Despite Repeated Warnings
This is not normal: The Media
Friends,
Is what we see, read, and hear everyday just two political parties bickering and posturing in anticipation of another election? The boring Team R vs Team D that doesn’t merit watching the game, let alone getting involved?
I don’t think so. It’s time to drop any notion that what you are reading, seeing and hearing every day is politics as usual. This is not normal. We cannot accept it as normal and we should not act like it is normal.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk, an activist, community organizer and political pundit is being used as an excuse for Trump and company to double their efforts to use the power of the government to punish their enemies. Trump received less than half of the popular vote, and surveys show that more than half the country disapproves of his performance. Trump’s enemies are literally more than half of the adults in the United States who voted, plus an estimated 12M residents without legal status.
The three pillars of an autocracy are the media, courts, and military. Closely following behind is corruption which keeps the supporters close to the dictator. Today I’m going to look at the media.
Lyrics to Despite Repeated Warnings (Paul McCartney)
What The President and the Administration Are telling us
Recent quotes from Trump:
“we just have to beat the hell” out of “radical left lunatics,”
“I say the radical left causes tremendous violence, and they seem to do it in a bigger way. But the radical left really is -- causes a lot of problems for this country. I really think they hate our country.”
“I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“I hate my opponent,” Mr. Trump told the crowd at the memorial in Arizona, “and I don’t want the best for them.”
Recent quotes from the Trump administration:
Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy: “We are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”
“The Democratic Party is a domestic, extremist organization”
Vice President: “left-wing extremism” is “part of the reason” Kirk was killed last week.
Sec of State: “visa revocations are under way” for foreign visitors celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk.
Sec of Defense: the Pentagon is “tracking” any comments from [civilian and military employees] that celebrate or mock the Wednesday assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. “We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable,”
Media
Trump is unquestionably the most media savvy President in history. He has selected a number of Fox News commentators for his cabinet and administration not just because they are sycophants, but because they are media savvy and look good on TV.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has refurbished a green room as a makeup studio in the Pentagon for high-ranking officials to prepare before on-camera appearances. “Most of the changes in the Green Room were furniture modifications — a director’s style chair, mirror, and a makeup light”.
The authors of the Constitution based everything on the rule of law, the independence of the three branches of government, and the expectation that each branch would defend its independence and fulfill its prescribed duties. They didn’t consider that Congress and the Judiciary would trade their independence for allegiance to the Executive. They didn’t consider that Congress doesn’t have to pass a law against something, like the free speech guaranteed in the 1st Amendment, when the Executive branch can use intimidation of their target to achieve the same goal.
First the bad news. More importantly than looking good, Trump wants to control what you see, hear and read.
The President of the United States:
The networks “give me 97% BAD STORIES,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday, “despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the greatest 8 months in Presidential History.”
“IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC,” he added. “I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!!”
“When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday. “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.
“The goal is to get the companies to capitulate in advance, to the point where the FCC or the administration doesn’t even need to speak,” FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the agency’s lone Democrat, told POLITICO in an interview.
“It’s the process that’s the point. It’s the threats that are the point,” she added.
Trump filed a lawsuit Thursday against CBS, demanding $10 billion in damages over the network’s “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The top producer of CBS News’ iconic Sunday broadcast “60 Minutes” [CBS is owned by Paramount] announced he would be leaving the network.
The top executive in charge of CBS News resigned on Monday amid President Trump’s intensifying political pressure against the news operation.
The acquisition of Paramount by David Ellison’s Skydance [son of billionaire Larry Ellison] was approved by the FCC shortly after Paramount agreed to make a $16M donation toward Trump’s future presidential library.
Comedian and political commentator Stephen Colbert announced that CBS will cancel his “The Late Show” starting in May 2026. Though CBS said in a statement that canceling the show was “purely a financial decision” not related to its performance or content, the announcement follows Colbert’s criticism of a settlement between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company.
Trump: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired.” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social, a day after the news broke. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next.”
President Trump called for the firing of CNN correspondent Natasha Bertrand, who reported on air that an internal U.S. intelligence assessment found Saturday’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites set back Tehran’s nuclear program by only a few months.
“Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out “like a dog,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
President Trump is threatening ABC News over its coverage of a luxury jet he is set to receive from Qatar.
“Why doesn’t Chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC Fake News,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday, name-checking the Disney CEO who presides over the broadcast news network.
The Chairman of the FCC: There’s actions we can take on licensed broadcasters. And frankly, I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say…’We’re not gonna run Kimmel anymore...because we licensed broadcasters are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC.’” The largest operator of ABC affiliates, Nexstar—which needs FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger—said it would stop airing Kimmel’s show from its stations.
Then ABC suspended Kimmel’s show.
President Trump on Tuesday boasted he had put mainstream media outlets “on notice” following a pair of high-profile settlements paid to his foundation by major news networks in recent months to settle lawsuits he has brought against them.
The intent:
“The goal is to get the companies to capitulate in advance, to the point where the FCC or the administration doesn’t even need to speak,” FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the agency’s lone Democrat, told POLITICO in an interview.
“It’s the process that’s the point. It’s the threats that are the point,” she added.
But wait, there’s more!
Trump excluded the Associated Press from the White House briefing room because they wouldn’t adopt his name change for the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump excluded the Wall Street Journal (owned by Rupert Murdoch) from his trip to Scotland because he didn’t like an article about his drawing in Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday book; then he filed a lawsuit against the WSJ.
Trump sued the NY Times because he thinks they defame him.
The Republican congress terminated all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, parent of NPR and PBS.
[On a recent trip to the Middle East] No reporters from The Associated Press, Bloomberg or Reuters were on the plane, where presidents often take questions from traveling members of the press.
