Trump’s latest crackdown on free speech and journalism is continuing after he orders an investigation into another journalist.
The latest wave of political censorship is continuing in America. The latest wave of censorship began late last week when US fascist dictator, Donald Trump, silenced the Huffington Post and Reuters. This while initiating plans on dictating who can and cannot ask questions at White House briefings.
Well, this latest effort to stamp out free speech and journalism is continuing. A journalist from Voice of America reported on criticism being directed at Trump. In response, the Trump administration accused the journalist of committing ‘treason’ and ordered an investigation into how a report noting Trump criticism made it to the public. From Raw Story:
Several journalists employed by an outlet funded by the U.S. government have found themselves in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs, according to a new report.
In a Friday article, the New York Times reported that one longtime journalist at Voice of America (VOA) — which is funded by Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media (AGM) — had been put on an extended “excused absence” pending a human resources investigation following a tweet flagged by Trump advisor Richard Grenell. VOA chief national correspondent Steve Herman said the investigation was meant to determine whether his “social media activity has undermined VOA’s audiences’ perceptions of the objectivity and/or credibility of VOA and its news operations.”
In the tweet, Herman quoted a nonprofit leader who criticized Trump’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development as making Americans “less safe at home and abroad.” Grenell called Herman’s tweet “treasonous.”
“You don’t get to work against the official U.S. government policies while being paid by US taxpayers,” said Grenell, who is officially the Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions. “You should be immediately fired.”
According to the Times, Herman was then called into a meeting with VOA’s human resources department, who forced him to acknowledge he had “improperly engaged in speculation and analysis.” In addition to Herman, two other VOA journalists told the paper that they had also received “blowback” for similar comments. Employees are now raising their concerns about the investigations to VOA director Michael Abramowitz. They believe the investigations have a chilling effect on their reporting on the administration, which is meant to be independent of political influence.
Yeah, no shit this would have a chilling effect on their reporting. To be clear, it wasn’t even the journalist that was making these criticism. It was someone else making these criticism and the reporter was simply quoting that critic. You know, a journalist doing their damned job. The problem is that this is Trump’s America we are forced to live in. In Trump’s America, any criticism of the thin-skinned whiny bitch shall be punished with the fullest extent of the law. The only speech permissible is that which praises glorious leader Trump.
For those wondering what this ‘treasonous’ comment was, it was this:
Eliminating USAID “makes Americans less safe at home and abroad,” says Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward.
Yes, that’s it. That is what caused Trump to throw an absolute shit fit and demand that the journalist be fired.
Of course, all of this is part of an already longstanding pattern of the Trump administration trying to stamp out free speech. Earlier, the Trump administration silenced the Associated Press for daring to properly call it the “Gulf of Mexico”. That followed Trump’s calls to jail reporters. In addition to that was the legal threat against the New York Times and Penguin Randomhouse. Shadow president, Elon Musk, also more recently renewed calls to jail reporters for daring to publish criticisms of the king.
This goes over top of Trump administration officials looking at establishing an internet speech police force comprised of multiple government agencies. For instance, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were already looking at partnering with the private sector to scour the internet for thought crimes and prosecute anyone daring to criticize the government. Similarly, a Trump lackey was also pushing for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to crack down on critical speech as well. What’s more, the Heritage Foundation was establishing plans to dox Wikipedias for the crime of posting content that the Heritage Foundation personally disagrees with.
For Trump, it seems that he feels that all news organizations should simply sit around and say what a perfect person he is and how perfectly his administration is running things. Basically, he wants everyone to be his own personal propaganda arm. Anyone who does otherwise is considered a traitor to the country and should be jailed accordingly. That vision has never been made clearer with the above actions. The problem, of course, that it’s unlikely that Trump is ever going to stamp out all criticisms on the internet. Still, it’s looking increasingly likely that a policy of trying to jail ’em all is inching closer to reality.
Hey. Found your link on techdirt. Just a recommendation. Ditch the “US fascist dictator, Donald Trump”. Why? Because although ‘fascist’ is debatable, ‘dictator’ is not. Donald Trump is not yet a dictator. He is actually still just the elected president. He hasn’t (yet) disposed of elections or installed himself as the dictator through other means, such as a military coup. This places the reader in the uncomfortable (for you) position of having to parse out the inflammatory language from your articles. It makes you look less reliable. Donald Trump may one day (soon) become a dictator, and we would all like to be able to rely upon you to note the moment of that transition. It is very important for all of us to be on our toes, to avoid unnecessary and factually incorrect inflammatory language.
As for the story itself, of course it is highly problematic for Trump to be calling for the investigation of journalists. It is also problematic that the US funds propaganda throughout the world through VOA, USAID and other arms of the government, leading to color revolutions, instigated conflicts, and ultimately mass death.
I’m afraid there are no heroes in this story, only villains jostling for position.
