been pressuring law firms (not always successfully) to kneel down before him, and even pledge the support of hundreds of millions of dollars in free representation for his MAGA agenda.

Perhaps worst of all, Trump has been threatening the media with billion dollar lawsuits and revocation of broadcast licenses unless they kowtow to him and his fixation on getting the press to lavish him with unflinching adoration.

What’s more, Trump has installed himself as the chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; he has banned the Associated Press from presidential media avails; he appointed Kari Lake to head the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which manages 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 has already made some preposterous decisions…

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

On the same day that Rubio issued his decree, Trump’s Re-education Secretary, Linda McMahon, told CNBC that universities must be “in sync” with the Trump administration in order to receive government grants. That will prohibit funding for life-saving research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other devastating illnesses.

Trump's Re-education Secretary, Linda McMahon, says that universities must be "in sync with the administration."In other words, they must abandon academic freedom and submit to their government overlords. Because that's what cult leader Trump demands.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-05-28T15:41:30.011Z

If Rubio’s decree were to be fairly enforced, Trump and most of his Cabinet would be unable to get visas to enter the U.S. Their blatant and shameless acts of censorship would fail to meet Rubio’s criteria. So while Rubio and Trump are whining about what they imagine to be censorship by foreigners, they are the worst practitioners of it. Now, if we could only get them to self-deport.

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Trump’s FTC is Investigating Media Matters for Revealing the Noxious Content Next to Ads on X/Twitter

Posted by on May 23, 2025 at 12:51 pm. 2 Comments :

During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump promised his cult followers that he would exact retribution for whatever imagined wrongs he thought had been waged against him. He swore to get revenge on the organizations and individuals who dared to criticize him and get in the way of his mission to subvert the Constitution and become America’s first dictator. On Fox News they described him as being “out for blood.”

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Donald Trump, Twitter

Now Trump’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is playing its part to fulfill Trump’s promise. They have just announced that they are launching an investigation of the media watchdog organization, Media Matters for America. Media Matters has been a staunch defender of the Constitution’s protections of the free press, and a stalwart opponent of efforts to disseminate ultra-rightist propaganda and to suppress honest journalists.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Prospective CIA Director [Now FBI Director], Kash Patel: We’re Gonna Come After the People in the Media

This latest weaponization of government by Trump is clearly intended to threaten, not just Media Matters, but any critic of Trump or his administration. He has already launched, or threatened to launch, investigations against Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, James Comey, Leticia James, Adam Schiff, Harvard, ActBlue, all news networks, and many more. Now Media Matters has been added to Trump’s Enemies List. As reported by CNN…

“The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday sent Media Matters for America a letter demanding communications between the progressive media watchdog and advertising entities as the commission probes whether the watchdog colluded with advertisers to pull funding from Elon Musk’s X.”

The FTC’s action is a malicious attempt to exploit the legal system to punish Media Matters with a fishing expedition in the hopes of finding evidence that they colluded with advertisers to pull their funding from Twitter/X. If successful, it could set a terrible precedent that would handcuff any individual or organization that engaged in political organizing.

One of the issues that Media Matters has reported on for several years is how advertising on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has often appeared adjacent to offensive content that is racist, or that incites violence, or that is otherwise repugnant and harmful to the advertiser’s reputation. The result has been that some advertisers altered their media buys to avoid such associations.

This was an especially troublesome problem with X/Twitter after Elon Musk bought the company. His policy of tolerating hate speech and restoring the accounts of known white supremacists and neo-Nazis resulted a much higher incidence of ads showing up next to that noxious content. But when Media Matters reported this, Musk sued them alleging that the report was “manufactured,” despite Media Matters delivery of documentation. Media Matters president, Angelo Carasone, responded to the FTC’s letter saying that…

[The Trump administration has been] “abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics. It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”

Trump’s Reign of Terror is escalating as his thirst for revenge continues to boil over. And the victims will not just be politicians and political groups. His determination to clamp down on any and all dissent will eventually make victims of everyone who doesn’t kneel before Dear Leader and succumb to his demands. So don’t fool yourself. That could be you.

