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

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 Stumped When Asked If It’s Safe to Fly – By Peter Doocy of Fox News

Within hours of the news that an American Airlines jet had collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter and crashed, killing everyone aboard both aircraft, Donald Trump had already drawn his conclusions as to the cause. He surmised that the cause of the tragedy was hiring practices that promoted diversity, equity, and Inclusion (DEI). He followed that up by blaming Presidents Obama and Biden.

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Donald Trump and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

Never mind that Trump had no evidence whatsoever that his racist conclusions had any merit, or even a remote relationship with reality. He neglected expressions of concern or condolences in order to advance his agenda of noxious bigotry, and to exploit the tragedy to attack his political foes. And of course, that narrative was faithfully supported by his obedient politburo chief, Karoline Leavitt, who has been busy clearing press credentials for devoted MAGA cultists.

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

On Friday morning, the White House press briefing took a bizarre turn when Peter Doocy of Fox News rose to ask Leavitt a question about the safety of air travel in America. He made an uncharacteristically insightful point about the consequences of Trump’s drumbeating of disparagement toward employees in the aviation sector that he regards as being too dark skinned, feminine, or otherwise representative of the diversity of the nation.

Doocy: If president Trump is telling us that air traffic control towers are staffed with unqualified controllers, DEI hires who never should have been brought on, then it’s not safe to fly commercially, is it?
Leavitt: The president was asked and answered this yesterday, and he believes that it is still indeed safe and Americans should feel safe traveling our skies. With that said, two things can be true at the same time. And we certainly have seen the deterioration of federal hiring standards at the Federal Aviation Administration. And the president wants to increase those standards.

PETER DOOCY: Given DEI hires, it's not safe to fly commercially, is it?LEAVITT: The president believes it is still indeed safe. With that said …

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-31T18:17:09.467Z

Doocy’s question staggered Leavitt. It makes sense to reason that aviation safety is at risk if the people responsible for it are incompetent and/or unqualified, as Trump insists. And anyone who accepts Trump’s assessment should keep their feet firmly planted on the ground, rather than put their lives in the hands of freeloaders who shouldn’t have been hired. Right?

Well, according to Leavitt, the answer is more complex. She argues that “two things can be true at the same time.” In her view, the pilots, air traffic controllers, and other aviation staff can be inferior clods who, nevertheless, are still perfectly able to insure the safety of American travelers. Except for the times that they cause jetliners to crash into the Potomac. Leavitt elaborated on her duplicity theory saying that…

“When you’re flying with your loved ones, do you pray that your airplane lands safely and gets you to your destination or do you pray that the pilot has a certain skin color? I think we all know the answer.”

The choices Leavitt offers here are absurd in the extreme. Obviously every air passenger wants to land safely. But nobody “prays” that “the pilot has a certain skin color.” Well, except for racist Trump cultists and MAGA disciples who will only approve of white pilots. For instance, Trump flunky Charlie Kirk actually said “I’m sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.'”

Trump’s obsession with casting blame on Blacks, women, Democrats, and others for whom he has a visceral, inbred hatred, is emblematic of his rancid divisiveness. And in the furtherance of his prejudices, he couldn’t care less about whether or not what he’s saying about DEI true. And as PolitiFact affirms, it isn’t. But that won’t stop him. He won’t stop lying because he’s pathologically incapable of it. What’s more, he knows that his cult followers not only accept it, they love it.

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

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

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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Trump Pledges to Forgo 100’s of Billions in Revenue By Letting Wealthy Tax Cheaters Off the Hook

If there is anyone who is still unsure about who Donald Trump is working for, the Grifter-in-Chief himself is making it clear enough that only his most gullible, brainwashed cult disciples will remain blinded by his brazen bullshittery.

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Trump Baby on Cash Pile

The VIP guest guest list to Trump’s inauguration ought to have been a five-alarm bulletin that Trump is immovably devoted to the wealthiest upper-crusters in America, including such shameless, ring-kissing luminaries as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, who donated millions to bankroll his inaugural party. Even so, their largesse was not sufficient to buy Trump an audience. The weather drove the event into the small Rotunda in the Capitol, and his unprecedented unpopularity drove viewers away from their TVs…

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

Among the reasons that the American people are shunning Trump are his proposals that overwhelmingly favor corporations and the elite class that is so generous with their contributions – aka bribes. On Saturday Trump delivered a speech to his working class dupes that affirmed his commitment to the American aristocracy. He made a point of singling out a particular piece of his agenda that the privileged set salivates over…

“On day one I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. They hired, or tried to hire 88,000 new workers to go after you, and we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border.”

