Having first taken on the universities, which despite their efforts to resist (primarily Harvard) and their continued attempts to do so, were certainly not left unscathed by Trump’s attacks. Newspapers, television stations and presenters are now in the crosshairs.
The new target is the New York Times, a newspaper with two centuries of history (since 1851), 11 million subscribers and 145 Pulitzer Prizes, including seven gold awards for matters of enormous public importance. Despite the decline in readership of traditional print media in recent times, their influence on the public sphere cannot be underestimated. This is why Donald Trump would like to remove the Times from the picture. He has filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the newspaper, four journalists and the book publisher who wrote “Lucky Loser” by two of them.
Although his lawsuit invokes respect for values and institutions, these are precisely what he seeks to undermine. Values established over the years but incompatible with his own. The journalists had access to Trump’s tax returns, thoroughly studied the financial machinations in which the Trump family has engaged for decades, and conducted extensive interviews with their sources. Their work for the New York Times won, among other accolades, a Pulitzer Prize.
This lawsuit comes just days after Trump threatened to sue the newspaper for publishing articles related to a note and a drawing with sexual innuendo that Trump gave to Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in prison where he was held for trafficking minors to wealthy and famous clients. On the same matter, he also turned against the Wall Street Journal, demanding $10 billion.
Alongside the lawsuits, famous television presenter Jimmy Kimmel, winner of three Emmy awards, was removed from a show he had hosted for over 20 years following a comment he made about the murder of Charlie Kirk. Trump’s involvement in the dismissal is confirmed by a post stating, “Great News for America: The ratings-challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it, NBC!!! President DJT.”
And the networks, fearing the president’s wrath which could be expressed by revoking their licences, will find it difficult to refuse.
All this does not concern only America. Trumpism is contagious.