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Trump’s Justice Dept Threatens Journalists as ‘Treasonous’ for Not Disclosing Sources of Leaks

Posted by on April 26, 2025 at 12:52 pm. 2 Comments :

The authoritarian aspirations of Donald Trump have hardly been kept hidden. To the contrary, he brags about it, even celebrates it, on a daily basis. His brazen attacks on everything from universities, to law firms, to independent federal agencies that he is expressly prohibited from interacting with, are naked attempts to unlawfully expand and abuse his position as president.

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Donald Trump, Censorship

Among the institutions that Trump regularly persecutes is the one profession that is explicitly protected in the Constitution by name: Freedom of the Press. For many years Trump has maligned the media in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” But more recently he has taken to filing ludicrous lawsuits and banishing those who are insufficiently worshipful from presidential events.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Secretary Takes Questions From a Russian Funded MAGA Podcaster in the WH Press Room

Trump’s most recent assault on the free press comes on the heels of its abhorrent attack on the judiciary with the arrest of a judge in Wisconsin on phony charges that she helped an undocumented immigrate evade apprehension by Trump’s ICE goons. This escalation of the Trump regime’s demolishing of the Constitution has infuriated even conservatives worried about Trump’s overreaching into totalitarian tactics.

However, if you thought that it couldn’t get any worse, you don’t know Trump. On Friday, Trump assigned his lickspittle Attorney Genuflect, Pam Bondi, to issue an official Justice Department memo aimed at threatening journalists with legal consequences – including arrest and potentially much worse – for merely doing their job.

Journalists have long been shielded from these sort of government threats by the First Amendment of the Constitution, along with Justice Department policy to refrain from imposing pressure on them to disclose their sources or other work product. But now Trump and Bondi are exacerbating their bullying by rescinding a Biden administration policy that prohibited such oppressive conduct.

What follows are a couple of the most harrowing portions of the Bondi memo, wherein she advocates for “the use of subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to compel production of information and testimony by and relating to members of the news media.” As reported by Ken Dilanian, NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent…

“I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks.”

Translation: Bondi is permitting Trump’s Justice Department to demand that journalists give up their confidential sources, including personal communications (texts, phone records, emails, etc.), under threat of subpoena, incarceration, and criminal prosecution if they refuse to comply. That is flagrantly unconstitutional. What’s more, it would hamper the ability of reporters to gather information from government sources who would be too afraid to talk if they knew the reporters could be coerced into revealing their identity. And leaks are not “improper” unless they include classified data. The memo continued…

“This Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people. ‘Where a Government employee improperly discloses sensitive information for the purposes of personal enrichment and undermining our foreign policy, national security, and Government effectiveness— all ultimately designed to sow chaos and distrust in Government- this conduct could properly be characterized as treasonous.'”

Translation: Bondi is improperly assuming the role of policing the media’s disclosures of presidential activities. That is not remotely within the jurisdiction of the Justice Department. And it is especially improper if the intent is to avoid what it regards as “undermining” the president’s policies. The public has a right to know what the president is up to, whether the president or the Justice Department likes it or not.

Even worse, Bondi is overtly threatening journalists with the capitol crime of treason. She is actually advocating for the execution of a reporter who might tell the truth about some malfeasance by the president. Which the public also has a right to know about.

For the record, that portion of Bondi’s memo was lifted verbatim from Trump’s prior executive order instructing the Justice Department to conduct a punitive investigation of Miles Taylor, the former Chief of Staff to Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, whose only crime was writing an honest book about Trump’s scandalous first term in office.

Trump’s fondness for threatening to execute his political foes is well documented. He has made a habit of calling his critics “treasonous.” Some of those he has targeted in the past include, Barack Obama, Liz Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, James Comey, Adam Schiff, the New York Times, and Google.

Now Trump has had his Attorney General codify his bloodlust so that he can begin to carry out his campaign of vengeance. This must not be allowed to proceed. And since his Justice Department cannot be relied on to do the right thing, it is left to Congress to find the courage to impeach him before he gets away with any more of his monarchal madness.

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

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

Conservative Republicans have been trying to kill off NPR and PBS for decades. There is nothing that they hate more than an informed and educated populace. But their obsession with eliminating public broadcasting has never been more pronounced than it is today, during the second coming of Donald Trump, who famously gushed that “I love the poorly educated.”

