Rachel Maddow digs into Trump's disturbing war on the media

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow dedicated part of her Monday show to the attack on the free press being waged by President Donald Trump and Brendan Carr, the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Not long after his appointment to lead the agency, Carr ordered investigations into NPR and PBS sponsorships.While it may seem to be the old Republican goal of ending federal funding for the outlets, there is something much more sinister at work here.“They're actually going at the way these stations are sustainably and locally making money to keep their programs on the air,” Maddow explained. The Trump administration has removed four major news outlets' offices at the Pentagon and handed them over to right-wing news outlets like The New York Post, One America News, and Breitbart News. At the same time, Carr is threatening non-MAGA corporate media outlets, who have failed Americans by submitting to Trump’s baseless defamation lawsuits.“This is what they call the Viktor Orbán playbook for using the power of government to eliminate independent, credible, professional journalism,” Maddow said, referring to the Hungarian dictator. “Using the power of government to hurt journalism as much as possible, to weaken it as much as possible, to try to drive independent, capable, professional media out of business and into ruin so that it goes away.”Maddow predicts that the goal of these anti-press attacks is to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 Supreme Court decision that restricted the ability of public officials to sue for defamation.“You can have the government come after them,” Maddow continued, “but you can also have the president's allies in private life come after them in ways that are designed to financially weaken, cripple, and ultimately shut down—or cause to be sold—the oppositional, independent media in this country.”“We have a free, oppositional, independent, aggressive, often annoying and pushy press in this country, which you may not always like, but it is how we learn what the government is doing, and it's the main reason why the government has to answer questions about what they're doing,” she added.xxYouTube VideoCarr had a different opinion about the free press when President Joe Biden was in office. In 2021, Carr said, “A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official, not targeted by them.”Daily Kos is now on Bluesky—and we want to make it easy for you to join us! Click here for the Daily Kos Bluesky Starter Pack.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow dedicated part of her Monday show to the attack on the free press being waged by President Donald Trump and Brendan Carr, the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Not long after his appointment to lead the agency, Carr ordered investigations into NPR and PBS sponsorships. While it may seem to be the old Republican goal of ending federal funding for the outlets, there is something much more sinister at work here.

“They're actually going at the way these stations are sustainably and locally making money to keep their programs on the air,” Maddow explained. The Trump administration has removed four major news outlets' offices at the Pentagon and handed them over to right-wing news outlets like The New York Post, One America News, and Breitbart News. At the same time, Carr is threatening non-MAGA corporate media outlets, who have failed Americans by submitting to Trump’s baseless defamation lawsuits .

“This is what they call the Viktor Orbán playbook for using the power of government to eliminate independent, credible, professional journalism,” Maddow said, referring to the Hungarian dictator. “Using the power of government to hurt journalism as much as possible, to weaken it as much as possible, to try to drive independent, capable, professional media out of business and into ruin so that it goes away.” Maddow predicts that the goal of these anti-press attacks is to overturn New York Times v.

Sullivan , the landmark 1964 Supreme Court decision that restricted the ability of public officials to sue for defamation. “You can have the government come after them,” Maddow continued, “but you can also have the president's allies in private life come after them in ways that are designed to financially weaken, cripple, and ultimately shut down—or cause to be sold—the oppositional, independent media in this country.” “We have a free, oppositional, independent, aggressive, often annoying and pushy press in this country, which you may not always like, but it is how we learn what the government is doing, and it's the main reason why the government has to answer questions about what they're doing,” she added.

x x YouTube Video Carr had a different opinion about the free press when President Joe Biden was in office. In 2021, Carr said , “A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official, not targeted by them.” Daily Kos is now on Bluesky—and we want to make it easy for you to join us! Click here for the Daily Kos Bluesky Starter Pack.

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