This is an excellent must-read article from the Unpopulist about Trump’s thus far successful attempts to intimidate the media into doing his bidding. From the 60 Minutes and ABC News Lawsuits that have now settled to his henchman sycophant posing as an FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr’s “investigation” into PBS and Comcast. What transparent bullies these folks are.
Abusive and frivolous litigation has been a trump tactic for a long time, a skill he was taught by the repulsive Roy Cohn, a closeted, abusive lawyer to tax cheats and a bully who horrifically died of AIDS back when karma still existed (“repulsive,” in this sense, is not defamatory, but true, so relax Roy Cohn’s ghost).
The world’s most powerful man and his co-president, the world’s richest man, can afford to unleash armies of litigators and wage endless and countless battles against media targets, big and small, who don’t have the means to fight back.
Ironically, they both claim to champion free speech in an upside-down world that takes a page straight from the autocrat handbook. They can afford to purchase the souls of those underneath them, such as Carr mentioned above, Musk’s Ad Sales chief Linda Yaccarino, and apparently, the entire GOP Senate and House. This tactic is used quite successfully in some of the world’s leading autocracies, like Russia, so why not try it in the most powerful country in the world?
Now that Fox News Channel and their ilk on the web and social media have paved the way with decades of disinformation; we are easy pickings at this point.
If free media is to survive and have actual free speech, this country needs federal anti-SLAPP legislation. Good luck getting that in the foreseeable future. I anticipate a gross overreach by said co-presidents that even the most loyal sycophants would oppose, but then I think of J6 and wonder how. If that didn’t do it, what will?
Our tech overlords, with the help of brainwashed MAGAts and tuned out TikTok seduced and zombified populace, are succeeding in destroying what was once the world’s most thriving democracy and are well on their way to creating the dystopian worldview where they control all. We are their enslaved peasants who must do their bidding. It’s already happening. I fear that barring some courageous and united action by significant media concerns, within four years, it’s very conceivable that I’ll be sued for a comment such as this or perhaps not even be able to make such an open critique.