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Donald Trump, Censorship

It’s no wonder why Trump feels such affinity to those without the basic elements of intellect and critical thinking. Such people are the most easily manipulated and are the best candidates for indoctrination into hive-mind cults where everyone is expected to think alike. Trump’s Chief-of-Staff, Susie Wiles, said so explicitly on a recent episode of Lara Trump’s Fox News program…

SEE THIS: Lara Trump’s Interview of Her Sugardaddy-in-Law’s Chief-of-Staff on Fox News is Pure Cult Dogma

With all of the swirling catastrophes circling the newly minted Trump 2.0 (SignalGate, annexations of Greenland and Canada, inflationary/recessionary Trump Tax/Tariffs, unconstitutional deportations, mass firings of critical federal workers/services, etc.), the regime is desperate to deflect to matters that they think they can spin in a more positive direction.

As usual, Trump’s desperation has led him to yet another fiasco. He has chosen to escalate the war on public broadcasting to an unprecedented level. On Monday Trump posted a comment on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social that raged about the “MONSTERS” at NPR and PBS…

“REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”

The sickness and hatred that is Donald Trump and MAGA…They are OBSESSED with killing the "MONSTERS" – NPR & PBS.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-04-02T19:10:08.508Z

That’s right! It’s about time that somebody fought back against the “monsters” that produce Sesame Street, Antiques Roadshow, All Things Considered, and This Old House. Who can deny that they “so badly hurt our country” and must be defunded? And if that weren’t bad enough, a congressional Trump flunky, Brandon Gill (TX-MAGA), chimed in with the following complaint…

The idea that we’re spending so much of our hard earned tax dollars promoting values that we find repulsive is wrong. We shouldn’t be doing this. Let me remind you that Katherine Maher and the entire staff at NPR, I think it’s worth noting, they don’t just disagree with you. They hate you. They hate Christians. They hate conservatives. They hate this country.”

Rep. Brandon Gill says NPR must be defunded because it is "promoting values that we find repulsive" and everyone who works there hates Christians, conservatives, and America.

— Right Wing Watch (@rightwingwatch.bsky.social) 2025-04-02T17:37:10.037Z

Rep. Gill didn’t bother to provide any examples of the “repulsive” values that have him so worked up. So either they are too repulsive to even discuss, or more likely, they don’t exist anywhere outside of his cartoon brain. And his assertion that the entire staff of NPR hates Christians, conservatives, and America, is straight out of the most perverse dregs of wingnut dystopian dementia.

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.

The hysterical rage mongers of the right care only about retaining their grip on power by any means they deem necessary. And attacking public broadcasting serves a dual purpose for these radical lunatics: It helps them to channel attention away from the even more grotesque endeavors that that they are engaged in, and it leads to a more ignorant, compliant base of cult followers.

The good news is that they cannot possibly succeed. They are weak and witless and far fewer in number. The majority of Americans are not as blind and malleable as the MAGA minions. We will resist their efforts to control and subjugate us. And our resolve will see us through. LFG!

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White House Correspondents Association Axes Comedian Amber Ruffin After Tantrum By Trump Aide

Posted by on March 30, 2025 at 12:58 pm. 1 Comments :

The determination of Donald Trump to put his bone-spur infected boot down on the throats of the free press has been a hallmark of his career in politics. And in his reoccupation of the White House, his animosity toward the media that he repeatedly maligns in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people” has never been more pronounced.

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Amber Ruffin and Donald Trump baby

In recent weeks Trump has escalated his threats toward the press by filing frivolous lawsuits and banning media organizations that don’t worshipfully exalt him. And, unfortunately, the media has not been particularly eager to confront him or to stand up for themselves. To the contrary, they have been letting him get away with some of the most atrocious assaults on the Constitution’s First Amendment by any president in modern times.

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

On Saturday the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) provided another example of the lily-livered behavior that has stained their reputation. Every year the WHCA holds a gala dinner to honor members and raise funds for journalism scholarships. That dinner usually features addresses by the current president and a well known comedian.

This year the WHCA announced that the comic host would be, Amber Ruffin, a popular talent with an extensive and impressive resume. She has been an Emmy winning writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers. She has authored best selling books. She has written Tony Award winning plays. And she is currently a regular on CNN’s comedy news program, “Have I Got News For You.”

