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Following months of mainstream media capitulation toward President Donald Trump and his administration, Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit on Monday night against The New York Times. In his suit, which absurdly cites his Electoral College victory and his status as a bestselling “author,” Trump accuses the Times of “smears” by accurately reporting on his statements and actions. “The Times is a full throated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party,” Trump falsely alleges. The statement ignores decades of the Times furthering right-wing propaganda and elevating attacks on the Democratic Party and the left. “Trumptanic” by Mike Luckovich In a statement the Times said Trump’s suit “has no merit” and “is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.” Trump’s suit against the Times shows that even when the paper bends over backward for him, he will still be resentful of accurate reporting. Since he was sworn in for a second term, there have been several instances of obsequious and downright false reporting from the Times in Trump’s favor. The paper referred to the current era as “the age of Trump” in June, a month after taking his claim—which went against his entire history as a political figure—that he would pull back support for tax increases on the wealthy as an honest statement. In perhaps the most dishonest moment for the “paper of record” in Trump’s second term, the Times in February portrayed a Black voter supporting Trump as merely an “artificial intelligence start-up worker,” without informing readers that the supporter also happens to be the communications director for the Houston Young Republicans. To be sure, the Times has reported accurately on numerous Trump scandals, corruption, and bigotry, but the paper’s coverage—led by star reporter Maggie Haberman—has been friendly to Trump and often regurgitated his falsehoods without calling him out. In her reporting on Trump, Haberman has shied away from noting to readers when he has clearly lied, such as this 2018 report that instead said Trump “repeatedly refused to accept a number of seemingly agreed-upon facts.” In a 2020 story, instead of directly addressing Trump’s racism, Haberman’s reporting mentioned that he was merely “stoking white fear and resentment.” Trump’s suit is just the latest in a barrage of legal action against media outlets. He sued the Des Moines Register for conducting polls, he sued Facebook parent Meta for banning his account after he incited violence, and he sued Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal for reporting on his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, among others. Many of these outlets have settled with Trump, even after legal experts have made clear the suits lack merit and have been vehicles for extortion and bribery-style payments. CBS News’ parent Paramount is under investigation by congressional Democrats after the Trump administration approved a merger soon after Paramount decided to settle his suit. ABC News parent Disney also cut a check to Trump over a specious claim. Related | Apparently, the Washington Post can’t stomach calling out Kirk’s racism Simultaneously, outlets like the Washington Post under Trump backer Jeff Bezos have pivoted pro-Trump. The paper recently fired an opinion columnist who criticized Charlie Kirk’s racist views after he was murdered.  The mainstream media apparently believed that Trump would back off after they curried favor with him and paid him off. Trump clearly didn’t agree to that deal and he is still targeting them for telling the truth.

www.patreon.com/keefknight Keef’s Substack Related | The right wants to ruin your life if you don’t mourn Charlie Kirk

President Donald Trump is once again deflecting questions about his business interests—this time by bragging about his gaudy ballroom, which the White House claimed would cost $200 million, paid for by Trump and “other patriot donors.”  “That is going to be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world. So it gives me pleasure to do it for the country, and I’m paying for it. I’m paying for it. The country is not. And that’s an expensive ballroom—I think it’ll cost $250 million,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “It’s going to knock your socks off.” x x YouTube Video When pressed about the clear conflicts of interest in his numerous business ventures as president, Trump bristled, “My kids are running the business, I’m here. You know what the activity—where are you from?” “I’m from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,” the reporter replied. “You’re hurting Australia,” Trump snapped. “In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me. You know, your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell him about you. You set a very bad tone.” So the president—who is known for stiffing workers and contractors—is funding a White House ballroom renovation in a deal that might not actually be legal.  Super normal stuff. 

Criminals who prey on children are receiving a boost from President Donald Trump who, as part of his drive to increase immigration busts and deportations, has diverted law enforcement agents once tasked with investigating vile online predator groups. The right-leaning CATO Institute released a report based on leaked internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement records that shows thousands of agents have been directed to focus on the Trump administration’s cruel immigration agenda instead. According to the data that CATO received, nearly 20% of agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI have been diverted, along with over 40% of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Homeland Security Investigations. “Agents aren’t out there recruiting sources. They are not maintaining trip wires. They are not able to keep their ear to the ground about what’s happening among extremist movements,” former senior FBI executive Michael Feinberg told MSNBC. Related | Epstein survivors blast Trump and beg Congress to release files For instance, members of the domestic terrorism squad based in Baltimore were involved in investigating the so-called 764 group, which the FBI previously described as a “nihilistic violent extremist group.” But according to law enforcement sources that spoke to MSNBC, members of the squad were deployed in March to round up undocumented immigrants and fewer agents are available to investigate 764  group cases. The 764 group seeks out teenagers via social media and coerces them into committing depraved acts. These have included creating graphic pornography, harming family pets, making bomb threats, and others. The group extorts its victims and deepens their control of them by threatening to release recordings of these acts. FBI Assistant Director David Scott told ABC News in a May report that one of the group’s goals is to “sow chaos” and “bring down society.” But Trump has made it clear that immigration enforcement via spectacle is his preferred focus. The president and senior members of his administration like deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller have demanded raids and busts that make for good television and social media posts. By diverting law enforcement resources in favor of creating a xenophobic show, Trump and company continue their work helping pedophiles and other criminal deviants who prey on children. Aided by congressional Republicans, the administration has refused to release the full details and files surrounding sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring. Many of Epstein’s victims, who were preyed upon when they were underage, have slammed the lawmakers’ callous responses. But the administration wants to put on a show, and it’s clearly okay with children suffering as long as Trump can provide more material for the Republican Party’s racist base.

Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of President Donald Trump, downplayed right-wing political violence during a Tuesday appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Amid a discussion about slain right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk, Eric Trump was asked about where the country should go from here, and he said, “I’m sick and tired of seeing bullets flying at people’s heads.” “On both sides,” co-host Joe Kernen added. “Well, I don’t know,” Eric Trump replied. “I mean, of course, both sides, but I don’t—I don’t really see the bullets flying in one direction.” x x YouTube Video In reality, right-wing violence is far more prevalent than left-wing violence. A recent study found that between 1990 and 2020, 15.6% of politically motivated homicide incidents were conducted by far-left extremists, while far-right extremists were responsible for 84.4% of those incidents. Eric Trump’s decision to ignore right-wing violence against liberal politicians is grotesquely insensitive, especially on the very day that Minnesota is set to hold a special election to fill the seat of former Democratic state House Speaker Melissa Hortman, whom an anti-abortion extremist murdered in June. But Eric Trump’s willful dismissal of right-wing political violence is not surprising. Under President Donald Trump, the Republican Party has moved to curb the First Amendment rights of dissenters in a broader campaign to silence all opposition to its unpopular domestic and foreign policies.  Eric Trump’s dismissal is a reminder that protecting power, not people, is the GOP’s highest priority.