It’s getting harder and harder these days to figure out whether the latest Trump action is yet another step toward fascism or another sign that his grip on the government may be crumbing around him.
What brings this to mind is this post at Crooks & Liars, in which we learn that Trump has announced his intention to ban various media entities from the White House because they are reporting “fake news”, which is his synonym for “the truth”.
On the one hand, his attempts to control the press reek of authoritarianism, but in the present context they might just as well reek of desperation. He won’t admit it, of course, but he knows very well that he’s likely to lose big in the mid terms, not that it will make much difference for a large part of his agenda, since the Democrats would need a two thirds majority in the Senate to convict him by way of impeachment, so he can continue on with one of his primary agenda items: massive corruption to enrich himself. He won’t be able to get any of his legislation passed, and, hopefully, none of his judicial appointees confirmed, but that doesn’t matter all that much to him. It’s really all about the grift, which will continue.
But, while he’ll still be able to engage in open corruption, losing big time will still be a big hit to his ego. We can only hope that the media being banned will not bend the knee to regain access.