Summary
Donald Trump, the president-elect and convicted felon, has escalated his legal attacks on media outlets critical of him, sparking fears for press freedom under his second term.
His lawyer recently demanded $10 billion in damages from The New York Times and Penguin Random House over alleged “defamatory” content.
Similar lawsuits target the Daily Beast, CBS News, and others, accusing them of “malicious” reporting and election interference.
Media groups and watchdogs, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, warn these actions threaten press freedom and the public’s right to information.
There were guardrails, but most of them are just litter on the side of the road now. The supreme Court has essentially justified any action he takes, Congress will not dare to oppose anything he wants, and he is appointing toadies and lickspittles to the highest offices of the land. Oh, and he is reclassifying all the major bureaucrats as political appointees so they can be fired at will.
It really is as bad as it seems.
We’ll see. The guy practically steals political capital so it is unpredictable; traditional candidates usually have to cut deals with folks in house and Senate when a policy would cost that person votes, but he doesn’t play by that because he can just make shit up. Gaetz will be a good test to see if he’s still able to force bad choices on people.
The only upside is he’s also an idiot who doesn’t trust people around him. 2016-2020 was bad, but man it could have been a lot worse if he wasn’t inept.