The crusade by Donald Trump to suppress the media, intimidate journalists, and bring an end to America’s constitutional protection of the free press, has accelerated since his reoccupation of the White House. His determination to emulate the sort of autocratic control that his idols (Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, etc.) enjoy is the keystone of his MAGA Cult movement.

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Among Trump’s brazen efforts to clamp down on independent news organizations and reporting is his lawsuit against CBS for what he claims was their “illegal” editing of an interview of Vice-President Kamala Harris near the end of the 2024 election campaign. It was just another attempt by Trump to use meritless legal tactics to bring the media to heel with threats and the abuse of the power of the presidency.

SEE THIS: Trump Threatens CBS Over Kamala Harris Interview on 60 Minutes He Says Was ‘Possibly Illegal’

Trump was furious at CBS and 60 Minutes for reporting in a manner that was consistent with honest and professional journalism. He posted a frothingly rabid comment in October of last year on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, saying that…

“60 MINUTES SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY TAKEN OFF THE AIR – ELECTION INTERFERENCE. CBS SHOULD LOSE ITS LICENSE. THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN BROADCAST HISTORY. Kamala should be investigated and forced off the Campaign”

Trump is going to have an aneurism after he learns that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has just announced that the interview that triggered Trump’s wrath has been nominated for an Emmy in the very category that ruffled his scales. As reported by the Associated Press (which Trump has banned from presidential events)…

“Last fall’s ’60 Minutes’ story on Kamala Harris — the subject of Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS — was nominated for an Emmy Award Thursday for ‘outstanding edited interview.’ Trump, in his lawsuit, complained that the interview was deceptively edited to make his Democratic election opponent look good.”

That’s right. The interview that Trump baselessly asserted was “illegal” and “election interference” due to its editing, has been nominated for an Emmy for “Outstanding Editing.” Could there be a better example of the irrational inanity of Trump’s impotent whining?

Well, actually there can be. Because Trump is still doing it with even greater force of idiocy. A few days ago Trump posted a new comment absurdly claiming that “The case we have against 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount is a true WINNER.” He reiterated his false accusation that the interview was improperly edited. But then he escalated his legal threats to include the New York Times because they published an article that correctly reported that legal experts regarded his case as “baseless.” He wrote that…

“[T]he Failing New York Times, which is Fake News both in writing and polling, claims that ‘people’ said that the case is baseless. They don’t mean that, they just have a non curable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, possibly to the point where the Times’ interjection makes them liable for tortious interference, including in Elections, which we are intently studying.”

It is also notable that Trump’s legal threats are both a conflict of interest and a flagrant abuse of power. As David Corn of Mother Jones reports, Trump is simultaneously suing CBS and it’s corporate parent, Paramount, while his FCC chair, Brendan Carr, is reviewing a proposed merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. So Trump can extort a settlement from CBS under the threat of declining to approve the merger.

That wholly inappropriate scenario may have contributed to the resignation of 60 Minutes executive producer, Bill Owens, whose reason for leaving after 37 years included the complaint that he “would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it. To make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.”

Hopefully CBS will not capitulate to Trump’s demands. What is clear is that everyone who has done so previously has paid a price for it, financially and reputationally. And those who have stood up against him have prevailed. That’s because the law, and the Constitution, and the people are on the side of unfettered freedom of the press. And it’s why Trump’s totalitarian efforts to undermine it will fail in the end.

UPDATE: An outraged and deranged Trump is predictably whining that the 60 Minutes interview “has now been nominated for an award by the totally discredited Emmys. Did 60 Minutes and its Corporate Parents apply to get an Emmy for an illegally falsified interview?”

RELATED STORIES:

• Tyrant Trump Demands ALL TV News Licenses Be Revoked and Kamala Harris Concede the Election
• Fox News Edits Trump Video in the Same Way that They Accused CBS, Which Trump Said Was Illegal
• Trump Hurls Hate and Fear at All of the Media He’s Suing Following the ABC News Capitulation

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