
When Donald Trump launched his first campaign in 2015, the media were an easy target. “Fake news” became his rallying cry, and reporters were branded the “enemy of the people.” But now, in 2025, the war has escalated. Trump’s attacks on the press are no longer just verbal – they’re systemic, targeted, and increasingly authoritarian.
The most symbolic example is his lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch-owned publication that has long leaned conservative. The trigger? An article referencing Trump’s personal letter to Jeffrey Epstein. The WSJ didn’t misquote him – it simply reported what was in the letter. But for Trump, the facts themselves are a threat. And anyone who publishes them becomes the enemy.
That lawsuit marked a turning point. Since then, Trump has dramatically ramped up efforts to silence dissenting voices across the media landscape. And the targets are not just left-wing outlets or liberal comedians – they include longtime conservative allies, respected public broadcasters, and even entertainment figures who inject satire into their political commentary.
One of the most alarming moves has been the effective gutting of Voice of America, the U.S. government’s international broadcaster. Once tasked with promoting press freedom and democratic values around the world, it has now been stripped of editorial independence and repurposed to serve the Trump narrative. Critical staff have been removed. Journalistic standards have been sidelined. Propaganda has taken their place.
Closer to home, late-night satire has become the latest casualty. Stephen Colbert’s Late Show – a nightly thorn in Trump’s side – was abruptly cancelled this month. No official reason was given, but insiders suggest pressure from advertisers and media executives unwilling to risk MAGA retaliation. Jimmy Kimmel is next, boasted Trump: a signal that late-night TV, once a forum for social and political satire, is fast becoming another no-go zone in the Trump media landscape.

Trump is doing what autocrats always do: shutting down critical voices, one platform at a time. And he’s doing it under the cover of legal threats, funding cuts, regulatory pressure, and a relentless online smear campaign led by his supporters.
So why now?
One obvious answer is distraction. The Epstein letter, though embarrassing, is just one problem. Trump still faces civil judgments, criminal investigations, and serious concerns about his mental fitness following a string of bizarre public appearances. There are internal divisions in his administration. Even some former allies are starting to peel away. The last thing he wants is scrutiny.
And scrutiny is exactly what a free press provides.
Trump’s campaign against the media isn’t about protecting democracy. It’s about replacing it with obedience. Even the Murdoch empire is under siege for not being MAGA enough. You’re either fully loyal – or fully expendable.
The consequences reach far beyond the U.S. Trump’s playbook is inspiring leaders abroad to follow suit, using “fake news” as an excuse to silence independent journalism and crush opposition. The example America is now setting is one of censorship, not freedom.
If the press is the fourth estate, Trump now sees it as the last obstacle to unchecked power. He doesn’t just want to spin the truth. He wants to erase it.
And in the process, he’s proving what we’ve long suspected: the greatest threat to Donald Trump’s presidency has never been the media – it’s the truth.
Also by Michael Taylor:
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Trump is surely poxed, incapable, animalprimitive, incomprehensible. Syphilis? Genetic or trauma? Drug abuse? “Diet?” He gets support from the hidden harlots of perverted profiteerimg and power seeking. Owners and controllers, now with all info flows, methods of storage, usage, pillage, will crush us all harder than ever. Patriots! Act now to terminate this plague, obliterate this pox, evaporate this predatory pillock.
Could it possibly be that we are starting to see the beginning of the end for The Donald? The cultists are starting to wake to the fact that he’s made of thin cardboard and not steel.
https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/us-politics-live-hunter-biden-lashes-out-at-democrats-for-ditching-his-father-as-push-to-prosecute-barack-obama-is-slammed/live-coverage/b2cf4bb4cd1e49d1ae7a65d23cfed828
If there was EVER irrefutable evidence that Trump is an out-of-control megalomaniacal, dangerously undemocratic fascist, his shocking behaviour (outlined above) is it! Furthermore, the fact that this mentally-unhinged political psychopath is, in addition, a convicted criminal and a predatory paedophile makes anyone with an IQ>20 and any sense of integrity ask the logical question: “Why, why, WHY is that deplorably unconscionable and totally depraved sociopath STILL allowed to mismanage and rule over America like some demented Caligula?”
WHY HASN’T TRUMP BEEN IMPEACHED AGAIN? WHY DO AMERICANS IRRATIONALLY CONTINUE TO TOLERATE TRUMP TRASHING AMERICANS’ CONSTITUTION AND THEIR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?
Sadly, many people in the US seem to think the position of president must be respected and not criticised or held to account. They have an unhealthy respect for the office. For them Trump will be seen to be doing the right thing and stopping the disrespect, no matter how deserved or needed.
Rupert’s media produces what is considered to selling ads with ‘truth’ not part of the process.
So sad that America is being ripped to shreds by T-Rump and his flunkies. It was bound to happen, as its mainstream media has promoted and participated in its exceptionalism and hubris. Its dysfunctional Constitution and corrupted dysfunctional political system, xenophobia and commercial usury has been wound into its propaganda trafficked by its media – no-one is spared.
It was inevitable, and now the whole caboodle is crumbling – almost at rock-bottom. What will take its place, and how long will it take?
I wake up each morning and wonder if Ghislaine Mawell hasn’t mysteriously committed suicide.