But apparently that wasn’t good enough for the WHCA to retain her services after an attack by a bitter and belligerent Trump bulldog. As reported by Variety…

“The White House Correspondents’ Association has canceled plans to have comedian Amber Ruffin perform at its annual dinner on April 26, a new sign of the pressures being brought to bear on news organizations during President Donald Trump’s second term. The journalism group, which has seen its control over interactions with Trump eroded in recent weeks, made the decision after Taylor Budowich, a White House deputy chief of staff, raised comments Ruffin has made in the past that are critical of Trump.”

What Budowich was triggered by was Ruffin’s biting satire and political quips. Which is precisely what the comedian’s role at this dinner has always been about, no matter who was in the White House. Other presidents enjoyed the program with good humor, and even joined in it themselves. But Trump’s massive yet fragile ego couldn’t bear it. He was even too afraid to attend the dinner during his prior occupation of the White House. And he won’t be going this year either. So Budowich went after the WHCA and Ruffin saying that…

This year’s WHCA dinner will be hosted by a 2nd rate comedian…What kind of responsible, sensible journalist would attend something like this? More importantly, what kind of company would sponsor such as hate-filled and violence-inspiring event?

The Trump Doctrine demands that any criticism they make of others cannot be merely an expression of their disagreement. It must be rife with insults and threats. Consequently, Budowich resorts to calling Ruffin a “2nd rate comedian,” and adds some totalitarian-style coercion to sponsors to scare them off of contributing to the charity dinner. And to make matters worse, he inserts a preposterous assertion that Ruffin’s presence is “violence-inspiring.” That’s coming from a top aide to Trump who incited a deadly insurrection and then pardoned the rioters who stormed the Capital and put 140 police officers in the hospital.

In response to Budowich’s whining, the WHCA released a pathetic statement saying that…

“The WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year. At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”

With all due respect…BULLSH*T! Why didn’t the Board make this decision last month before they invited Ruffin to be the host? And what is it about “this consequential moment for journalism” that makes political satire unsuitable? What could be more suitable? And how does Eugene Daniels, the president of the WHCA, explain his remarks when he hired Ruffin saying that…

“Amber’s unique talents are the ideal fit for this current political and cultural climate. Her perspective will fit right in with the dinner’s tradition of honoring the freedom of the press while roasting the most powerful people on all sides of the aisle and the journalists who cover them.”

So what changed in a couple of weeks? Other than the attack by Trump’s flunky? This is another bad omen for the fate of journalism in the Era (Error) of Trump. Daniels and the WHCA are kneeling at the feet of a neo-fascist authoritarian regime. And it’s a bad sign for Daniels, who was recently hired to co-host a weekend program on MSNBC. After this capitulation, how can anyone trust that he will be a reliable journalist who reports without fear or favor?

UPDATE: Seth Meyers and Amber Ruffin respond to her cancelation by the WHCA. Here are three things that Ruffin learned from the experience…

  • “When you watch The Sound of Music, you have to root for the singing children and the other people [e.g. Nazis]”.
  • “We have a free press so that we can be nice to Republicans at fancy dinners. That’s what it says in the First Amendment.
  • “I thought when people take away your rights, erase your history, and deport your friends, you’re supposed to call it out. But I was wrong. Glad to find that out now because if they had let me give that speech, ooh, baby. I would have been so terrifically mean.”

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Trump at the ‘Justice’ Department: CNN, MSNBC, and Other Media are Illegal and ‘It Has to Stop’

Posted by on March 15, 2025 at 12:42 pm. 2 Comments :

This week the parade of perfidy that has characterized the Second Scumming of Donald Trump (and the first one as well) took its roadshow to the hallowed halls of the United States Department of Justice. It was a particularly nauseating spectacle considering the role that those halls have represented in America’s history.

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Donald Trump, Censorship

The purpose of this presidential outing was, according to the White House, to discuss problems related to fentanyl and other drug trafficking related crimes. But as it unfolded it was clear that Trump had an entirely different agenda. Most the time he spoke was allotted to his whining about the results of the 2020 election; to his fixation on getting revenge for being prosecuted for crimes that he actually committed; and to smearing his political opponents for his own failures. It was little more than a repeat of his partisan and hostile speech before the Joint Session of Congress last week.