This is a long debunked lie that Trump has been telling for years. He likely picked it up from his Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News, back in August of 2022, when Fox’s Brian Kilmeade, sitting in for Tucker Carlson, told a tale of “Joe Biden’s new army,” that will “hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers.” Of course, nothing like that ever existed. It was a mangling of a report about legislation that would provide funding for the IRS for maintenance and a variety of needed improvements.

MORE HERE: Fox News Fear Mongers that Biden’s IRS Agents Will ‘Hunt Down and Kill Middle Class Taxpayers’

The only IRS agents who are authorized to carry firearms are a small number who deal with serious criminal activities, such as money laundering, drug trafficking and organized crime. The bulk of the funding was actually earmarked for replacing employees who resigned, for enhancing customer service, and for improving the agencies technologies. Most of the employee hiring that Trump is claiming to have halted would have affected those sort of administrative positions that make dealing with the IRS easier for everyone. A smaller amount would be spent on agents who audit taxpayers, and most of them would be in the higher income brackets.

An independent study showed that the new funding and staffing “could lead to as much as $850 billion in new revenue over the next decade.” And a recent report revealed that those benefits were already being realized. CBS News reported that…

“The IRS said…that its plan to crack down on wealthy tax cheats is paying off, with the agency collecting more than $1 billion since targeting high-income earners who owe the government money. The joint announcement with the U.S. Treasury Department is meant to highlight that the IRS’ $80 billion in funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act is helping to recoup revenue for the nation’s coffers.”

Trump’s plan would significantly cut into federal revenues, making the deficit worse and reducing the funds available for critical services including policing the border, healthcare, law enforcement, preventing terrorism, aiding poor families and children, education, repairing crumbling infrastructure, and so much more.

However, Trump’s plan would help him in his mission to abolish taxes in favor of tariffs, that would shift the burden of the budget demands to lower and middle class citizens. The result would be huge tax cuts for the wealthy, along with free rein to cheat on whatever taxes remain for them pay. Is that what Trump campaigned on? Is that what his cult followers voted for?

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

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

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 Inauguration Day Rants Affirm that He is a Wannabe Dictator and a Pathological Liar

Just in case there is still any cognitively functioning person who hasn’t been convinced that convicted felon Donald Trump aspires to rule as an authoritarian tyrant, dedicated to manufacturing false narratives about himself, disparaging his opponents in the most infantile manner, and accumulating wealth via dishonest scams, someone has come forward to settle the debate once and for all.

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Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

That someone just happens to be Donald Trump. In a not particularly uncommon development, Trump is confessing to his own most contemptible compulsions. And the confessions took place during his inauguration address that he delivered to his elitist benefactors in the Capitol Rotunda, and the subsequent speech he gave to the foot soldiers of his MAGA cult. This should come as no surprise, because almost every time Trump opens his mouth, he emits maliciousness and lies.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Press Conference is the Best Evidence Yet that He is Positively, Irreparably Insane

Trump’s inauguration redress was riddled with rancid rhetoric that diverted entirely from reality. For example, he babbled that…

“The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.”
The rebalancing will result in his vicious and violent weaponization of the Justice Department aimed at Democrats and reputable Republicans.

“My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Trump is exalting himself in messianic terms as god’s savior of one particular country that he favors for some reason.

“Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”
While drug cartels are certainly bad, they are not terrorist organizations that, by definition, use violence to alter governments. Drug cartels are only interested in making money. Which is something that they have in common with Trump.

“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service, to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury, coming from foreign sources.”
Tariffs are not paid by foreign countries. They are paid by domestic importers who pass the costs on as de facto taxes to American consumers.

“After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
Trump doesn’t provide any evidence of his claims of “restricted free speech” or “government censorship.” But he has threatened to revoke the licenses of all TV news networks.

There was plenty more where that came from, including Trump’s bizarre promise to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which he has no legal authority to do. And his threat to take back the Panama Canal from Panama, which would require a hostile military invasion of a friendly neighbor.

