Trump Wields Full Toolbox to Bring Media to Heel

“President Trump received thunderous applause during his second inaugural address in January when he vowed to ‘immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America,'” the New York Times reports.

“It was in keeping with the popular free-speech refrain of his long march out of the political wilderness and his first-term broadsides against ‘cancel culture,’ which he had called ‘the very definition of totalitarianism.’ His message had particular resonance with his supporters. After all, major social media companies banished him and others from their services in the days and weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots.”

“Yet he is now conducting the most punishing government crackdown against major American media institutions in modern times, using what seems like every tool at his disposal to eradicate reporting and commentary with which he disagrees.”