SEE THIS: Collected Quotes Displaying Trump’s Obsession with Himself In His Pseudo State of the Union Spiel

Crammed into his caterwauling commentary was another example of his hysterical hatred for the free press that he regularly maligns as “the enemy of the people.” Nothing bothers Trump more than hearing the truth be told about him. He raged that…

“I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal. What they do is illegal. It makes no difference how big a victory I had. I can have the biggest victory in history. It makes no difference what kind of a failure the other side has. These people are gonna go after me. […]

“These networks and these newspapers are really no different than highly paid political operatives, and it has to stop. It has to be illegal. It’s influencing judges, and it’s really a changing law, and it just cannot be legal. I don’t believe it’s legal. And they do it in total coordination with each other.”

First of all, let’s note that Trump uses the word “literally” when he obviously means “figuratively.” That’s because he literally doesn’t understand the English language. More to the point, his rant should serve as a five-alarm warning to all Americans who cherish the Constitution. His attack on the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of the press is nothing new in his repugnant repertoire, but it remains among the most troubling.

Trump is not joking when he says that, in his opinion, CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets are “illegal” and that, given the opportunity, he will see to it that they are stopped. He has already banished several news networks from the White House press pool, and he has declared that he will now determine which reporters are allowed to ask him questions, a role that was handled by the independent White House Correspondents Association for decades.

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

One of the most egregious inanities in his speech was his assertion that any media that criticizes him is “no different than highly paid political operatives.” You’ll notice that he didn’t mention Fox News, a truly political operation, in his attack. And many of their personnel are literally paid to be political hacks. At least 19 of them have joined the Trump administration.

SEE ALSO: Trump’s Nominees Are Largely Fox News Alum, Mar-a-Lago Patrons, and Billionaires

Trump also claimed, without any evidence whatsoever, that reporting by his media foes was “influencing judges,” and was done “in total coordination with each other.” That’s another example of projection by Trump. He often accuses his critics of the grossly improper behavior that he engages in regularly.

When a national leader’s authoritarian rhetoric descends to the depths that Trump is dredging, it is not long before he starts to implement campaigns of brutal censorship and even incarceration of journalists that he opposes. He is executing the playbook for media suppression that he got from Vladimir Putin. And if the media doesn’t take this seriously now, they will later find out that they are unable to do anything about it from their prison cells.

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What If Trump Gave His State of the (Soviet) Union Speech and No Media Was There to Hear It?

Posted by on March 4, 2025 at 9:43 am. 1 Comments :

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, is the designated day for Donald Trump to deliver what is referred to as a “Joint Session of Congress Address.” It serves as the first state of the union speech for the first year of a newly elected president. There is sometimes some controversy in the content of such speeches, but the fact that they occur is generally regarded as routine.

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Donald Trump, Mocking Disability

However, controversy stains everything that Trump engages in. It’s by design from the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist who revels in creating chaos and making waves. Consequently, his appearance before Congress tonight is already stirring a tsunami among members of Congress, as well as the people who they purportedly serve. Although there are those who are anxiously anticipating his address…

SEE THIS: Russian TV Host: What Trump Says is ‘So Correct…In Total Alignment With the Way We See Things’

The question of how to deal with a president who has so flagrantly demonstrated his allegiance to America’s enemies is weighing on the members of Congress who would ordinarily be expected to attend the speech. Trump has proven by his words and deeds that he is more aligned with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, than with the values of America and its Constitution.

Trump’s overtly traitorous offenses include halting U.S. aid to Ukraine, advocating that the U.S. quit the U.N. and NATO, pushing for Russia to be readmitted to the G7 assembly of nations, and his conspicuous inability to ever say anything remotely critical of Putin, while repeatedly blasting American leaders in the most vile terms. Could he possibly be more of an asset to Russia?

As a result, the day prior to Trump’s address several members announced that they will not be attending. Others have said that they will attend, but bring with them guests who will highlight Trump’s animosity toward American principles and laws. There are rumors of other types of protests that might occur in the chamber during Trump’s speech.

What hasn’t been mentioned so far is: What will the media do? There are good arguments to be made that the press should not cover Trump’s speech live. After all, why present to American and international audiences the nearly incoherent rants of a notorious enemy of democracy? Why allow a certified Putin stooge to get an extended chunk of primetime television to advance the interests of America’s foes? Why should viewers have to suffer through the infantile insults that he unleashes every time he speaks? And why would a well known pathological liar be permitted to spread flagrant falsehoods unchallenged?

