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."