HOT TOPICS | Trump Targets the Media—Again - April 17th, 2025
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning, everybody. So this morning... Wow, good morning. I could not sleep after I read some of the news last night. I wondered what I was going to do, how I was going to cover it. And also, I had been for days, well, since Monday, just... I wasn't sure. Consternation. Shall I write this thing about the rocket and our obsession with rich people and things that are superfluous? But it wasn't our obsession. I think it was the people who were involved because most of the people were like, what are you doing? I think most people live in a state of reality right now and folks don't. So I decided that I would, after two days of going back and forth of consternation about, shall I write about this because I don't want to in any way
sort of disempower, disenfranchise the women who were there. Because it's not about the women, but it kind of was. But it was more about the system in which we live and in which they operate and also being tone deaf. So I write in there about not reading the room and not reading the planet. And so, look, a lot of this may seem a bit disjointed. This morning as I come to you. But trust me, I'm going to wrap it up and I'm going to show you what I mean. So that happened. And then I read the headline about what is happening with the media. And now Trump's FCC chair is threatening to sue media operations because they are refusing to cover live events or cover things that they want covered. That doesn't make them look good.
It's the same thing they did with the FCC. You're not saying it's the Gulf of America. We want you to say that. And then a judge says, you can't do that. That's what the First Amendment is about. So I, you know, and I said, how am I going to do this? Because I don't want to, I don't want to take a crap on Anyone that I've ever worked with, the profession in which I serve, and it's been an honor to work within, that has changed so much in the last couple of years in some very disappointing ways. And again, I'm going to caveat and say there are some people in the business who are doing a great job, and they are in a tough, tough position. But we are in dangerous territory right now. And I have been saying this forever and people have been disagreeing with me and they come on, they agree, they disagree.
Most people are disagreeing when I say, hey guys, I said months ago, I said, I think it was back in February. We're already in an autocracy. We're already in a dictatorship, I believe. I believe that we already have a constitutional crisis. And I had a couple of guests after guests saying, no, not yet. No, we're gone. That's what we're doing. I'm like, no, we're there. We are there. So the media is in a tough place right now. The administration is going after them, threatening to sue them, take their licenses because they want to control it. They want to control the message. And guess what? They're not going to stop until they get their way and they have gotten their way for pretty much most of it. This is why you do not comply in advance.
And I will say, that the media only has themselves to blame. And I'm gonna tell you why. And if we continue along this path of allowing this person to go unchecked, then we only have ourselves to blame. Now, this is something, a quote that has often been attributed Abraham Lincoln, if you put it up. And so this is where, so just bear with me, go with me here. Okay. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Now, you know, sometimes these quotes are not exactly 100% accurate. This is he was attributed to have said something like this. I'm going with the sentiment here. I don't believe the quote is direct, but you get what I'm saying.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves, says Abraham Lincoln. Now find me the quote, please, of what Dr. King says about liberals, please. Because I believe it's a similar sentiment where he says that we should be more, sometimes more concerned or worried about our liberal allies than we are about the people we know.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:14–9:40
2
Why is Don Lemon alarmed about the FCC targeting Comcast and the media?
9:40–20:01
3
How does media capitulation make news organizations vulnerable to political pressure?
20:01–33:56
4
Which newsroom voices were removed and why does that matter for accountability?
33:56–1:13:12
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Don Lemon Show
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