The press could easily record the event and replay any significant parts with a short delay. That would likely reduce the running to about two minutes due to the absence of anything significant in his speech. With the time delay the press would also have ample time to conduct appropriate fact checking. Which could increase the running time if they decided to report on all of Trump’s lies.

Finally, Trump has already demonstrated his hatred for the media that he refers to in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” He has barred credible news agencies from covering him, including the Associated Press and Reuters. He has replaced news outlets in the White House Press Briefing Room such as NBC News, the New York Times, and NPR, with the Trump-fluffing propagandists at Newsmax, One America News Network, the New York Post, and Breitbart.

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

It is Trump’s obvious intention to suppress the free press, ignoring the Constitution’s First Amendment protections. He seeks to emulate the censorious practices of his heroes, Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. So why shouldn’t the press exercise its rights to report on him in an appropriate manner that respects their mission to keep the American people informed, and honors their duty to reporting the truth? And the best way to do that is to refrain from all live coverage of Trump, including tonight’s speech before Congress.

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Fox News is SHOCKED that Citizens Have the Gall to Protest Trump VP Vance on His Ski Vacation

Posted by on March 2, 2025 at 11:59 am. 1 Comments :

If there is one thing that is crystal clear in the second coming of Donald Trump’s occupation of the White House, it’s that dissent is verboten, and anyone who dares to engage in it must be shunned and driven from the embrace of Trump’s obeisant society. The protections of the Constitution notwithstanding, defiance of Dear Leader will not be tolerated.

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Fox News, Constitution

This suppression of free speech is not some vague, clandestine policy that is hinted at in disguised rhetoric. It is blatant and broadcast without shame by Trump and his cronies. His recently confirmed director of the FBI, Kash Patel, made sure that he would not be misunderstood when he threatened the media with persecution and prosecution if they challenged the supremacy of the regime.

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

Consequently, it will surprise no one that Trump’s Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News, is leading the way down the path of total submission to the Trump cult’s hive mind. On Sunday’s edition of Fox and Friends Weekend (the program from which Trump recruited his Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth), the “Curvy Couch” potatoes drew the red line that citizens of Trump’s perverse version of America must never be allowed to cross.

Campos-Duffy: There was somebody who was in Vermont, a very liberal state, who went with his family, JD Vance, skiing, and boy, the Vermonters were not very friendly and welcoming. I don’t think any conservatives will want to go to Vermont skiing anymore.
Hurt: Shocking, SHOCKING, to find out that the state that keeps sending us Bernie Sanders decided to turn out in support of, uh, against JD Vance because of the showdown in the White House yesterday.
Campos-Duffy: Do you know what bugs me about this is? It’s like if he was, ya know, if he was like – I get, I think families should be off limits. Hunter Biden sold out the country. There was a reason to talk about him. These kids are like four and two. Why are they bothering this man on his ski vacation?

Did y’all get that? It is now required that all citizens must be “friendly and welcoming” to visitors from the Trump confederacy. Failure to behave in the approved manner will warrant ostracization, and the enmity of Trump cultists in good standing.

So even if a Trump toady, like say for instance, JD Vance, were to come to town the day after he and Trump grossly embarrassed the nation by chastising a beleaguered American ally, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who has been courageously fighting to defend the cherished American values of liberty and democracy – the peasants…er…residents of that town are still expected to bow down reverentially or suffer the consequences.

MORE HERE: Was Trump’s Ambush of Zelenskyy Preplanned, Including Stacking the Press Pool with Kremlin Hacks?

What’s more, the voters of that town will be mocked for democratically electing the representative of their choice if he (e.g. Bernie Sanders) doesn’t fall in line with the Fuhrer’s dictates. Never mind that when Trump’s nemesis, President Biden, was in office, it was perfectly fine to attack the President and his family in overtly unfriendly and unwelcoming ways.

In the Era of the Cult of Trump, guilt by association is the standard operating procedure. Anyone who affiliates with the enemies of Trump are suspect themselves. However, if we apply the same gauge to the Trumpists, we would see a decidedly troubling scenario unfolding. Because among the most fervent followers of Trump are some of the world’s most brutal and oppressive tyrants, whose reverence Trump gleefully returns.

