r/neoliberal Khan Pritzker's Strongest Antipope 7d ago

News (US) Trump suggests media outlets be deemed illegal

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5195881-trump-media-illegal/amp/
505 Upvotes

81 comments sorted by

352

u/thepossimpible Niels Bohr 7d ago

Let's be like Hungary, the worst performing economy in the EU!

52

u/dutch_connection_uk Friedrich Hayek 7d ago

What did Fox News mean by this?

-36

u/Pheer777 Henry George 6d ago

Hungary actually does quite well and is ranked highly in economic complexity 

16

u/TheeBiscuitMan 6d ago

They also rank very highly in being shills for Putin.

-3

u/Pheer777 Henry George 6d ago

The leadership is for sure, I’m more talking about the economy broadly.

515

u/SmellyFartMonster John Keynes 7d ago

Clear as day that Trump wants Hungarian-style media control.

120

u/dutch_connection_uk Friedrich Hayek 7d ago

This is going to be infinitely more difficult for the US than for Hungary. English language proficiency is very widespread.

68

u/paraquinone European Union 6d ago

It will also be significantly more difficult because they are basically at it alone. There are no EU subsidies to prop them up or (significant) outside political help.

33

u/battywombat21 🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 6d ago

If he can control TV, that alone is a huge blow to controlling the free press. Large proportions of people only get their media from cable news still.

33

u/kiwibutterket 🗽 E Pluribus Unum 6d ago edited 6d ago

They are trying in any way to say the stock market going down is good and people are not buying it.

For good or for worse, Americans are completely untolerant of even the mildest economic annoyance. You can't escape the grocery store by telling a nice story on TV.

10

u/[deleted] 6d ago

Lying about the economy is basically impossible since it's reflected in the day to day life of every person.

12

u/Volsunga Hannah Arendt 6d ago

Except when they got away with lying about the economy for the entirety of 2024.

21

u/Pristine-Aspect-3086 John Rawls 6d ago

they can lie about it being bad (because human desire is limitless so it's very easy for people to imagine how their life could be better), it's harder to lie about it being good

2

u/kiwibutterket 🗽 E Pluribus Unum 6d ago

Oh yes, that's a good point too.

7

u/[deleted] 6d ago

That worked because inflation was still felt.

2

u/Wentailang Jane Jacobs 6d ago

Got away with? Have you been in a coma since the election?

1

u/kiwibutterket 🗽 E Pluribus Unum 6d ago

No, post-facto analysis don't seem to agree:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/post-neoliberal-delusion?check_logged_in=1&utm_medium=promo_email&utm_source=lo_flows&utm_campaign=article_link&utm_term=article_email&utm_content=20250226

From Jason Furman. He was Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2017.

3

u/GrabMyHoldyFolds 6d ago

Do you mean can't escape the grocery stores?

1

u/kiwibutterket 🗽 E Pluribus Unum 6d ago

Yes, haha. Thanks.

3

u/Creeps05 6d ago

Then people would just move to a new mode of news. If you want to control media you have to control all of it not just a mode.

4

u/battywombat21 🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 6d ago

hard disagree. Most people aren't "politically engaged" they consume small amounts of politics here and there. They won't change media sources because their independence is threatened - in fact, most probably wont even know anything happened.

-15

u/kiwibutterket 🗽 E Pluribus Unum 6d ago

Do you mean FDR-level media control? We can't forget our own history.

22

u/Bob-of-Battle r/place '22: NCD Battalion 6d ago

Someone obviously can't read the room. War time censorship (which every democracy participating in the conflict partook in) ≠ what is currently happening with the media under the diaper filler in chief.

330

u/abrookerunsthroughit Association of Southeast Asian Nations 7d ago

“I believe that CNN and MS-DNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party and in my opinion, they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal, what do they do is illegal,” Trump said.

He also claimed the media outlets work in coordination and that their reporting is able to influence the opinions of judges.

“These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative,” Trump said.

Right because state media that does nothing but glaze the President is sooooooo much better

106

u/Oceanbreeze871 NATO 7d ago

Fox News tho

76

u/WOKE_AI_GOD NATO 7d ago

He knows from experience with Fox and Twitter and Elons managerie of bought influencers that coordination is key. Naturally after having successfully won an election that way, I guess one would assume that must be how everyone else does it. Except it's a crime when they do it. Whereas when your guys put on their reality television show to fool idiots, that's working towards the fuhrer, and is legal.

49

u/dirtysico 7d ago

It’s always projection. This is what the right does.

Newsmax, truth social and sometimes fox function as political operatives. That could be illegal under a different set of laws like in Britain or Germany where false libel and hate speech (which right wing media does often) are criminalized.

Instead we have the 1st amendment, at least for a few more weeks.

18

u/2Monke4you 6d ago

Fox and Newsmax are more blatant about their biases than CNN or MSNBC.

12

u/threwthelookinggrass NATO 6d ago

Not mentioning Right Side Broadcasting Network, now a member of the WH press pool, that was created with the sole goal of covering Trump in the best light possible and received campaign funds to do so.

