Kristen Welker on Meet the Press asked Donnie Dotard:
"Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?”
“I don’t know,” Trump replied. “I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”
This ought to have been all over the mainstream media and also used as a critical pivot point to show this derelict felon traitor is unfit to operate a porto -potty far less be president of this country. Also, given that he took an oath to uphold the Constitution but now is unsure he needs to do that, ought to be removed - either via impeachment or under the 25th amendment. (For obvious mental collapse and dementia.) But no mainstream media source would go there. Why? Why not expose this deranged and corrupt tyrant wannabe for what he is?
One reason is abject fear of his minions and captured, weaponized DOJ coming back at them. We saw Friday how aggressive the Trump-MAGA Nazis can get against the press, e.g.
Trump just issued a threat to all of us | Opinion
Excerpt:
"In the dark corners of America’s halls of power, something sinister is unfolding. Attorney General Pam Bondi has launched an assault on one of the most sacred pillars of our democracy: the freedom of the press. And make no mistake, this isn’t just another policy change. It’s a deliberate strategy straight from the dictator’s playbook.
Bondi’s memo, released late on a Friday afternoon (a classic timing choice to minimize media attention), rescinded policies that had limited when and how Justice Department attorneys could pursue records or testimony from journalists, including in cases involving the unauthorized disclosure of government secrets to the press. The implications are chilling and immediate.
The Justice Department will now allow federal investigators to pursue communications from media outlets in government leak investigations, marking a complete reversal of Biden-era (and previous administrations’) policies that protected journalists from becoming targets of government intimidation Bondi’s justification? The Justice Department “will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.”
As this piece goes on to note:
"Did you catch that? Not disclosures that threaten national security, but those that “undermine President Trump’s policies.” Since when did the President’s policies become sacred and beyond scrutiny? Since when did exposing wrongdoing by our government become a crime against “the American people”
The Founders understood that a democracy cannot function without an informed citizenry, and citizens cannot be informed without a free press that can hold the powerful accountable. That’s why they enshrined press freedom in the First Amendment; they knew from bitter experience that power corrupts, and that the powerful will always seek to hide their corruption.
A free press serves as our early warning system against government overreach and abuse. When journalists can protect their sources, those inside the government who witness wrongdoing can come forward without fear of retribution. This critical flow of information is what Bondi is now trying to shut down."
What we’re witnessing is step one in the dictator’s playbook: silence those who tell the truth about your regime. We’ve seen this pattern in Russia, Hungary, Turkey, and countless other countries where democracy has withered into authoritarianism. First, attack the press. Then, criminalize dissent. Intimidate lawmakers, lawyers, and judges. Finally, consolidate power in the hands of a single leader.
Bondi’s memo added that there will be procedures in place before members of the media are compelled to testify or their records are seized, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Justice Department is now prepared to compel journalists to testify, and their records will be subject to seizure.
But the most alarming part of all is what Bondi reportedly wants to do next. According to sources close to the Justice Department, she has argued that leakers — or even reporters — who provide information that she doesn’t like could be prosecuted for treason, a crime that carries the death penalty.
Let that sink in: the Attorney General of the United States believes that journalists doing their constitutionally protected job could be subject to execution."
There were, indeed, multiple opportunities to halt the march of this felon and wannabe dictator to where we are today. And I largely blame a corrupted Supreme Court (the 6 conservatives on it) for failing to follow the Colorado Supreme Court's lead - back in 2022 - of disqualifying him from running in 2024 under Section 3 of the 14th amendment. This is the section pertaining to starting an insurrection. (As he did on January 6, 2021).
The Supremes punted by saying a president is "not an officer" - which the amendment section stipulates. But I just watched again a JFK press conference from 1962 (on an archival tape) in which he openly told the gathered reporters: "As an officer of the government, I have a responsibility to protect our national security." So the Supremes used a transparent dodge to let this orange roach through, putting our nation at risk now. They then compounded their perfidy some months later by asserting he had immunity from virtually any acts while in office.
But I have also held the press to blame for not going hard in exposing the palpable unfitness of this fool and felon to hold any high office. On account of that failure - and way too many instances of "both-sides" baloney- the guardrails that existed during Trump 1.0 have now completely disintegrated. And even then the press did not go all out in exposing this sullen, sick wretch - thereby enabling Trump's arrogance, cruelty and hostility toward anyone who objects to a white nationalist USA to run rampant. So wrote journalist Steven Beschloss for Salon. and he is spot on correct.
But years before that Salon piece, the British author Nick Bryant (formerly one of the BBC's most senior correspondents), offered another take in his book, The Forever War. This was on why traditional media has had such a difficult time encapsulating and exposing Trump's unfitness for office, even in his first term. As he writes (p. 105):
"The evidence for Trump's authoritarianism was so overwhelming, why did we in the media not do more to call it out? A problem for news organizations is that we were covering an abnormal presidency while trying to abide ourselves by normal rules of journalistic engagement. Likening a sitting president to a pre-war European dictator...violated our behavioral norms. It crossed a line. Trump's attacks on the media, moreover, made impartiality even more imperative. Nor did we want to follow him into the gutter which is where he wanted us to descend."
Bur calling a deranged despot out, especially in terms of his already psychopathic qualities, is hardly going into the gutter. Nor is making sober Hitler comparisons, in so far as they are valid, especially when citing actual academic works, e.g.
