The Republicans have been after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ever since it was formed in 1967. The Administration wants to control every form of communication so all that is left is a propaganda fire hose from the White House. They even extorted $16 million from CBS. If anyone other than the President had done that, they would have been charged with racketeering.
The first volley was an attack on the Voice of America, which was formed to broadcasts news behind the Iron Curtain. It was successful for many years of penetrating the wall around the Soviet Union. It served the purpose of the US State Department, but it was an independent agency that he could not control. So he crushed it.
How long will it be before the only private news medium allowed will be Fox News? Even Rupert Murdoch sometimes gets called on the carpet. Usually that’s something that the Wall St. Journal has published. Even their right-wing editorial stance isn’t radical enough for the Donald.
How much does it take to satisfy the ego of a Narcissist? Never. The moves are not so much a political stance as an effort to punish the people on his Enemies List. Even a hint of criticism is enough to warrant an attack. The FCC provides a good tool to use against broadcast media. Fortunately, there is not a comparable agency for print media. An issue of pornography sometimes is dredged up when nothing else can be found for a charge.
Our Founding Fathers talked about the “Fourth Estate,” but that is a concept foreign to dictators. The “No Kings” Protests have had little impact other than for progressives to vent their frustration. Now the top dog is even threatening to put a former President to prison because he dared to criticize him.
Nothing is too outlandish or illegal to consider or at least to throw out to stir up a news cycle. He has to feed it every day. I had no idea that he watched “The View,” a women’s daytime gossip circle on ABC. Maybe one of his minions flagged it for him. Most likely he watched it because he has nothing else to do during the day except to watch TV and eat McDonald’s hamburgers. Occasion it serves to stage a media pose with foreign leaders to show who is in charge.
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