In yet another step toward Trumpist fascism, Trump has announced he’s signing an executive order to curb Twitter’s (and other social media platforms) ability to moderate content posted there.  Trump has regularly violated community standards on Twitter, spouting lies, conspiracy theories, personal attacks, and even accusations of murder.  Twitter, and Facebook for that matter, regularly police their platforms for fake news, bots, trolls, and threats.  Frankly, the job they do is inconsistent and generally piss-poor, allowing shocking content to stay posted.   The cancer within social media is the persistent presence of bots and troll which sow discontent, conflict, and dis-information to billions of users.

Up until this weekend, Twitter has allowed Trump to run rampant with no moderation, spreading bile sometimes hundreds of times a day.  The tipping point was his posting of lies and conspiracy theories this weekend about voting by mail.  Trump knows that the more people who vote, the less his chance of being reelected.  Let’s be clear about his intent.  He’s not concerned about non-existent voter fraud. He’s concerned about Americans voting. Period.  If there were free and fair elections with easy access to a ballot Trump will get walloped by double digits.  He and this toads know that, so he’s waging an all out war against voting by mail, even illegally threatening states by withholding appropriated funds from them (just like he did when he has attempting to extort Ukraine to get at Joe Biden).

My belief is this executive order will be just more Trump double speak to rile up his base and give him and Press Room Barbie more bile they can spread on national television and Twitter.  Trump is an ignorant, boorish, self-centered blowhard and everyone knows it, including actual lawyers.  Those lawyers know that the President of the United States attempting to stifle private parties that displease him is the textbook example of government violation of free speech rights.

Let’s review.  The First Amendment says,

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The highlight is mine.  The First Amendment is designed to prevent the Congress from passing laws that abridge freedom of expression,  but case law over the centuries has established a general foundation that prevents the government from controlling what individuals can say or do.  Twitter and other social media platforms are private and establish terms of service and community standards of conduct.  Trump isn’t forced to use Twitter, he CHOSE it rather than what previous presidents have done by communicating to the People through press briefings and official statements.  He has cynically used Twitter specifically to spout bullshit that the press would (and does) immediately call him on.  He hates that, continuously trying to circumvent any fact checking by spewing his bile directly through the platform.

If Twitter is guilty of anything, it’s allowing this to go on far too long.  Any other individual spreading the kinds of personal attacks, libel, and outright falsehoods would have been banned long ago.  If Twitter would just cut him off, he would be forced to go back to conventional means of communication.  They opened this can of worms to drive more traffic to the platform and have looked the other way for years, so this crisis is as much their fault as Trump’s.

Trump’s executive order won’t really change anything except intimidate Twitter from any further attempts at moderation of his stream of daily manure that he spews.  I predict that, like his other jaw dropping conduct, will work and Twitter will back down, even though they should ban him today.

Leaving for Arizona yesterday, a reporter asked Trump why he supported reopening even as cases increase.  He said, “”The whole world is excited, watching us, because we’re leading the world.”  Yes, we are leading the world:

Trump’s delusion is complete.  I would think that the only thing the world is excited about is ridding itself of Donald Trump on November 3 (but only if we do our job).

Trump is on national television now, blaming the WHO for his incompetence and has ordered the US government to cut off funding to it.  That’s right, folks, Trump, who sat on his fat ass from December to the middle of March playing golf and holding rallies, is now desperately trying to rewrite history to shift blame for his gross negligence onto the media, China, and the WHO.

God save us.  We’ve got nothing left.

Trump’s approval ratings, which always hover around the low 40s, has risen in the last month as many Americans rallied around him as he thrashed around trying to make the Coronavirus pandemic go away.  He started daily briefings for the first time in over a year and his approval went up.  Now an interesting effect of his daily exposure is occurring – people (who don’t pay much attention) are figuring out that Trump actually is doing a terrible job with the crisis.  I believe they’re figuring that out because every day, Trump:

• Lies, lies, lies.  His incessant lying results in his staff having to continuously crisis manage, backtracking on his bombastic claims of everything from cures to numbers, to non-existent vaccines and tests.
• Is permanently radically partisan.  He attacks everyone who criticizes him and airs old grievances daily.
• Cuts off the experts to spout conspiracy theories and bullshit.
• Insults the international community, WHO, NATO, and many others including his usual targets, China and “shithole” countries.
• Insults the press, refuses to answer a straight question repeats “fake news” every minute.
• Holds his “briefings” at the 5 pm newshour so his ratings are higher.  He sometimes blathers for up to 2 hours, providing very little actual new information. It wrecks news programing throughout the country.

