There have been a lot of things that have impressed me about President Trump's second term in office but I think that the thing that I have been mentioning the most lately is his level of preparedness. It's obvious that he knew he'd get another crack at the job and spent his four years in lawfare-laden political exile working on a detailed plan for his return.
His legal preparedness has been exceptional — both personally and through the Department of Justice. The Democrats want to play a tedious game with their rogue judges and Trump has been ready with a rapid response each time.
On the personal side, Trump has been taking on major media outlets for abusing their First Amendment rights, which is something that I've been waiting my entire political life to see a Republican politician do. Here is a reminder from my RedState colleague Bob Hoge on Trump's record on that front so far:
Donald Trump was already rich, but he just keeps getting richer thanks to the companies he’s sued for censorship and libel. Let’s remember: Paramount Global settled for $16 million for CBS News’ deceptively edited Kamala Harris interview, Meta forked over $25 million for suspending Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts following the events of January 6, ABC News parted with $15 million because hopelessly biased anchor George Stephanopoulos defamed him by saying he’d been been found liable for rape (false), and Twitter (now X) ponied up $10 million for suspending his account pre-Elon Musk.
On Monday, Google's YouTube reached a $24.5 million settlement with Trump over the suspension of his account during the Biden years. The president isn't being greedy. As Bob notes in his post, most of this money that he's gotten from the settlements is going either to his future presidential library or to charity.
Media outlets don't get to hide behind the First Amendment while actively suppressing the freedom of expression of almost half the country. President Trump wasn't the only Republican or conservative who YouTube suspended or deplatformed over the past several years, he's just the only one who had his own legal department to fight back.
Ever since it was announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was going to be canceled next year, the Dems have been screaming about the Trump administration censoring people. It got even louder during Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, which amounted to nothing more than paid time off for a long weekend. Nothing of the sort was happening, of course, it's just that the lefties think that they should never face any consequences for their unhinged bias and intolerance.
There is also the fact that the Democrats are addicted to projection and what they scream the loudest about ("Nazi!" "Racist!" "Censor!") is what they're actually up to.
There are a couple of things that this latest settlement got me thinking about. The first is pondering the odds that there will be any changes in behavior for those who have been caught in Trump's media lawsuit net. Stephanopoulos is a lost cause and didn't receive so much as a stern public warning from ABC. Over at CBS, 60 Minutes is still as awful as ever and, as I've written about extensively, Colbert's cancellation had nothing to do with politics.
The tech companies are a completely different story, however. The big tech moguls are all-in and hyper-focused on artificial intelligence (AI), which Trump personally, and his administration are very friendly to. That's why we saw a gathering of almost every major tech AI player at the White House in early September for a very congenial meeting with President Trump. I said "almost" because Elon Musk and Trump were still having a bit of a tiff at the time.
The visual of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Tim Cook palling around with Trump triggered the lefties. A lot of their priorities regarding AI are aligned, though. This is why I think the tech companies are likely to break completely with their former biased ways. Rather than obediently waiting to take orders from the next Dem to make it to the presidency, they know that Trump can help them get even richer now. That money is talking and it's loud.
I was also thinking about the example Trump has set in dealing with the media. It's something other Republicans — most notably Vice President JD Vance — have picked up on. I hope it's a lasting legacy for the GOP. Dinosaur media companies like the Big Three broadcast networks will never change if they're allowed to slip back into old habits right away. Paramount Global could cough up $16 million per week for CBS infractions and not run out of money for a while. So keep suing them. Some big conservative donor money should go into legal aid for that. They have to know that they cannot be comfortable being biased Dem propagandists who deliberately lie to the American people.
Make the First Amendment Great Again.
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