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Marycat2021's avatar

Ruth Ben-Ghiat has pointed out that Trump's fixation on seemingly trivial things like the name of the Gulf of Mexico and his proposals to annex Canada, take back the Panama Canal, and take over Gaza are signals to the world that he wants to be an authoritarian and show off his strongman shit.

USA Today has become a quisling and a rival to Fox News. This morning it published an op-ed ridiculing Jim Acosta for calling for a boycott of WH press conferences because of the disregard of the First Amendment they committed by shutting out the Associated Press for calling it the Gulf of Mexico.

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NPG BELL's avatar

Gannett, the owners of USA Today have been a right leaning corporation from day 1. Sucking up to the regime is no surprise.

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Max E's avatar

So Edelman doesn't recognize how Trump always kills by a thousand cuts - Gulf of America being just one. And he things a stellar news organization should ignore facts by making Trump happy by acknowledging Trump's insane renaming. Suppose he will expect the same when Trump renames Greenland to Trumpland.

What hogwash to blame the AP for sticking t look facts the world acknowledges. The Dems need t look call out each cut of Trump's madness. How about blaming Ukraine for the war in their country. Do we say that's just Trump being Trump or do we point out Trump's insanity with the truth - Russia invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine. It's because we've ignored too many of Trump's cuts that has done nothing but ingrained Trump support in his MAGAs and every damn Republican House and Senate members.

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NoFaceGhost's avatar

Also, as this piece indicates at the beginning, there is a collective energy created by simple acts of defiance. How many times did we see major news organizations bend the knee recently? Boot lickers tripping over each other to pay the rapist robber millions. We all said "good for you" to AP for finally saying no! (And what the hell white house press corps?!? for not having their back.) Small acts of defiance build and sustain hope. It's like a muscle you have to exercise.

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J.'s avatar

The least Google (and others) could do is accurately mark the 55% of the Gulf that is not under US control by its actual, historic, and proper name.

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Joe R's avatar

Had to be get here? Why did the American people decide to vote in a guy like Trump? I worked my ass off to get Democrats elected in 2024. So many hours put in with my Democratic committee in the township that I live in (Pennsylvania). This Administration is crazy. I don't know how people can sane wash all of this shit.

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Suzie's avatar

I really don't care because anything that Ass Holy O does will not make democracy better!! FOTUS and Mush have wreaking everything just to line their pockets!!

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Marycat2021's avatar

You should care. They're destroying democracy, in case you didn't notice.

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Suzie's avatar

I believe I said that.

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Rick Massimo's avatar

Your conclusion—and Jamelle Bouie’s—is the real point. It’s also true that, like all domestic abusers, Trump puts great stock in projecting invincibility and inevitability. Every defeat, on anything, makes the next defeat easier to inflict. Josh Marshall’s phrase for it is “all power is unitary.”

I tried to get at this here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/forgetisaidanything/p/the-important-thing-to-keep-in-mind?r=3mssx&utm_medium=ios

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Thomas's avatar

I suppose, but then you have to start asking a lot of questions about how willing people were to go along with other countries changing the names of places (including, in some cases, the actual name of the country -- for instance why are some so willing to go along with "Turkiye"?)

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Bryan Melville's avatar

Drive By Truckers prove there are some good people in Alabama. The Atlantic has slipped into garbage journalism.

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