This worked for a few weeks, but Trump is wearing pretty thin with millions of Americans.  His ratings are falling in new polls, and Biden is rising against him in key states like Florida.  I can’t watch it, but Trump is inadvertently damaging his re-election prospects by putting his incompetence and cornered badger personality every day on national television.  Even most loyal Trumpists have backed away from their idiotic boasting and taunting of normal Americans who are watching this debacle slack-jawed in disbelief.

Trump’s “winning” has now erased ALL of the stock market gains since he took office.  Unemployment this morning is 13% the highest in almost 100 years.  We are struggling with a global pandemic without the benefit of a strong pandemic response team because it was dismantled.  We are struggling with confusing and often conflicting information.  Our infection rate is understated because there is virtually no testing available.  Those who had it and have recovered have no way of confirming their illness because no serum antibody test is available.  The CDC is paralyzed by politicized appointments and slashed budgets.

Trump couldn’t do a better job of destroying the US economy if he tried.  The silver lining here, though, is that he’s putting his corruption, incompetence, and hatefulness of full display for hours every day.  Doing that is actually starting to get through to Americans who normally don’t pay attention.

I was talking to a reporter today from a local network affiliate who expressed frustration at Trump’s successful hijacking of the evening news by holding his Coronavirus “briefings” every single day during that time.  During said “briefings” Trump stumbles from one irrelevant subject to another, lies in a continuous stream, attacks previous administrations, insults everyone who dares disagree with him and has now taken to cutting off medical experts from answering key questions asked by the media.  Very little important information comes from these briefings and the incessant lying has become a serious threat to Americans’ very lives.

It’s long past time to cut Trump off.  His oxygen is media coverage.  He’s a gameshow host who doesn’t know shit about actually running anything successful except attracting media coverage.  It’s time to cut off that oxygen and send the clear message that 1) HE doesn’t control the media, and 2) The media’s obligation is to provide actual useful information that is TRUE to their audiences.  I don’t care in the slightest about Fox and OAN suckers.  They’re on their own.  I’m talking about normal Americans who desperately need information that can help them make their own decisions for their own lives.

It’s time for the networks to wake up and cut Trump off.  Report what happened, but take away his stage.  Take back control of the news hour.  In other words, get off your ass and do your goddam job and stop being intimidated by the biggest bully in the history of the US.

All week the Washington Post opinion writers have been talking about the lying, distortions, and pure misinformation pouring into Americans’ ears from Trump’s daily briefings diatribes.  As we’ve all known from the beginning of his run for the presidency, Trump’s trademark is his bombastic lying, but now such lying is actually killing people.  From “it will disappear,” to “it’s completely under control,” to touting drugs that haven’t been approved or tested to now pushing to “restart the economy”, he’s gone from laughably moronic to downright dangerous.

It’s time for the media to pull the plug on Trump’s WH rallies.  Bloomberg News has done that, showing the briefing WITH THE SOUND TURNED OFF recapping only factual information along with other market news. The other networks should start doing similar.  Since Trump can’t do his idiotic rallies right now, the ONLY tools he has is Twitter and network television, so he dominates the briefings spouting bullshit and propaganda and muzzling healthcare experts.  It’s got to stop and stop now.  Governors (and Joe Biden) have stepped into the vacuum left by Trump’s idiocy and the networks should certainly carry those briefings.

At one of our most precarious times, voter stupidity has put a moronic megalomaniac in the most powerful job in the world.  Other countries have leaders grappling with COVID-19; we have a clown thinking he’s running a television gameshow.