Trump moved on from that scene to the Capital One Arena, where his patient and obedient flock of MAGA disciples were waiting to hear from him after he canceled their tickets to the inaugural address, leaving them, literally, in the cold. His speech to this crowd was littered with a litany of lies especially crafted for these gullible rubes. CNN’s Daniel Dale recounted a few of them…

“In his unscripted speech, he returned to his lie-a-minute style. He said the 2020 election was ‘totally rigged.’ We know that’s a lie. He said his opponent tried to rig it this time. That’s more nonsense. He said that California Democrats tried to cheat and that he thinks he would have won the state this time if it were not rigged. Well, it was a free and fair election in that state as well. He lost by more than three million votes. […]

“On immigration he spoke of the jails of every country in the world being emptied into this country. He has never provided any evidence for his claims that foreign countries were deliberately emptying prisons to send people here as migrants. […]

“And then he turned to January 6th. He spoke at length about, he said the committee deleted all evidence, almost everything. It simply did not. That did not happen. […] And he repeated his claim that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had ‘admitted’ that she rejected a Trump offer of 10,000 National Guard troops on January 6, 2021. First of all, there is no basis for the claim that Trump even made her such an offer. It wouldn’t even have made sense considering that he, the president. is the commander of the D.C. National Guard. The Speaker of the House has no authority to deploy them or thwart a deployment. And second of all, she never admitted that such an offer was made. She has steadfastly rejected that.”

This was a predictably inauspicious beginning for the Trump 2.0 occupation of the White House. And while his words were worrisome, to put it mildly, the actions to follow will be astronomically worse. That is, unless we stand up to him and resist his tyranny en masse. We cannot accept his plans to slash Social Security, sabotage healthcare, suppress civil and voting rights, make the U.S. an international pariah, and smooth the path for illegalities by his wealthy comrades and violent StormTrumpers.

It’s up to us to preserve democracy. Trump is not guaranteed four more years. Democrats could regain majorities in Congress in 2026. And by then, it’s pretty safe to assume that he will have done some more things that are impeachable.

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Trump’s Plan to ‘Save’ TikTok is an Illegal, Unconstitutional, Anti-American Grifting Scheme

Any objective observer of Donald Trump has noticed that there are a few predictable constants that are evident in his demeanor and his governing style. They include his capacity for lying without shame, his egotistical exaltations of himself, and his compulsion to malign his critics with unwarranted and infantile insults.

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Donald Trump, Toilet, Bathrobe

Another one of Trump’s true constants is his extraordinary ability to manufacture chaos over any subject and on a moment’s notice. It’s a skill that is useful for someone who is perpetually in need of phony controversies to deflect from his frequent inadequacies and grossly abhorrent and unpopular policy proposals. Or sometimes just to draw attention away from some offense to his tender sensitivities.

FOR INSTANCE: Snowflake Trump Blasts Seth Meyers and Threatens Comcast Because Jokes Hurt His Tender Fee Fees

The controversy surrounding the fate of TikTok has recently taken the center point on the media stage. While there is wide latitude for diverse opinions about whether it should be permitted to operate in the United States while owned by a company that is tightly tied to China, there are positions that can exceed the boundaries of propriety and even threaten national security.

Leave it to Trump to take a position that totally ignores those rational concerns and, instead, manages to wrap itself in the best interests of only Trump himself. On his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, Trump posted his views that include his desire for Americans “to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday.” As if there were no other media platforms that will be presenting it. He was also worried about the financial prospects for the social media app, which he exaggerated is “worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”

More to the point, Trump offered his proposal for “saving” TikTok from the evil American “communists” who seek to prohibit the app run by friendly Chinese communists. He posted that

“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

To be clear, the only reason that Trump is now concerned about TikTok staying dark is that he recently discovered that he’s getting millions of views of his TikTok videos. However, Trump’s claim that he will issue an executive order delaying the law’s prohibitions is a blatant violation of the law. An executive order cannot override a statute passed by Congress without some urgent national security justification. Watching his inauguration simply doesn’t measure up to that standard. But he was just getting started. Trump continued…

“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. […] Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.”