Parsing The "Hitler - Trump Psychiatric Files
But the failure to do this, especially when over 200 mental health professionals had expressed concern that Trump posed a danger due to “his symptoms of severe, untreatable malignant narcissism" - amounted to dereliction of duty. All voters ought to have been forewarned of the peril of putting this crazed felon back into power, irrespective of their worries about the price of eggs or rent or gas. But they allowed their fears of inflation to fuck their brains, believing Trump would toss them a lifeline - when all he did was to toss a grenade into the U.S. economy. To use former Sen. Clair McCaskill's analogy given on Deadline Whitehouse two days ago.
Yet another take is offered by blogger Christian Christensen (first lpink below) who writes:
"Ít was precisely the belief that Trump could be treated like
any other politician, and MAGA like any other political movement, that led
media in the U.S. (and abroad) to mainstream and sanitize what was very clearly
not a normal politician nor a normal political movement.
No matter how many times Trump’s lies, corruption, or
incompetence were exposed during his first term, he maintained his popularly
among Republican politicians and core voters. There was the clear sense that
the hammering not only didn’t hurt Trump, it made him stronger. The liquidity
of MAGA seemed obvious, yet journalism and political opponents continued to
hammer away as if he were a solid.”
So here we are at the cusp of an American dictatorship because of too many failures of will by leaders who are either cowards, or anti-democratic cult followers of the orange toad. Let us hope this nation survives until the mid-terms, and Trump and his criminal regime - hostile to the Constitution - are brought to some account.
See Also:
by Christian Christensen | May 6, 2025 - 5:03am | permalink
If you hit a wall with a sledgehammer with enough force there is a good chance you can eventually bring it down. If there is water behind that wall, that sledgehammer does nothing to stem the tide. You can flail away, but, at best, all you will become is tired and wet.
At worst? You drown.
Journalism and political opponents are still using the sledgehammer of facts, reason and logic, thinking that this will weaken, crack, and eventually destroy the dangerous political movement we are seeing in the U.S.
The problem? Trumpism-MAGA isn’t the wall. It’s the water.
The belief that a sustained appeal to facts, reason, and ethics was sufficient to undermine antidemocratic forces of the type led by U.S. President Donald Trump was charmingly romantic. It illustrated a commitment to the journalistic ideals of holding power to account, and the notion that politicians and their supporters would have enough shame and dignity to take responsibility for lies and corruption.
And:
Opinion | No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines - The New York Times
And:
by Thom Hartmann | May 8, 2025 - 5:20am | permalink
The American Revolution wasn’t just a break from Britain — it was an uprising against three ancient tyrannies: warlord kings, the morbidly rich, and theocrats. Today, those same forces are clawing their way back into power, and if we don’t fight them now, everything the Founders built could collapse.
In the Declaration of Independence and throughout his years of personal correspondence, Thomas Jefferson (and multiple others among the Founders) identified three historic tyrannies that he and his colleagues fought the Revolutionary War to overthrow and replace with a democratic republic.
The first were the warlord kings, who’d been conquering nations and peoples for millennia and, by 1776, were considered “normal” by most citizens of the world. These were families who, in the earlier years of their countries, had acquired power by conquest: war, pillage, rape, and the subjugation of the people they’d vanquished.
And:
by Ailia Zehra | May 6, 2025 - 5:45am | permalink
An AI-generated image of President Donald Trump wearing papal attire was posted on his Truth Social and the White House's X accounts over the weekend, just days after Pope Francis' death. This image has drawn criticism from Catholics, even though Trump stated it was not offensive.
In an article published in The Bulwark Monday, neoconservative commentator William Kristol said Trump's second term is "so much more dangerous" than his first.
He mentioned two reasons for his assertion. "The first: Trump is worse than he was eight years ago. The second: Those around him now are worse than those around him then," the analyst wrote.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, an anti-Trump political organization had issued a letter, endorsed by over 200 mental health professionals, expressing concern that Trump poses a danger due to “his symptoms of severe, untreatable personality disorder – malignant narcissism." The letter said these "symptoms" render him “grossly unfit for leadership”.
And:
by Rob Okun | May 6, 2025 - 4:57am | permalink
Think resisting authoritarianism is too big of a lift? Think again. This spring, while the U.S. resistance movement may not be in full bloom, it is blossoming.
The “3.5 percent rule”—identified by political scientist Erica Chenoweth—should be on the lips of every American anxious about the Trump administration’s headlong drive to replace our democracy with authoritarianism. After studying more than 300 nonviolent resistance campaigns, Chenoweth and colleagues’ research revealed a startling truth: when just 3.5 percent of a population engages in sustained, strategic civil resistance, authoritarian regimes fall.
Think about it. Not 50 percent. Not 30 percent. Just 3.5 percent. The message is clear: when enough people turn out—repeatedly and nonviolently—democracy wins.
And:
by Robert Reich | May 5, 2025 - 5:25am | permalink
— from Robert Reich's Substack
Friends,
Trump is planning a giant military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., to coincide with his 79th birthday on June 14. According to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the parade was pushed by the White House.
Bad enough that the nation has to display its militarism in such a crude, authoritarian way. To do it at the behest of the most authoritarian president in the nation’s history who wants a big military parade on his birthday is disgraceful.
Plans call for 6,686 soldiers, 50 aircraft, seven bands, and 152 vehicles — including M-1 Abrams tanks and vintage World War II Sherman tanks — moving past a reviewing stand near the White House, where Trump will be. The parade is scheduled to last nearly four hours and be capped off with a fireworks display.
And:
America just surrendered to foreign lies
And:
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