“Their reports are distributed quickly to thousands of news outlets and millions of readers throughout the world every day, so all have equal access to coverage of the presidency,” the White House Correspondents’ Association said in a statement. “This change is a disservice to every American who deserves to know what their highest elected leader is up to, as quickly as possible.”
Control of the media includes government produced content.
Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he did not like the report she published. The credibility of key economic indicators is now questionable since the message has been sent that statistics that make Trump look bad will result in termination.
The DOJ removed a study from their own National Institute of Justice website showing far-right extremists were responsible for the bulk of ideologically motivated deaths. Here is the study they removed.
The Smithsonian is being purged of all “woke” materials. Trump posted on Truth Social that the Smithsonian and other American museums are excessively focused on “how bad slavery was.”
Government databases and records are being purged of scientific materials not consistent with “evolving priorities”. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced its well-known “billion-dollar weather and climate disasters” database“will be retired,” a move that will make it next to impossible for the public to track the cost of extreme weather and climate events.
Some good news:
After a public uproar and widespread cancellation of Disney+ subscriptions, ABC reinstated Kimmel. Nexstar initially declined to show Kimmel on the stations it owns, but capitulated after three days.
Trump responded: that Kimmel was “yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution.”
“I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative”.
A federal judge tossed out Trump’s $15B lawsuit against the NY Times.
The House Oversight Committee released the leather bound Jeffrey Epstein 50th birthday book which contained the drawing disclosed by the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ asked the court to toss Trump’s lawsuit.
Not only is Trump shaping what you read, see and hear, further consolidation of the media into the hands of conservative billionaire owners is affecting the news and opinion content you see.
Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post. After the 2024 election he began purging the news and opinion staff of writers who were critical of Trump.
Rupert Murdoch settled the succession battle among his children leaving his son Lachlan, who shares Rupert’s conservative agenda, in charge of Fox News.
How the major news/opinion media and social network’s ownership breaks down.
The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos.
The New York Times is run by the Sulzberger family.
ABC and ESPN News are owned by Disney
NBC/MSNBC/CNBC are owned by Comcast. Comcast has announced plans to spin them (and other media properties) into a publicly traded company.
Fox News is owned by the Murdoch family
CBS News and CBS Sports are owned by Paramount. Larry Ellison, the 2nd most wealthy man in the world, controls 68% of the voting stock in Paramount.
CNN and CNN International are owned by Warner. Larry Ellison is in discussions to acquire Warner.
TikTok will be acquired by an investor group led by Larry Ellison and the TikTok algorithm will be controlled by Oracle. Larry Ellison owns 41% of Oracle and is both CTO and Chairman of the Board.
Facebook/Instagram/Threads is owned by Mark Zuckerberg, a Trump ally.
Twitter/X is owned by Elon Musk.
The major networks own and operate the stations in big city markets (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, etc.). There are roughly 1,000 TV stations affiliated with the major networks that serve smaller markets. Of these, Sinclair and Nexstar, which have a clear conservative bias, own and operate about 446 or roughly half of the stations in smaller markets. They are obligated to show the prime time content of the major networks with which they are affiliated, but outside of prime time they can and do provide their own content and messaging.
The net result is that Sinclair (after the Tegna acquisition) and Nexstar reach about 80% of U.S. TV households, and those households are outside of major cities. It is therefore no surprise that Americans in smaller cities and rural areas, seeing content through the Sinclair/Nexstar/Fox filters, are likely to believe Trump when he says “Portland is a war zone”, or describes major cities as “hell holes”.The result of the media consolidation currently underway is that Trump aligned owners Murdoch, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Musk, Bezos and Smith (Sinclair) will control:
Fox News
CBS News
CNN
Network affiliate TV stations which reach 80% of U.S. households
Facebook, Twitter/X, TikTok, and Instagram
The Washington Post
But you have choices and there are other sources of news and opinion. Good journalism is not free; reporters buy groceries too. Most of these are available without a subscription, and many are non-profits so your subscription is tax deductible.
News
The Associated Press - Objective non profit global coverage since 1846
Heather Cox Richardson, an historian, writes Letters from an American, an excellent daily new summary, usually with lots of historical context.
News and Opinion
CNN (until Ellison acquires Warner)
The Conversation - thought provoking academic rigor with journalistic flair
The Economist - the best source for comprehensive global news
The Guardian - US and global news from a UK perspective
The Hill - definitely leans right - great inside Washington coverage
The New York Times
Politico - leans left - great investigative journalism
Tangle - Aggregating the left and right, opinion pieces feel a little naive
Opinion
Paul Krugman - Nobel prize winning economist
The Contrarian - left leaning comprehensive opinions
What You Can Do
Call your senators and member of Congress (use 5Calls.org) and tell them that if the Republicans will not agree to restore health care funding, that you support a government shutdown.
Trump is threatening to fire government employees and terminate programs, but he’s already done that to 300,000 government employees and innumerable programs. He’s trying to make you blame Democrats when he continues to do what he’s been doing for nine months.Mark you calendar, find a local event and show up on October 18th for the next No Kings Day. Your individual actions convinced Disney to push back on Trump and put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. Protesters in the street recently brought down the government of Nepal. 15M people on the streets of America will erode the support of Trump’s enablers. Your individual actions make a difference.
If you live in California, vote YES on Proposition 50. Watch Governor Newsom on Colbert. Gerrymander California until the 2030 census to offset the mid-census gerrymandering in Texas and Missouri which will add six Republican seats to the House. Don’t let Republicans rig the 2026 election.
Donate to voter registration organizations like the Voter Participation Center. Voter registration efforts need to begin long before the 2026 election.
Remember
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore Roosevelt