The failure of the American media is one of the biggest disappointments of the last 11 years.
Instead of standing together and standing their ground with integrity and dignity when Trump began bullying them in 2015, media organizations let him wear them down with his never-ending litany of insults. Once a toxic narcissist knows they can get away with it, they’ll just keep hurting you and taking things from you.
Our media never properly pushed back against Trump because, before his 2016 campaign, they’d never had to defend themselves against personal attacks from a candidate or a president. They went from treating him like the joke he should have always been to giving him absolute power over their newsrooms. While we’ve seen individual moments of pushback here and there, Trump ultimately prevails every time. Either he makes the reporter the story by bullying them, or he gets away with not answering their questions because he’s too busy scapegoating them as a distraction from whatever he was asked about.
It disgusts me every time, because no one stands together on that press line. I don’t care which outlet you work for — when Trump bullies one reporter, he’s bullying them all. They should be demanding the answers he refuses to give, because that’s their job. But they should also be demanding that he stop treating their colleagues like a middle school bully.
From the outside, it might look like it’s too late. Every news outlet we once trusted is now owned by a billionaire with their own personal political agendas. While ABC beefs with the FCC over Jimmy Kimmel, CBS’s full capitulation to Trump is complete. And now, David Ellison is about to do the same to CNN by putting Bari Weiss in charge there as well.
Everything about this is anti-American. Our First Amendment rights are being violated by an oligarch class that’s been allowed to take over far too many media outlets, and with the White House now targeting members of the independent media, how long before Trump tries to shut down the internet so no one can talk about the Epstein Files or his failing health?
There are many ways to fight back against male white corporate oppression, however, and one news network is setting the examples for all of us to follow. And there’s no way the FCC can intervene on Trump’s behalf this time, because it’s not an American network.
All hail the venerable British Broadcasting Company (BBC), both on television and over the wireless, as they used to say. The BBC has always set the standard for journalism, and that’s remained true during the Trumpian nightmare garbage fire.
Because he can’t control them.
He can sue them, however, because that’s what Trump does whenever anyone with a big enough audience tells the truth about him. It’s a favorite con of his, burying and then bankrupting his enemies with endless depositions and appeals.
Trump is desperate to rewrite the history of his failed coup after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, despite all of the footage that’s still readily available to everyone.
So, of course, Trump is now suing the BBC for $10 BILLION, crying “defamation” after it aired a documentary about the January 6th insurrection, in which they used some of the footage of his Ellipsis speech that he claims was “edited.” Yes, the same speech that was live-streamed by all of the MAGA terrorists in the crowd, just like the subsequent attack on the Capitol.
While plenty of other institutions have caved to Trump, the stiff upper lips at the BBC aren’t intimidated so easily. In fact, they’re going after what the January 6th House Select Committee never could get: Trump’s January 6th phone records.
Discovery is glorious, especially when it’s used for good. Not only are they asking for Trump’s phone records from the Day of Rage, but also the days leading up to his desperately violent attempt to stay in power.
But they’re not stopping with Trump’s actions regarding January 6th; the BBC has also served a subpoena related to his revocable trust, which is run by Don Jr. It contains private information on the Trump Crime Family’s assets and business relationships, so just imagine what the BBC might find if they gain access to all of Trump’s financials.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Trump’s phone records would show whether or not he ever called any state’s governor to have them send their National Guard troops to the Capitol to fight off the MAGA crowds. We already have the footage of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer essentially co-Presidenting by taking the action Trump never did and, hopefully, the BBC will also use this clip as part of its defense should the lawsuit go to trial.
Any American news outlet could have done the same as the BBC, even without a lawsuit against them, but they haven’t, and they won’t.
We all know the truth about January 6th because we were all witnesses. Whether we watched it online or on TV, the live feeds were readily available and were recorded. Trump may have pardoned everyone he could in connection with January 6th as a part of his revisionist history (except Marjorie Taylor Greene, she wrote while very much savoring the schadenfreude), but the BBC has all of the same receipts that we have.
Trump will be forced to drop this suit and post that it was another “witch hunt,” or some other tired line, because this case is unwinnable for him. If he keeps moving forward, he’ll be exposed under discovery in multiple ways. He’s never threatened to sue anyone for saying he’s in the Epstein Files, which tells you plenty about how much he fears the discovery process.
American media outlets need to follow the BBC’s example and start telling the truth about Trump again.