Trump lies are like oxygen for MAGA. They want to believe so badly.
The scarlet F is coming for Trump — and there's nothing he can do about it | Opinion
2025: The year American Oligarchy officially begins?
Oligarchy is generally defined as a form of governance in which the state has been captured by the morbidly rich and the powers and institutions of government are then turned to make the rich even richer while insulating oligarchs from legal strictures, at the same time impoverishing and punishing working people and the poor. As I detailed in my book The Hidden History of American Oligarchy, the biggest problem with oligarchy is that it’s an extremely unstable form of government and usually is only transitional (typically lasting fewer than two generations). Average people, realizing they’re being robbed blind, rise up and demand change, sometimes causing oligarchy to flip back to democracy (as happened here in the 1860s and the 1930s) or flipping the nation into tyranny when the oligarchs decide to use the military and police powers of government to hold onto their wealth and power (Chile, Hungary, Russia, Iraq, Egypt, Philippines, Singapore, Turkey, etc.).
The big question for Americans as we enter this new period of full-blown oligarchy is whether this generation’s oligarchs will have more success than those in the 1930s and 1850s. They seem to have learned the lessons of history and are now emulating Putin, Orbán, etc., in using lawfare and big money to intimidate or purchase outright the media; this will make a transition back to democracy — like the ones Lincoln and Roosevelt led when the media landscape (and its ownership) was far more diverse — far more difficult. And, as we just saw with the election of Mike Johnson as Speaker, nothing happens in the House without the approval of the billionaires.
How the media has failed on Trump coverage. Media watchdog Dan Froomkin points out that Trump, rather than being a brilliant politician or businessman, is actually one of this century’s most successful con-men — and our media’s greatest failure is to acknowledge or even tangentially reference this fact.
He ran on lowering grocery prices, for example, telling a rally in August, “From the day I take the oath of office, we will rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again. … You just watch. They’ll come down fast.” Now, however, he says he won’t even bother because, as he told TIME magazine, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
It reminds one of how in 2016 he promised to raise taxes on the rich so much that his wealthy friends would hate him, to replace Obamacare with a national healthcare system, to support unions and the environment, etc.; all turned out to be naked lies. But, like during his first term, as long as Trump and the Murdoch family (and now Musk) can keep Trump-humpers cocooned in their rightwing media bubble, odds are few of those who voted for him will ever know the extent of his perfidy.
As the brilliant investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who referred to Trump as “the greatest con artist in the history of the world,” told the media via Froomkin: “You’ve got to stop covering him like he’s just another politician, with a different agenda. He’s a criminal and a con artist. And that has to be central to everything you cover about him.”
Most tragically for the fate and future of our nation, even the mainstream media generally refuses to note Trump’s frequent lies and actions that directly contradict his campaign promises and press availabilities. Will our media wake up this time, particularly as Trump begins going after reporters and publishers with the force of law and agencies like the FBI? One hopes so…and we can all help by pointing it out when media agencies “sanewash” or otherwise sugar-coat Trump’s lies and anti-democracy actions.
The scarlet F is coming for Trump — and there's nothing he can do about it | Opinion
2025: The year American Oligarchy officially begins?
Oligarchy is generally defined as a form of governance in which the state has been captured by the morbidly rich and the powers and institutions of government are then turned to make the rich even richer while insulating oligarchs from legal strictures, at the same time impoverishing and punishing working people and the poor. As I detailed in my book The Hidden History of American Oligarchy, the biggest problem with oligarchy is that it’s an extremely unstable form of government and usually is only transitional (typically lasting fewer than two generations). Average people, realizing they’re being robbed blind, rise up and demand change, sometimes causing oligarchy to flip back to democracy (as happened here in the 1860s and the 1930s) or flipping the nation into tyranny when the oligarchs decide to use the military and police powers of government to hold onto their wealth and power (Chile, Hungary, Russia, Iraq, Egypt, Philippines, Singapore, Turkey, etc.).
The big question for Americans as we enter this new period of full-blown oligarchy is whether this generation’s oligarchs will have more success than those in the 1930s and 1850s. They seem to have learned the lessons of history and are now emulating Putin, Orbán, etc., in using lawfare and big money to intimidate or purchase outright the media; this will make a transition back to democracy — like the ones Lincoln and Roosevelt led when the media landscape (and its ownership) was far more diverse — far more difficult. And, as we just saw with the election of Mike Johnson as Speaker, nothing happens in the House without the approval of the billionaires.
How the media has failed on Trump coverage. Media watchdog Dan Froomkin points out that Trump, rather than being a brilliant politician or businessman, is actually one of this century’s most successful con-men — and our media’s greatest failure is to acknowledge or even tangentially reference this fact.
He ran on lowering grocery prices, for example, telling a rally in August, “From the day I take the oath of office, we will rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again. … You just watch. They’ll come down fast.” Now, however, he says he won’t even bother because, as he told TIME magazine, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
It reminds one of how in 2016 he promised to raise taxes on the rich so much that his wealthy friends would hate him, to replace Obamacare with a national healthcare system, to support unions and the environment, etc.; all turned out to be naked lies. But, like during his first term, as long as Trump and the Murdoch family (and now Musk) can keep Trump-humpers cocooned in their rightwing media bubble, odds are few of those who voted for him will ever know the extent of his perfidy.
As the brilliant investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, who referred to Trump as “the greatest con artist in the history of the world,” told the media via Froomkin: “You’ve got to stop covering him like he’s just another politician, with a different agenda. He’s a criminal and a con artist. And that has to be central to everything you cover about him.”
Most tragically for the fate and future of our nation, even the mainstream media generally refuses to note Trump’s frequent lies and actions that directly contradict his campaign promises and press availabilities. Will our media wake up this time, particularly as Trump begins going after reporters and publishers with the force of law and agencies like the FBI? One hopes so…and we can all help by pointing it out when media agencies “sanewash” or otherwise sugar-coat Trump’s lies and anti-democracy actions.