Russian politico, Dmitry Medvedev, gives #PutinsPoodle, Trump, praise for his "slap down" of Zelenskyy. Like a dog getting a treat for doing a trick.Hungary's dictator, Orbán, also came out in support of Trump's tantrum against Zelenskyy, but inadvertently notes that Putin is weak for making war.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-03-01T18:58:25.115Z

And let’s not forget Trump’s co-president, Elon Musk, who is fully on board with America’s Russian foes, and is doing all that he can to advance their interests.

Trump's co-president, Elon Musk, is now advocating that the U.S. quit NATO and the U.N.Just like their master Vladimir Putin wants us to do.

— News Corpse (@newscorpse.bsky.social) 2025-03-02T18:15:06.359Z

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

Posted by on February 26, 2025 at 12:49 pm. NO Comments :

For over a century, the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) has been responsible for setting the standards for reporters who cover the president. Their commitment to independence and professional journalism has ensured that the coverage of the White House and its occupants would be both tough and fair.

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King Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

From its inception, the mission of the WHCA has been to “share the belief, held by our country’s Founders and enshrined in the First Amendment, that an independent news media is vital to the health of the republic.” It is, in fact, the only way to ensure that the interests of the people are being served. Unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn’t agree. And he has dispatched his Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to see to the dismantling of the White House press corps.

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

As evidence of this betrayal of American principles and the Constitution, Leavitt, made an announcement on Wednesday that further erodes any pretense by the Trump administration to value the free press. She said that…

“As you all know, a group of D.C.-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the President of the United States in these intimate spaces, Not anymore. I am proud to announce that we are giving the power back to the people who read your papers, who watch your television shows, and who listen to your radio stations. Moving forward, the White House press pool, will be determined by the White House Press Team.”

First of all, Leavitt is engaging in the sort of disinformation that is the hallmark of the Trump regime. The WHCA does not “dictate which journalists get to ask questions of the President.” They evaluate the credentials of White House correspondents, and approve those who meet the high standards that warrant access to the halls of power. It is a merit based system that the White House is permitted to participate in.

More to the point, Leavitt’s decree that the WHCA will no longer perform the function that they have been fulfilling admirably for decades is a spine-chilling imitation of how the media is oppressed under the thumb of Vladimir Putin’s Politburo. She isn’t “giving the power back to the people.” She’s giving it to the wannabe dictator who regularly maligns the press as “the enemy of the people.”

This change means that Trump and his flunkies will decide who gets to ask him questions. And their recent decrees in that regard have been guided by their flagrant biases and vengefulness. It could not be more obvious that they intend to censor all those who are not adoringly worshipful of Trump. They have already replaced longstanding media outlets like NBC News, the New York Times, and NPR, with One America News Network, the New York Post, and Breitbart News. These are not exactly icons of journalistic integrity.

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

The WHCA responded to this authoritarian decree in a statement saying that…

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.” – Eugene Daniels, White House Correspondents’ Association president.

Trump himself weighed in on the issue saying that…

“We’re gonna be now calling those shots. As you know, we won that lawsuit right there, see the Gulf of America, which is a beautiful name. Most people agree.

“AP has been terrible. I think they’re radical left. I think they’re third rate reporters. I know the specific young lady that works on the account is terrible. she’s a radical left lunatic, as far as I’m concerned.”

Trump on the new policy of the White House picking the journalists who cover the White House: "Well, we're gonna be now calling those shots."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-25T22:10:56.551Z

So Herr Trump is bragging that he will be “calling the shots” from now on. And to reinforce his tyrannical tendencies, he insults the White House correspondent for the Associated Press in his familiar infantile fashion.

Elaborating on his malicious attack, Trump referred to his banning of the AP because they refused to bow down to his order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in their international editions, where he has no authority to change geographical names. He did not win any lawsuit on the matter. It is scheduled to be heard next month by a judge who appears to be leaning toward the view that Trump is in violation of the Constitution.

While Trump may be able to forbid honest journalists from asking him question in his Washington and Palm Beach bunkers, he cannot stop them from asking questions in their own reporting. However, he may find that the conspicuous absence of his lie-riddled answers will only make his autocracy-driven cowardice more obvious, and eventually, more injurious to his already rotten reputation.

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