Traitor Watch - The 45 & 47 Thread

[DefaultOption]

I'm glad Joe said it, but he's asking for the impossible. The media is desperate to have Trump back in office. Cable news ratings are down across the board, fewer people are doomscrolling and clicking on newspaper's websites, nobody wants to publish books about a competent administration that no one would read, and political comedians have only had the "Biden's old, lol!" joke for the last three+ years.

Michelle Wolf had the media's number when she hosted the 2018 WHCD:

You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you used to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but he has helped you. He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off of him.

 

[Ungnome]

Yup, The quest for profit is killing journalism. Granted, it's always been a problem but with the way the economy works now vs 50 years ago has severely exacerbated the issue. 24 hour news cycle, giant conglomerates owning all the major news outlets(both national and local), the killing of the fairness doctrine, black-box algorithm based social media feeds..... It's just suck a mess and I don't know if anyone knows exactly how to fix it.

 

[wonko the sane?]

You tear it down, then restart. Restore the fairness mandate, then legislate that all news information organizations MUST BE not for profit. This way they entirely support themselves and are incentivized to both tell the ******* the truth, but also to grow their own infrastructure since not for profits are required to invest in themselves or invest in charities.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I maintain that there is not a single issue in our politics (not a SINGLE one) that the news media isn't actively making worse.

Tear it down. Wait a while and see if we even want to restart it.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Drama and fear sell. That's all it is any more.

 

[Pocket]

Didn't the Fairness Doctrine require giving equal time to both sides of the political aisle? Wouldn't that just turn horse-race reporting and both-sides-ism from something they do because it makes money to something they're actually required to do?

I think the ban on for-profit news media would be enough, and already beyond what any other country in the history of the world has attempted. Let that play out and then we'll see if we need to get even stricter from there.

 

[Ungnome]

Fairness doctrine did not require equal time, but did require that organizations give time to people wishing to issue rebuttals to the narrative the broadcaster was sending out. The removal of the fairness doctrine is what led to Fox News and its nuttier kin. Reinstating it would not a magic bullet and it won't eliminate the issues associated with for-profit news organizations and it definitely won't help the current social media side of the equation, but it would be a moderating step. If Fox, Newsmax and OAN were forced to air opposing views on major issues, it would help limit the echo-chamber effect we are currently in. Heck if it were still in effect, I really don't think Trump would have won in 2016(he may have not even ended up as the republican candidate).

 

[Pocket]

Oh, and while we're at it, let's ban social media sites from being for-profit too. (And then maybe we can work our way into every other industry...)

 

[Pale Rider]

I hear tell that if you take the profit motive out of medicine, no one will want to be doctors anymore. Of course, that ignores all the doctors in countries with universal healthcare, but you try telling that to these rednecks.

 

[Anonymous X]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-68924304

Orange Git fined $9000 for breaking the gag order.

 

[wonko the sane?]

And apparently they're doing another "show cause" trial on thursday morning. Unless thursday comes with the open and direct threat of jail time: this is a nothing burger.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Well, he said he'd create jobs, so I guess keeping the appeals court busy counts.

 

[Paladin]

Gonna have to transfer the trial to Alaska because that's how far the judge keeps moving the ******* goalposts.

 

[Rhinox]

Look, much as I'd love to see the Orange Shitgibbon behind bars, I get what the judge is doing and why. The very idea of incarcerating Trump is a logistical nightmare. It will cost the area millions, even if only for a day or two. There's staffing, extra security, you'll have to move the other inmates, a whole host of logistics that I can't even get into.

 

[DefaultOption]

Also, Trump desperately wants to spend a night or two in jail. It will do wonders for his fundraising and his 'poor oppressed me' narrative.

 

[wonko the sane?]

But the judges (all of them currently involved in trump cases.) should understand that he's absolutely undermining what little trust was left the US legal system and consequently NEEDS to be put in jail.

I mean, he should have been in jail 3 years ago when they actually found and removed all those top secret documents in his ******* bathroom. Literally anyone else on earth would have been imprisoned right then and there.

 

[G.B.Blackrock]

If he should have been locked up simply for the documents, so should/would have other former (and current) presidents. His problem was the attempt to prevent the FBI from doing so, which is all-but unprecedented.

 

[KidTDragon]

His problem was the attempt to prevent the FBI from doing so, which is all-but unprecedented.

That's the part that should have gotten him locked up. Not just having the documents.

 

[Pocket]

Hey I'm not against locking up all the other former presidents too if that's what it takes.

 

[Pale Rider]

Yeah, whenever they try to argue that presidents need immunity or else Obama might be charged for drone strikes, etc. my answer is usually: "Don't threaten me with a good time."