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 U.S. government has no place in such a “partnership” with a Chinese business. Or any other business for that matter. If Trump goes through with this proposal, it must be challenged and rejected by the courts. He doesn’t have the right to structure illegal and unconstitutional business ventures just because they suit him personally. And it’s notable that even that determination on his part was a flagrant flip-flop from his prior position on TikTok…

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

Whatever happens to TikTok, it should be based on the law. And if the law isn’t clear enough to protect the interests of the American people, it should be amended. The rights of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok also need to be considered. But sanctioning a single company for abusing that data is not a rational solution. All the companies that do so should be barred from that practice, including Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, etc.

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Fox News Gushes Over Trump’s ‘Hot’ Nominees – Trashes Liberals as ‘Fat, Out of Shape Losers’

It has been ten years since Donald Trump began his political career by riding down a gold-plated escalator from his Manhattan penthouse, and promising to represent the forgotten people of America by catering to the whims of the wealthy and corporations, and punishing immigrants and minorities who he maligned as criminals.

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Trump in Bed, Eating, Sad

In the decade that has transpired, some people may have forgotten what Trump did for a living prior to his occupation in the White House. He was not a real estate developer, or a dealmaker, or a marketer. For most of that time he was the host of a reality TV game show, “The Apprentice,” where he pretended to be a successful businessman despite his actual record of multiple failures and bankruptcies. And to this day he leans on that past and those who helped him craft his fake identity.

SEE THIS: Trump Picks His ‘Apprentice’ Producer, Mark Burnett, for Diplomatic Post – To Buy His Silence?

The superficiality of Trump’s long occupation as a television performer has been evident in everything he has done as a politician. Appearances were always paramount over substance. It’s why he was so obsessed about crowd size, and lying about having lost the 2020 election to President Biden. It’s why he chose White House staffers who looked good on TV, but had little to no experience in the jobs they were hired to do. That shallowness also continues to this day and dominates his hiring for Trump 2.0.

Trump’s Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News, is also on the job of plastering superficial facades on him and his new brood of bootlickers. That was brilliantly demonstrated by Fox’s resident wannabe schlock-jock, Greg Gutfeld. In a segment on Friday’s episode of “The Five,” Gutfeld sought to extol the “hotness” of Trump’s toadies, while insulting Democrats as dawgs. He began by comparing Biden’s Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, to Trump’s nominee for the post…

“Mayorkas to Kristi. You’re going from a garden gnome to Kristi Noem. I mean, she’s so hot that shooting a dog isn’t a deal breaker. And I’m telling you this, you look at this crop of nominees and the party, there’s something there, man. They’re all in great shape. You’ve got to look at people who preserve and maintain what’s important in their lives. If they’re going to do that with their physical self, they’re going to do that in other areas. This is why like a lot of liberals are just fat, out of shape losers, because they don’t believe in structure, discipline.”

Notice that Gutfeld is unfavorably comparing a man who has spent his life in law enforcement and national security, to a small state governor who murders her pets and gets away with it. And Gutfeld absurdly believes that people whose egos demand most of their attention will somehow be more attentive to the less glamorous matters of state.

The rest of Gutfeld’s rant was devoted to praising Trump for hiring critical staffers based on their looks. He makes broad generalizations about the alleged attractiveness of Trump’s nominees, and equally unfair and insulting assessments of Biden’s team. Never mind that Trump’s picks are dreadfully unqualified for the jobs he’s proposing to give them.

For example, alcoholic sexual abuser, Pete Hegseth, conspiracy crackpot and anti-vaxxer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Russian asset, Tulsi Gabbard, and QAnon kook, Kash Patel. None have the experience, knowledge, or skills to manage massive bureaucracies of government, many of which deal with matters of life and death.

If they look good on TV, which is where Trump found most of them, they meet his prerequisites. Which may be why seventeen (so far) of his nominees are current or former Fox News squawking heads.

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

What Gutfeld is conveniently ignoring are the physical attributes of the captain of this cabal of catwalkers (or is that cat eaters?). He doesn’t bother to compare the alluring and intelligent Kamala Harris to the stomach-churning hideousness of Trump. In fact, Dear Leader Trump is hardly a beacon of beauty. He’s a shuffling, wrinkled, orange-glazed, geezer, who is morbidly obese, with resting scowl-face. But sure, he’s in great shape – for a putrefied ham that’s been out on the porch for several weeks.

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