SORRY Y’ALL, BUT TSK, TSK, AND TSK!
by Cash Michaels
Well, what do you know?
Another angry president of the United States is royally p.o.’ed at the mainstream media for reporting a damaging leak from within his own administration, disproving a baldfaced lie he told the American people in order to make himself look good.
Now, that ticked off commander-in-chief wants to lock reporters up for reporting the leaked truth to the American people, and even threatens to throw Democratic members of Congress behind bars for allegedly being the source of said leak.
Of course I’m talking about our good buddy, his royal highness, the notoriously self-omnipotent and father of the "big hideous bill" King TACO. The proven ruler of all rubbish is looking to punish somebody, ANYBODY, for spilling the beans about his highly touted June 21st B-2 bomber attack on three Iranian underground nuclear facilities that he unabashedly bragged, and I quote, were “completely and totally obliterated” in order to stop the enrichment of uranium for the alleged production of a nuclear weapon.
So imagine how red Trump’s blonde scalp got when both CNN and The NY Times reported a preliminary intelligence assessment from his own Defense Dept. suggesting that without eyes on the ground, there’s no way to really know for sure now whether or not the B-2s actually “obliterated” anything except a couple of feet of deep rock, probably delaying Iran’s nuclear program by only months, not years.
Indeed, there’s strong speculation that the Iranians smelled an attack coming (we can thank the Israelis for that), and moved their enriched uranium off-site long before our bunker busters ever got there. There’s also reporting that our government has secretly listened in on a phone conversation between high-level Iranian officials, wondering out loud why the American B-2 raid failed to do the job.
Apparently we weren’t supposed to know about THAT either!
But for now, King TACO is once again stomping mad at the press for doing its job, namely to look for the truth wherever it can find it, and report that truth unvarnished to the world.
In this case, the truth is that we really don’t know the true status of our Iranian bombing campaign, and it will be a while before we actually do, despite Trump’s bunker-busting lies to the contrary.
If you think I’m overstating Trump’s MAGA-mind meltdown over this, consider the latest report from Rolling Stone magazine:
“One of the ways Trump has discussed cracking down on leakers and the press is by wielding the Espionage Act, a 1917 law criminalizing the dissemination of sensitive information that could harm U.S. national security or aid a foreign nation. In the months leading up to his second presidency, Trump and several of his advisers and close allies talked about novel ways the Espionage Act could be unleashed not just against government leakers and whistleblowers, but against media outlets that received classified or highly sensitive information, according to two sources involved with such conversations with Trump.”
The Rolling Stone article goes on to report that the only reason why Trump hasn’t aimed the Espionage Act at anyone yet is because he’s waiting for the “perfect” case to do it with, and grandly intimidate the rest of the news media, who just want to make sure we all know the truth!
That dedication to reporting the truth is what got us through previous earthshaking national scandals like Watergate, the Pentagon Papers, Iran-Contra and other greatest headline-making hits. Of course no president of the United States enjoys having the press looking over his shoulders every day, or questioning everything that comes down the pike during his time in office.
Thomas Jefferson didn't. Neither did Woodrow Wilson. And Richard "Tricky Dick' Nixon certainly did not.
In fact, the Associated Press reminds us that no less than Democratic nice guy Pres. Barack Obama and his Justice Dept. implemented the Espionage Act “with unprecedented vigor” to indict more leakers than all previous presidents combined. His Justice Dept actually seized reporters' home and cellphone phone records, without apology, to stem sensitive leaks about anti-terrorist operations.
Joe Biden’s Justice Dept decided to do away with targeting journalists, but word is Trump’s Justice Dept. is gleefully bringing that mess back.
And that’s the real tension for most presidents, legitimately protecting the nation’s security in real time, versus protecting information the American people have a right to know about something that happened.
However, being secretive is an absolute necessity to King TACO because, as we have so astutely determined during his now over six months in office, like Nixon, Trump is ALWAYS up to something. And that “something” usually is in his own self-interests, never mind properly and honestly serving ALL of the people of this nation.
So his strategy is crystal clear - having corrupted most of government to the point of almost total control, Trump is determined to intensify his war against the news media in hopes of making us back off a bit. Publicly calling us “evil,” “fake news,” “enemy of the people,” “scum” and all sorts of other demonizing slurs, so you won't believe a word we report.
Watch his Oval Office press conferences. Notice how vulgar and downright rude he's become with reporters who dare to ask him tough questions?
His media hatred is so deep, he's even steamrolled the bland, nonpartisan government-owned Voice of America out of business. And now Trump wants to defund Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio because they’re “leftist.”
Hey, so's that other foot that keeps your right one company. Don't see you threatening to defund THAT!
Apparently pressuring major newspapers like The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times not to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign, and have them stay off his case editorially after he won, was yet another arrow in his power quiver.
Suing major news corporations like CBS and ABC, is another page from the “Make the Media Bow Down to Me”playbook.
