Not every billionaire is on Team Trump. Mark Cuban emphatically is not and neither is Richard Branson. Branson was invited to have lunch with Donald Trump once, in his pre-political phase. One character trait that Trump brings to politics, which is a deadly one, is his vindictiveness and his pettiness, which we have seen and we will see again. Trump is a blamer. When something goes wrong, and let’s face it, to be human is to have something go wrong at least part of the time, Trump can’t man up to it and look at his part. No, he was flawless, it’s the other guy who is wrong. This is a myopic vision and in a purported leader, it can be lethal. Let Branson tell you who Trump is and you will not be surprised.
This is who #Trump is. Vindictive with no sense of humanity whatsoever. He's corrupt, a convicted man a very bad guy period. Anyone to support this monster has no morals and sick.#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice #TrumpCheated #ResistTrump #resist #Recount pic.twitter.com/khDsjHbVz8
— Leslie D Ⓥ (@consciencevegan) December 16, 2024
There is probably nothing uglier than abuse of power. Trump is simply dying to go after his enemies. And make no mistake, it’s not so much the winning of lawsuits, it’s the intimidation. Big Donald wants you to know that he’s the boss and he can squash you like an ant. The fear is the point. Donald wants you to be very afraid.
By bowing the knee, ABC hoped that it had saved itself from troubling litigation. But, as Kristol notes, they have actually opened the floodgates. Lawyers for Trump and his appointees — including Kash Patel and Peter Hegseth — are threatening to file defamation suits against other journalists and critics. And the MAGA claque — including the thoroughly hackified Hugh Hewitt — are urging Trump to also file even more lawsuits against media outlets.
Those cases remain longshots. But the point is not necessarily to win them.
The point is the fear.
The point is to make journalists and critics afraid of Trump’s retribution.
The point is to make them wonder if they are next.
The point is to make the price of truth simply too high.
The point is to saddle them with fat legal fees.
The point is to make them lie awake at night.
The point is to make critics, and reporters, and editors wonder if it is all worth it; to wonder why they should stand and fight, if the billionaires and the corporations who run major media outlets run and hide.
The point is to have their spouses turn to them and say, ‘We could lose it all.”
“It’s a concerted strategy,” writes lawyer Harry Litman, “and it is working.”
Trump already has shifted the balance of power between the media and the presidency before even taking office. This is a significant and deeply troubling development, especially as Trump continues to erode other democratic norms that make it all the more important that the media perform its traditional function of reporting the facts and pushing back against abuses of power.
Exit take: It’s working until journalists — and the corporate media — refuse to surrender and fight back.
I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Put it this way, I’m not holding my breath. ABC News is owned by Disney. News divisions tend to be owned by corporations (remember the movie Network?) and those divisions tend to lose money. A lot of newspapers lose money, the Washington Post amongst them.
Journalism is key to a functioning democracy but the beyond-movie star wages that network anchors and commentators pull down sets up broadcast journalism to be a sitting duck in terms of losing money. George Stefanopoulos, the unwitting star of this drama, gets paid $15 million a year by ABC News. It’s not a coincidence (depending upon who you listen to) that Trump’s lawyers settled for that figure.
Just this morning Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, decreed that no anti-Trump editorials could run unless there was a separate editorial that “gives the opposite view.” That’s not frightening is it? That’s just asking for one piece that tells the truth to be followed by right-wing propaganda. What could go wrong with that?
This is what we’re up against, folks. I look to independent media for salvation. And for journalists to band together — if they dare. Because Trump has an enemies list and he has called the press the “enemy of the people” since 2015. We are in for a stormy passage ahead, that much is certain.
You are correct. We no longer have a free press in this country. At least as far as legacy media is concerned. Independents are the last hope of true journalism. Besides PZ and DK, I support the Texas Tribune and Texas Observer. I encourage people to do likewise. There’s also ProPublica and others that I’m not aware of.
last I heard branson owns virgin casino in lv. the workers r on strike and have NFL players supporting the strike. branson hired scabs while culinary union strikes.
Confusing. Are you advancing the argument that because Branson owns a business where there is stalled employment contract negotiations, Trump is not a piece of shit? What does the strike have to do with the article you just read, other than that both involve Richard Branson?
You ain’t seen nothing yet…we’ve only completed the FA,(Phuck around)…now we’re in the process of finding out. Unfortunately it appears REAL catastrophe is awaiting. I have all the empathy in the world for the children. That being said, I have ZERO sympathy for any HELL that arrives at the doorstep of the evil morons who dragged ALL of us into this coming hell. When the rich criminals you put in power end social security so they can get bigger yachts…you’ll find out. Enjoy you stupid assholes.
Trump’s already waffling on key promises (grocery bills going down) and that’s a biggy. Also the mass deportations. He can wreck the GDP if he does that. The entire deportation thing is based on racial hatred and not on common sense or economic reality.
If it wasn’t for all that media beat up about ‘the price of eggs™ ‘ and ‘Are you better off than four years ago ?™ ‘, when ludicrously, people ‘forgot’ about the Covid pandemic, (which Trump f*cked up so badly, a million people DIED.), then Dimwit Donny the Rapist would never have got in. But people preferred comfortable lies to slightly not nice truths, so here he is, about to f#ck things up even more than last time.
I think you can add to the list of why he is going after the press: they will gladly pay his extortion in the hopes that he will allow them to continue in business, even if just as a mouthpiece for his bs. And also he wants ALL media to be fux news, only saying what he tells them to say, when he tells them to say it. He can then do his damage to the US and no one will know. There will be no one to announce the damage he is doing. It’ll be a surprise, and the damage will already have been done. Everyone is bending the knee. Once he cows the press, he has free rein to do everything and anything he wants to do. The deportations will not be shown, the bank runs will not be shown when he gets rid of the FDIC, the protests will not be shown. Radio silence. Full compliance.