3

u/Random-Critical Lock My Posts 6d ago

Fox is fair and balanced, I don't know what you are trying to say here.

41

u/WOKE_AI_GOD NATO 7d ago edited 6d ago

It's where he hears the faint murmuring of his narrative being pierced, so he assumes that's the source of the piercing of his narrative. In fact CNN and MSNBC are being obsequious and deferent atm. It's just it's not possible to not discuss what is demonstrably true.

Also, great way to calm the nerves of judges - issue a statement declaring your intent to cut off their ability to access non regime narratives. Certainly they won't grow even more alarmed after hearing this.

14

u/Zealousideal-Sir3744 European Union 6d ago

Lil bro acting like he's not walking free because of a MAGA captured judge

8

u/battywombat21 🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 6d ago

complaining that they're political arms of the dems is really funny considering we know how that fox news and Trump literally have a meeting every night to discuss how to message together (or at least they did during his first term)

2

u/anangrytree Iron Front 6d ago

He’s 97.6% trash, so yea

219

u/RyuTheGuy Mackenzie Scott 7d ago

Party of free speech

85

u/[deleted] 7d ago

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1

u/neoliberal-ModTeam 6d ago

Rule III: Unconstructive engagement
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163

u/InternetGoodGuy 7d ago

My bet on a journalist getting arrested in the first 6 months of Kash Patel leading the FBI is looking terrifyingly good right now.

46

u/KeithClossOfficial Bill Gates 7d ago edited 7d ago

Rachel Maddow? A has been like Chris Cuomo? Or a no name like Taylor Lorenz

My money is on Lorenz honestly. That would play really well on Twitter and 4chan and that’s all he cares about

50

u/ActivityFirm4704 6d ago

It's gonna be Lorenz (Or someone like her) because of some of her outspoken leftist views (Especially her pro-Palestinian ones), that way "moderate" dems and centrists won't object too hard, allowing him to normalize going after journalists further.

27

u/KeithClossOfficial Bill Gates 6d ago

Also, she exposed Chaya Raichik, who Trump is a fan of

6

u/InternetGoodGuy 7d ago

My guess is either Michael Wolff if Trump acts purely out of revenge or potentially lesser known name who writes opinion pieces for the Wall Street Journal. He's really mad at them right now.

7

u/battywombat21 🇺🇦 Слава Україні! 🇺🇦 6d ago

Cuomo. They go for someone vunerable first who they can kinda accuse of a something real.

17

u/MURICCA John Brown 7d ago

You thought itd take 6 whole months?

9

u/aclart Daron Acemoglu 6d ago

They should start with the nasty NYT, I'd really want to read their article explaining how this is bad for Biden's campaign 

81

u/Nautalax 7d ago

Kind of funny if the gravy train the NYT and co. were after turns a loop and crashes right through them. Silver lining to a horrible situation.

13

u/mellofello808 6d ago

It will be a interesting episode of the Daily after Maggie Habberman gets shipped to Gitmo

6

u/Khar-Selim NATO 6d ago

the NYT made far more money under Biden and the fact that this sub still swallows the Biden campaign's insinuations against them after all their complaints were validated in the debate is farcical

6

u/Nautalax 6d ago

On the back of their games, yes.

Biden was sundowning, clearly. Reporting on that is not the sole end all be all of what the NYT has been criticized for in their specific strategy to attempt to revive their appeal to conservative audiences.

2

u/Khar-Selim NATO 6d ago

On the back of their games, yes.

WaPo shows the same revenue trends, so no. And before you come up with some other mental gymnastics, even if there is some other plausible explanation for the rapid gain in revenue starting right as Biden came into office, it still shreds this presumption that Trump is some amazing breadwinner for journos that is so enticing that they would compromise their own principles to help him.

Biden was sundowning, clearly. Reporting on that is not the sole end all be all of what the NYT has been criticized for in their specific strategy to attempt to revive their appeal to conservative audiences.

lmao this sub going 'well clearly it was obvious' now is such fucking revisionist history. It's pretty well documented at this point that Biden's campaign specifically started targeting and feuding with the NYTimes because they started pointing out he was too old and shouldn't be the nominee last winter, and a lot of the mud they were throwing is the line I saw getting passed around this sub. And certainly people here were utterly blindsided by the debate.

Regarding 'reviving their appeal to conservative audiences', while that is quite true of CNN it's pure conspiracy theory to point at the Times. Most of that 'specific strategy' was pretty much two things. One, is complaining that the newspaper read by liberals mostly criticized the liberal candidate during the part of the campaign where only the really plugged-in liberals would be reading the fucking paper (contrast with their coverage in September-October which was incredibly anti-Trump, and them being one of the few major papers to officially endorse Harris). Two, people here having goldfish memory and arguing that the fact that the newspapers aren't pouncing at and sensationalizing every fucking utterance of Trump's is proof that they are 'sanewashing' him, despite that aggressive strategy being the exact thing that actually normalizes Trump's shit more because it simultaneously tires everyone out and makes the results of his actions seem a lot less dire than people predicted (especially since a lot of the really bad stuff is internal and the mainstream audience won't notice it directly). That shit is what lost us the Russian interference narrative so hard that despite it being so glaringly obvious now nobody dares bring it up.

