“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses” — Malcolm X
One of the most powerful weapons in an authoritarian’s arsenal is the ability to control whatever messages the regime wants to convey. By controlling the media, they are telling people only what those in power want the public to know. Using this powerful tool, they can sway public opinion to create whatever outcome they choose.
From day one of his first term in office, Trump has been manipulating the public’s perception of what is actually going on in the country. Who can forget Sean Spicer’s vehement defense of the crowd size at his first inauguration? Despite photographic evidence to the contrary, Spicer and the administration continued to insist on distorting the public’s perception of the facts, or as then White House Spokesperson Kellyanne Conway put it, “Alternative Facts”.
The numerous falsehoods, distortion of the facts, misinformation and disinformation stretched from that first day, all up to the 2020 election which, despite losing, Trump continued to use the media to push his Big Lie of a stolen election. This led to the January 6th insurrection, and ultimately to putting him back into the White House.
In his four years out of office, Trump honed his messaging and learned how to weaponize his control of the media through threats of lawsuits. Now that he is back in power, he is using the additional leverage of the power of the federal government to control who has access, what funding certain outlets will, or will not, receive, dangling licensing requirements over major networks and employing social media to control the message.
When ABC commentator George Stephanopoulos used the word “rape” in describing Trump’s being found liable for sexual assault, Trump sued the network. Even though legal Experts agreed that ABC could have easily defeated this frivolous lawsuit, they capitulated and, like a shark smelling blood in the water, the floodgates opened to further lawsuits against CBS, The New York Times, The Washington Post and any other media outlet that Trump found disagreeable.
When CBS needed approval for a corporate merger, Trump threatened to cancel the process unless certain changes were made. CBS had already caved in to demands and made a substantial financial contribution to the shadowy “Trump Library”, following threats related to edited footage of then Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election.
Trump sued the network again following an edited broadcast of Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem’s interview. With the fate of the merger hanging in the balance, CBS again surrendered and again made a large financial contribution to his favored organization.
When The Late Show talk show host Stephen Colbert called the capitulation a bribe, he was immediately cancelled, despite having the highest ratings of any of the late-night shows. Although he is being allowed to finish out this current season, there are, no doubt, watchful eyes waiting to pounce on the next perceived misstep.
Now, CBS news is on its way to becoming yet another right-wing media outlet. With Paramount, under the leadership of David Ellison (son of Oracle co-founder and MAGA mega-donor Larry Ellison) in control of CBS, the once venerable news department, which was the home to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, is now being led by Bari Weiss. She is decidedly pro-MAGA and has stated she wants to transform CBS news into something akin to the Fox news’s former slogan” Fair and Balanced”.
Social media has also become an arm of the Trump messaging apparatus. Meta, Google, Apple and the social media site once known as Twitter have all made the pilgrimage to either the White House or Mar a Lago (and in some cases both) to bend the knee to the all-powerful Orange God at the risk of losing lucrative government contracts.
When anyone from the media challenges Trump or simply asks him a question he doesn’t want to answer, he has long employed the habit of calling the outlet Fake News and hurling insults rather than responding. It’s a practice that his minions have adopted as well. Typically, his long list of press secretaries has employed this tactic while also claiming to be transparent.
This was also on display during the recent Congressional testimony of Attorney General Pam Bondi. When members of the media caught a glimpse of notes she kept in a folder she brought, ostensibly facts to bolster her testimony, they instead saw a carefully rehearsed set of insults that were to be timed to counter any difficult questioning.
So yeah. Total transparency.
There are daily efforts being made to control the messaging. Censorship is being used to prevent anyone from speaking ill of right-wing darling Charlie Kirk. Trump has hinted that he could use the same methods to silence anyone who speaks out against himself, as well.
Accusations of weaponization of the Justice Department have led to mass firings of anyone associated with any type of investigation into the first Trump administration and any other subsequent legal issues. Yet, his own Justice Department, under direct orders from Trump, have pursued vindictive prosecution of Trump foes including John Bolton, James Comey, Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The media messaging regarding the current government shutdown has been portrayed by MAGA Republicans, with the shocking exception of Majorie Taylor Greene, of being caused by Democrats, despite Republican control of both houses of Congress and the White House. Democrats are demanding certain healthcare protections, stripped away to Finance the Big Bogus Bill, be re-instated before any Democratic senators will support a Republican Continuing Resolution to reopen the government.,
Republicans are countering by saying they would be open to discussing healthcare once the government has reopened. They are also making the false claim that Democrats want to use funding to provide benefits to illegal immigrants.
Anyone want to buy this bridge?
Republicans are also using the shutdown to delay the release of the Epstein files. Speaker Mike Johnson is refusing to swear in Democratic-elect Congresswoman Adelita Grijalv. Once sworn in, she would be the deciding vote in pressuring the release of the files. Johnson is insisting it has nothing to do with Epstein and has used various excuses to avoid doing his duty.
The messaging regarding the use of National Guard troops and ICE agents in Democratic-controlled cities is particularly telling. At first the White House used the justification that they were being used to round up illegal immigrants. Under the guidance of Deputy Chief of Staff, and human waste product, Stephen Miller, the message has been shifted to labeling anyone who opposes this administration as being a domestic terrorist aligned with Antifa. He is dangling the threat of invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow the military to take on the task of law enforcement in cities that are under Democratic control.
The sad part is, there are millions who voted for Trump who swallow these messages. While there have been some defections, there are still far too many who believe anything the White House says. Rather than learn from the lessons of Washington, Lincoln and other past presidents, this administration would rather follow the pattern set forth by Nazi Propaganda Minster Josep Goebbels: “Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.”
