True Lies
And False Facts
Journalism is on the ropes. Legacy media organizations and major social media platforms presently operate under Billionaire Boys Club ownership. Voices that have not been captured are being attacked and intimidated. History tells us this is a serious situation.
Denial of Direct Witness
The hundreds of members of the press assigned to covering Trump 2.0 are scrambling for rides on Air Force One and/or one of the 49 seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the west wing of the White House. As of February 2025, the Mad King will allow only friendly eyes and ears near his second administration.
Tough questions begone.
Surrender of Independence
To make sure its annual roast (26 Apr 25 this year) avoided “the politics of division,” the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) canceled the scheduled appearance of a black female comedian.
This was an act of self-censorship.
Call it craven, if you will. Know it as consequential, for sure.
First Amendment Concerns
In his excellent Talking Feds Substack article of 01 Apr 25, Harry Litman tied humor to First Amendment rights. He bolstered his concern by quoting supporting opinions from the high bench by Justice Frankfurter and Chief Justice Rehnquist. Tyrants deny the right of the governed to lampoon the proud and famous. In cancelling the humor portion of its annual meeting, the WHCA doffed its hat, if not bent a knee, to Trump in order to maintain some proximity to his shenanigans.
Reports and Opinions
A request for comment is just that. Eternal truth is not sought or expected.
True lies are expected from an administration that deals in false facts.
Each new punitive control placed on the WHCA results in less direct observation of current events. It limits unfiltered Q&A exchanges about the events of the day and such reasons as may exist related to actions taken by or on behalf the Commander in Chief. Each surrender of power by the WHCA compromises the integrity of reports and observations disseminated to the public as “news.” When the tree is poisoned, do not expect unblemished fruit.
Nature Hates a Vacuum
Trump 2.0 is “flooding the zone” with executive edicts and actions of questionable legality and obvious prejudice.
Think of the White House as the pitcher. And the public as the catcher. And journalism as the umpire.
Right now the umpire is mostly blind and mainly absent.
No matter. We the People have more catchers than Donald John Trump has pitchers.
We are a nation of witnesses. Almost every person on the street has a device that records observable events in video and sound, time-and date-stamped. The public is capturing the illegal consequences of the callous, cruel, and clumsy implementation of Project 2025. Each voluntary “catcher” can decide what to do with his/her raw records of history. Many store them in a place anyone can view and that never forgets. Think of it as an instant replay resource. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_storage
Donald John Trump crowned himself king. Refugees from compromised news organizations are returning the favor. They are declaring themselves impartial umpires of current affairs. They are sorting through the instant history records as they become available. See their calls on the Substack and other impartial social media platforms.
Patience, Grasshopper
Little Donny Double Down styles his negotiating process as the “art of the deal.” It is the strategy of Mexican jumping bean. Or a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers. He demands something one day, then withdraws or modifies his position before any “deal” is struck.
Our opinion of several of his “deals” does not waver, no matter how he bobs and weaves, looking for personal advantage.
· Ukraine did not start the 14-year-long war with Russia. We have no business playing footsie with the invader.
· We helped invent NATO and other like international agreements. This is no time and we see no reason to disparage, dismantle, or withdraw our support for and participation in those guardrails for global peace, law, and order.
· Breaking international trade agreements without discussion or oversight is not acceptable.
· Invading other nations is not a business decision.
The machinations of a mad man deserve precious little time and energy. Deny his ravings the dignity of attention and comment.
Anthem
05 Apr 25 will go down in history as a day of public outcry against Trump 2.0. Americans took to the streets to protest the immediate effect and unfolding consequences of the first 75 days of implementation of the Project 2025 playbook. The “Hands Off” gatherings were numerous, wide spread and well attended. They were mostly peaceful and uniformly joyous. That is good. Tyrants have a history of using force to respond when the citizenry withdraws its consent to be governed. First reports indicate that the 47th president did not understand what the public found sufficiently objectionable to cause it to take its voice to the streets. Expect him to double down against any repeat event.
Liberation Day is just part of the Endless Day One voted into being by our 119th congress. That confluence of self-serving oath breakers is showing signs of life, buyer’s remorse, and resistance sufficient to cause some welcome course correction measures. A modest hope exists that congress will take back the power it gifted away and resume its duties under Article One.
Especially charming is the announcement that the Democratic National Committee is suggesting the formation of a Citizens Cabinet. This body would be comprised of persons with direct experience in the making and administering of public policy in specific areas of cabinet and agency operations. These persons would be the voices of reasonable and knowledgeable resistance to implementation of Project 2025 where and when and as warranted.
With that in mind, let us keep our resistance simple, strategic, and constructive.
Let us pull up our socks and step into the breach now, every Power of One person dissatisfied with the results and consequences of Election 2024. Let us put into play our persons and our purses to demand:
A return to positions of principle those persons, institutions, and organizations betraying a public trust in their integrity when bending a knee, kissing the ring, funding the personal wealth, or furthering the ambitions of Donald John Trump.
The bringing of criminal charges against Musk and articles of impeachment against Trump.
Referendum and recall of congressional representatives not faithful to their oath of office and/or unresponsive to the concerns and wishes of their constituents.
Creation of a Shadow Cabinet charged with daily briefings of administrative assaults upon the rule of law, the health, safety, and welfare of We the People, and simple decency.
Course correction on the conduct of matters related to national security.
Go, team, go.
We will miss the coverage and comedy of the White House Correspondents' dinner. That was an easy target for Trump to take out. As you pointed out, what will prove more difficult and costly are efforts to control citizen journalism.
Keep in mind three points: 1) Citizen journalists were the first form of news gathering and sharing for centuries, 2) Industrial society introduced education, training, ethics, mentorships, and the first School of Journalism in 1908 at the University of Missouri, and 3) 80 years later in 1988 the introduction of the Internet, blogs, and crowd source event coverage started the situation we have today with millions of reporters, writers, platforms, and personal websites.
The news challenge is on the reader, who must stay awake and alert to lies, damn lies, propaganda, psychological word spinning, bias, assumptions, opinions, and sloppy writing. Filters, good judgment, and fact-checking are required to find truths.
Even if Trump succeeds in destroying the Bill of Rights, which starts with the First Amendment--freedom of the press-- it's a far bigger job than the WHC buzzkill to stop millions of cell phones in constant connection, globally, on the Internet, from gathering and reporting news and images.
I always appreciate your clarity and verve! ❤️❤️❤️ Thank you for what you do! 😃🤗💪