Mastodawn

"Two things that make America a democracy: Not having a king, and having a free press. A look inside the chilling cases from San Jose to Clarksdale that show a nation already on the brink of losing our First Amendment rights after just 1 month of #Trump

If Will Bunch wrote it, you should read it.©

🧵 1/...

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/trump-press-freedom-fcc-associated-press-20250220.html

Trump’s rapid obliteration of the First Amendment is fit for a king

Government attacks on press freedom from Mississippi to the Oval Office have our First Amendment rights on the brink of collapse.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

2/ "Carr’s role as a pro-Trump pit bull — in a job that demands a neutral umpire of the public airwaves — is just one front in what, during the first month of the 47th presidency, has already become an all-out war on two-and-a-half centuries of American press freedom, in a conflict fit for a king. (Stay tuned.)"

3/ "Inspired by his favorite strongman role models Trump has showed that 1984-style direct censorship isn’t neces to cow media into silent state of compliant obedience. Instead, large & varied arsenal —direct ownership of some key information sites like X & govt threats against conflicted owners of others, defamation lawsuits before friendly judges, violent threats from online brownshirts, as well as from his tainted FCC--is called upon to shoot out the security cameras of acctbility journalism"

4/ "Except, in this case, the audacious heist is democracy itself. Placing giant muzzle on our journalistic watchdogs is a means to an end, which is American monarchy. Intimid is how this rogue pres — while doing utterly shocking things like betraying our democratic ally Ukraine, sending migrants to a concentration camp in Panamanian jungle, and seeking a quid pro quo to liberate New York’s corrupt mayor, and calling it “Wednesday” — gets bland front pages that treat all of this as normal life"

5/ "Indeed, Trump’s domination of the information space is becoming so total that also on Wednesday — in another bat-guano crazy move that seeks to end New York City’s congestion-pricing program that has been reducing traffic, air pollution and and even collisions — he proclaimed in a post, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” Lest anyone missed the point, it was followed by a White House-approved fake image of a newsmagazine with Trump wearing a crown."

6/ "Trump’s all-out war on the First Amendment is giving petty local tyrants permission to take measures that would have been unthinkable a few years back. In Clarksdale, Miss., city officials went before a friendly judge this week and — without a hearing — won a court order commanding the local newspaper to take down an online editorial criticizing them. Yes, this really happened in America. (The paper is appealing)."

7/ "The decimation of press freedom is made possible by the record-low level of public trust in the media — some of it earned, but much of it driven by a relentless right-wing propaganda campaign that started in 1969 with Spiro Agnew and has never stopped. That unpopularity makes it easy for King Trump to divide and conquer."

8/ "The White House press corps can cower before a self-proclaimed king, which is the horrendous thing that’s happening now. Fighting back and boycotting the Oval Office until the AP is allowed back would be the moral thing to do, but it would also unleash the next wave of right-wing attacks wrapped in their childish fantasies about a left-wing media conspiracy."

9/9 "It’s a long road back. No wonder they say that it’s good to be the king — until one day it isn’t..The good news is that there are still independent journalists..who don’t bow to Trump on bended knee. Their stories are ammunition for growing ranks of protestors who remember the 1st Amendment & believe that it’s a lost cause worth fighting for. The dustbin of history is littered with 2-bit narcissists who also proclaimed “LONG LIVE THE KING!,” only to hear in response: “Sic semper tyrannis”

David Palk#RejoinEU 💖🇪🇺🤎🕊Feb 20

@GottaLaff nice to see a bit of latin in the right context 👍🏽

KrazyKat Feb 20

@GottaLaff T. H. I. S.

@GottaLaff I started a little pet project a few days ago #fascismDiary , where I post headlines from a German newspaper this day 92 years ago. Interestingly, the main story on February 20th 1933 was the shutdown of newspapers after publishing material critical of the Nazi government.
https://masto.ai/@aguleb/114038515494219246

Beluga (@aguleb@masto.ai)

Attached: 1 image Mon, Feb 20th 1933 Newspapers shut down for publishing call to vote - Newspaper close to the conservative/catholic Zentrum party were shut down for three days after publishing a call to vote from catholic organisations. The shut down was averted after Zentrum representatives negotiated with Göring and made it clear that the texts were not meant to be insulting and contemptuous towards the government. https://zeitpunkt.nrw/ulbms/date/day/7107980?d=1933-02-20 #fascismDiary

Mastodon

@aguleb Oh, yes, absolutely. That's coming.

John Lusk Feb 21

I suspect another thing that's coming is ruling certain candidates ineligible. If that happens in two years, we're not coming back.

@tarheel @GottaLaff That's my biggest fear: that this won't end in four years.

Fran O'Reilly Feb 23

@aguleb @tarheel @GottaLaff the big data snatch underway by Musk raids on government databases is especially important to superfuel election rigging. Remember when Musk was bribing people to vote for Trump/expose the network of Trump voters? Now he has access to all the data they would ever want, for free

John Lusk Feb 21

I regret that I have but one star to give this post.

William Hamilton Feb 21

We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole, and underwrit
“Here may you see the tyrant.”

— Macduff, That Scottish Play about That Scottish Guy, Act V, Scene 8

Daedalean Feb 21

@GottaLaff the sic semper tyrannis guys got killed by the heir of the tyrant they knived and the heir went on to rule for decades setting up an imperial system that persisted for centuries more.

John Lusk Feb 22

Stuff like this makes me wonder if he'll be hanging upside down from a lamp post in 20 years, or appearing in a chaotic video in which the last thing he's heard to say is, "Do you know who I *am*!?"

@GottaLaff While we clutch our pearls about the "next wave of right-wing attacks", Trump and Musk are obliterating democracy.

SouprMatt Feb 20

@GottaLaff I've heard other reporters say this too. "If we aren't in the White House reporting on things, it will only be the far right people in there!"

Yeah, good. People at home will see that you're taking a stand and that only the nuts are at the press conferences. At that point, most people will ignore his press conferences and he loses a huge audience. I don't buy their explanation for one second. It's an excuse for not doing the right thing, and they know it.

NotAnneShirley Feb 20

kampfschwaetzer Feb 20

@GottaLaff About the free press I cannot say too much. But you now have king #Trump and a president not elected in #Musk

David Penington Feb 20

@GottaLaff US presidential powers are modelled on a king. The pardon ability is clearly a royal power - no limits, justification or oversight - crazy when viewed from outside, especially duringbthe lame duck period. Presidential decrees seem huge & growing. Last year's Supreme court ruling on presidential immunity from prosecution solidly established the divine power of US presidents.
USA has a king. USA doesn't have a free press. Gerrymandering & voter supression are allowed & accepted.
It's no longer a democracy.

@GottaLaff @ZhiZhu

America has no king.

John Lusk Feb 22

Thanks for the regular reminder to subscribe.