In the case of ABC News, it had to pay $16 million for defamation to him just because anchor George Stephanopoulos said on air that Trump was convicted of “raping” author E. Jean Carroll in 1987, instead of legally stating Trump “sexually assaulted” her, as a NY jury decided in a 2023 civil trial. What was weird about this was the judge in the case ruled that the original accusation of rape was “substantially true,” but ABC wrote the big check anyway.
And to prove how jittery King TACO makes ABC, the network also fired one of its best political journalists, senior national correspondent and anchor Terry Moran, who had been with them for 28 years, for writing on social media that Trump deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, and his boss, were “world-class haters.”
I understand why ABC gave Trump Terry Moran’s scalp - the network’s lofty reputation as an objective gatherer of news reporting was on the line - but I’m sorry it did. Moran wasn’t wrong in what he said, but in a moment of misplaced passion, just forgot that such utter truths cannot leave the safe sanctuary of his professional lips as long as he was a well-known network anchor.
In short, giving his opinion wasn’t Moran's job. Thus, Moran now joins the ranks of CNN’s Don Lemon, former White House correspondent Jim Acosta, and MSNBC’s Joy Reid - all staunch anti-King TACO critics who were given their walking papers once it was clear reporting what they knew, or giving their opinions made things too hot for their respective news organizations.
But it doesn’t stop there. Scott Pelley of CBS’ 60 Minutes has actually spoken out, and even given a fiery college commencement address at Wake Forest University, blasting the Trump Administration for it’s threat to democracy, even though Trump had warned he’d sue Black Rock (CBS’s industry nickname) for billions over an edited Kamala Harris interview from the 2024 campaign.
Just this week, The NY Times reported that Paramount, CBS' parent company, has now also agreed to pay Trump $16 million, in what the HuffPost called "an outrageous settlement" to make Trump's lawsuit go away, and designed to ensure that the company will get favorable government approval of a long sought after merger.
Apparently CBS execs also got weak in the knees, and began pressuring their gold standard news magazine with stronger editorial controls, something that made 60 Minutes executive producer, Bill Owens, quit, warning that freedom of the press was at risk.
A former reality show star, Trump knows that big media is big business, so he knows how to squeeze big media and where. Even if it forces them to rollover and whimper, instead of standing their ground, calling his bluff and fighting for their principles. Just because Trump says something is "fake" doesn't make it fake.
Hey, let’s level up here. In a thriving democracy, you need both straight, fact-based news reporting, and strong, fact-based opinion writing, for proper context and perspective. The two go hand-in-hand.
Objectivity? An important standard when responsibly reporting both sides of the story. And that’s what Trump is opposed to. He wants only his version of facts to be told, so he has to attack the media to attempt to keep the truth from the public.
He’s always been this way. Going back to his first term in 2017, Trump once visited CIA headquarters, bragging that he has in “…a running war with the media” and called reporters “ …among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” He added that the media would one day “pay a big price.”
Lord knows THAT has come true!
Today he wants his FCC to take CBS’ and NBC’s “broadcast licenses” away just because Stephen Colbert and Saturday Night Live continue to make fun of him.
But check out how King TACO has aggressively moved against the press since coming back into office.
In February, his administration “seized control of the White House press pool,” deciding which news organizations got the closest access to him. Prior to that, it was the White House Correspondents Association, an independent, nongovernmental organization, that managed the professional press covering the president, not the White House.
King TACO’s administration also limited the Associated Press wire service’s access to presidential events just because it refused to refer to a body of water known for decades as the “Gulf of Mexico,” as the “Gulf of America.”
The AP sued, claiming a violation of its First and Fifth Amendment rights. A federal judge agreed, but Trump’s White House turned around and just eliminated the AP’s designated slot.
And let’s not forget, Trump’s White House has also rolled out the red carpet for more friendly right-wing media, including Trump-backing social media influencers and podcasters. to fill prominent seats at daily press briefings.
But guess what folks? The Fourth of July holiday this weekend reminds us that, for better or for worse, we are a nation of free people. And when it comes to our right to know, we have freedom of the press and freedom of speech constitutionally enshrined.
Our press is supposed to keep our government in line, and hold our elected officials accountable …TO US! That’s why we have a First Amendment in the first place. Because even if you’re not a member of the working press, as an American citizen, you have the right to challenge corrupt authority with your words and thoughts. You have the right to demonstrate, to protest. Write letters to the editor. Write scathing editorials, even.
And as long as you don’t libel or slander anybody, that freedom is yours to use as you please.
And that’s why I say, as a proud member of the news media, I will NOT bow to King TACO or anybody else who I see is trying to destroy this country for selfish gain. Just not in my blood.
So for those who CAN handle the truth, I’ll always be here with you, and for you, writing my heart out until justice rolls down like a mighty river.
But for those who can’t handle the truth about the madness we’re all caught up in and suffering under right now, like those nutty people in the red hats who think they own the country right now…sorry y’all, but tsk, tsk and tsk!
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