Having said that, it is clear that Trump is not merely opining about someone who is, essentially, his employee (the VOA journalist), but taking a broader stance against journalists and anyone who criticizes him, something he is very sensitive to. In that you are absolutely correct. But how to tell the story taking into account all of its complexity, when defending VOA is defending, let’s be honest, the CIA and all of its crimes?
I think we need to distinguish between (1) things Trump is doing that endangers the world (such as the promised annexation of Canada), (2) things that Trump is doing that is destroying the institutions of democracy in the United States, making it more unpredictable, dangerous, fragile, etc., and (3) things that Trump is doing that maybe should be done because who else is going to do it? Gutting VOA seems to me to fit into category 3.
Having said that, many people throughout history supported authoritarianism because they believed their petty aims (3) would be met while assuring themselves (incorrectly it turned out) that the tyrant would not take steps into (1) and (2). And so we are left in the uncomfortable position of wishing to deny Trump any wins, even ones we might, in some sense, either support or be indifferent to.
The world requires a reform of the American system, especially those factions and government institutions that prop up an unjust and antiquated American hegemony that leads to unnecessary conflicts around the world. That means the CIA and US intelligence need to be reformed. Unfortunately, Biden, a child and benefactor of US intelligence and corruption, didn’t reform the USA. So we’re stuck with the madlad in chief doing irrational things.
Remember, Bernie Sanders (though a CIA fan) would have funneled working class rage in a more positive direction, but Hillary fans conspired to cheat him from DNC leadership.
In other words, the Democrats had many opportunities to lead on issues that would have kept Trump at bay, but chose to maintain their pure neo-liberal line, leading to our present moment of destruction.
And I close with the following observation: Trump will try to take Canada, maybe even by force. Why? Because Canada’s natural resources basically plug the hole in the US national debt by more than doubling America’s natural resources. The chickens of debt are coming home to roost, and everybody knows it. Closing down the global military hegemony, while maintaining a much cheaper local military hegemony is the natural conclusion of America First ideology. Canada, being mostly white, will be admitted as a state with voting rights, and Mexico will be admitted as a territory, heavily dominated by anti-terror style, dystopian policing, and used as an economic free trade zone to exploit brown labor. I think this is the logical conclusion of Trump’s vision.
I’ll be honest, there’s nothing you can do about this because if America doesn’t take Canada, it will collapse and the world will be a much worse place. In that sense, Trump, having torn away the veil of CIA-led neo-liberalism, sees the world, its conditions and risks, and the most plausible solutions more clearly than the average TDS enjoyer. You may disagree with him, you may hate him, but what is your plausible alternative?
Lacking a plausible alternative for a world system, anti-Trumpers will be suck picking at scabs, like Trump’s attack on the VOA journalist, while circling the CIA wagons under the nuWest banner of a broadened and emboldened and rearming European continent. I find it absolutely remarkable that the European governments, after being blatantly lead to the Ukraine slaughter by the CIA and Victoria Nuland continue to wage the war as if they had authored it. It proves how deep the CIA corruption is in Europe that European leaders can both be led, but also sustain a CIA action in the absence of the CIA.
And so the alternative to Trump is just a return to the dead end of CIAism. Perhaps it will arm itself. Perhaps it will throw tens of millions of bodies against Russia. But for what? To maintain the ghost of US global hegemony that Trump has already repudiated? It is a mission that is destined to self-destruct, now, tomorrow, or somewhere in the middle of that greater, self-inflicted, entirely unnecessary war.
So what has become necessary is a greater vision of a world order, one that sustains America mostly as it is, while adjusting to a new multi-polarity. Unfortunately for everyone who hates Trump, that’s Trump’s policy. The CIA, Biden, Hillary, etc. handed over to Trump not only the working class, but the future of the human race. Why did they do this? Because the old system paid them off in silver and gold. Biden got $$$ from Burisma corruption in Ukraine. Hillary was off jetsetting for $500k presentations at NGOs around the globe. They were entirely captured by the system, and become advocates of the system, and could only ever see the system that fed them caviar and poured them tall glasses of champagne. The DNC allowed itself to become corrupted by the forces it was tasked to control.
Because of this, the future now belongs to Trump. Trump the narcissist. Trump the incompetent. Trump the ridiculous. Trump the sociopath. Trump the greedy. Trump the authoritarian. Who gave him the future? The CIA, the neo-liberal establishment, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, etc.
This is why we are not simply at a temporary political impasse, but at a major inflection point in world history. The only solution is a multipolar world, and Trump knows it, and will be the great author of it. And history will forgive or forget his foibles, and he will be remembered as a great man, perhaps the greatest American President. Especially because he grabbed Canada in 2026, which was absorbed with minimal fuss.
Unless you have another idea. (I’m sure you don’t.)
gesundheit