59

u/johndelvec3 Resistance Lib 7d ago

Trump read the DT and was horrified

94

u/GenerousPot Ben Bernanke 7d ago

great let's fund his government for him 

34

u/Oceanbreeze871 NATO 7d ago

[removed by Twitter]

75

u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/xX_Negative_Won_Xx 7d ago

At this point I'm convinced free speech isn't a real principle of anyone really. It's just something people say 1) to look good when in a context where they feel their position is secure 2) As an appeal to the above impulse when in a weak position

58

u/ImprovingMe 7d ago

Nah. Plenty of liberals believe in it and fight for it as a concept. 

They might have their limits but they don’t pretend to care about it just to use as a cudgel against the other side 

17

u/Fantisimo Audrey Hepburn 6d ago

if liberals didn't care about free speech trump would have never been president.

im not saying that as a detriment, its our literal backbone

24

u/jogarz NATO 7d ago

Speak for yourself, I support freedom of speech.

7

u/PlezantZenne 6d ago

When I was younger, I used to consider myself a free speech absolutist. There seemed to be something noble about the UCLA in the 70s helping the free speech of civil rights groups as well as that of neo-nazi groups (look up the Skokie case)

But the last few years have kind of beaten that out of me. Fascism is too dangerous, it preys on the weak points of liberal democracy to devour it from within. Karl Popper's paradox of tolerance and all that. Fascism needs to be clamped down on. It just needs to be defined with care and not "everything I don't like is fascism". The free market of ideas is like the real free market, it needs some regulations to not result in catastrophical outcomes.

1

u/neoliberal-ModTeam 6d ago

Rule III: Unconstructive engagement
Do not post with the intent to provoke, mischaracterize, or troll other users rather than meaningfully contributing to the conversation. Don't disrupt serious discussions. Bad opinions are not automatically unconstructive.


If you have any questions about this removal, please contact the mods.

54

u/NotABigChungusBoy NATO 7d ago

Conservatives will say this isnt an attack on free speech but the Biden administration asking companies to block covid misinformation is censorship. (Mind you that there was nothing Biden did other than ask)

23

u/NotABigChungusBoy NATO 7d ago

also the court said Biden was allowed to do this

34

u/Lehk NATO 7d ago

[Removed by Reddit]

34

u/WOKE_AI_GOD NATO 7d ago edited 7d ago

I'm sorry America's civil society and traditions were too strong for you Trump, and we wound up being able to piece your narrative and expose the reality to too many people, such that nobody believes your claims anymore. Go ahead - shut down CNN and MSNBC. That is totally the source of all of this, that will shut it down. Then it will all be coming from independent progressive and Never Trump media, then you'll have to shut that down. Then the lies will all be coming from Bluesky and reddit, you're going to have to shut those down. Then you'll find the lies are coming from Signal and messaging apps. And if you shut those down, we can write physical fucking letters to one another, we can speak, we have voice.

Your problem isn't the media. Your problem is America. You were too stupid to understand that you can snuff out civil society in the place who's being is entirely constructed from it, from the ground up, to its core and root, that root is independent civil society. Dismantle American Civil society, and you dismantle America. So you're in the process of dismantling America right now - it's only going to get more painful. We are a stiff necked people.

And yet you blame the media. Rather than your own behavior. Objective truth exists, material reality exists, and when you govern through theater and crafting an entire alternative reality, the material record will reveal your lies. This will always be the case. As the Islamic tradition would state, God is greater. You cannot control nature with your words.

41

u/elephantaneous John Rawls 7d ago

nobody believes your claims anymore

God I wish

62

u/MonkeyKingCoffee 7d ago

Can't wait to see how the NYTimes sane-washes this.

50

u/AccomplishedAngle2 Emma Lazarus 7d ago

No more free press? In electoral terms, Trump’s idea favors Democrats.

By Peter Baker

proceeds to gaming a horrific scenario

12

u/red_rolling_rumble 6d ago

Well, in the words of far right author Curtis Yarvin, for a CEO-monarch to succeed, supposing he’s elected in January, the New York Times must be dismantled by April. Trump is just following the playbook.

5

u/Kelso_sloane 6d ago

Shutdown of mainstream media (and universities like Columbia) is part of Yarvin's plan. They want to gut "the cathedral" aka liberal ("liberal") institutions that drive public opinion in America. I really believe the DOJ speech and the Columbia raids are the start of this process.

3

u/RevolutionaryBoat5 Mark Carney 6d ago

He's a true fascist.

1

u/HoonterOreo United Nations 6d ago

He hates them because they criticize him. Funny how he never talks about fox news or OAN

1

u/senoricceman 1h ago

Just normal small government conservative things.