After corporate media's groveling  surrender to Donald Trump — one more stage in the fascist takeover of the United States — your support for progressive independent media is more important than ever!

Following the authoritarian playbook, Trump has long targeted the press as "the enemy of the people." Before the election, Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon-Shiong, billionaire owners of two of the nation's most prestigious newspapers (each with millions of dollars in federal government contracts) pre-emptively surrendered to Trump by canceling their planned endorsements of Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

Now after his narrow election victory, the twice-impeached, convicted felon and coup-plotting insurrectionist found liable for sexual assault has succeeded in intimidating much of the corporate media. After ABC News settled a Trump defamation lawsuit by donating $15 million to his future presidential library, the emboldened president-elect says he’ll next sue the Des Moines Register because their poll understated his support; 60 Minutes because of their editing of Harris’ interview; and the Pulitzer Prize board for honoring the New York Times’ coverage of the Russian election interference allegations. Trump has also threatened the federally issued licenses of television broadcast outlets that displeased him.

And then there's Trump's unelected "co-president," Elon Musk — the world's richest man, valued at $430 billion who also controls one of the largest untethered disinformation social media platforms, "X," formerly Twitter — whose last-minute angry 100 tweets tanked a weeks-long bipartisan spending bill, threatening a government shutdown just before the holiday recess. In the final version of approved spending bill, $150 million for pediatric cancer research was dropped at Elon Musk's and Trump's demands, among many others, including language "to ensure that providers of internet service to rural areas weren’t ripping off customers, to protect consumers from hidden hotel fees, to secure semiconductor supply chains, to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China, even to prohibit deepfake pornography." Thankfully, the removal of the debt ceiling limit Trump sought was not included, as some critics say doing so would have allowed his expected billionaire tax cuts to raise the current deficit of $8 trillion far higher than this deficit from his first term in office.

Trump is also using his Truth Social platform to instigate a damaging trade war with Canada. 

Other ominous signs:

• Time Magazine names Trump "Person of the Year," with an embarrassingly obsequious profile

• Four tech CEOs or their companies have announced giant contributions to Trump’s inauguration fund: Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerburg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Perplexity's Aravind Sinnivas all pledge to donate $1 million each

• MSNBC's Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski— and Google’s Sundar Pichai paid homage to Trump with visits to Mar-a-Lago

• Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a clear message of deference by arranging to have dinner with Trump

• MSNBC faces uncertain future amid Comcast sale and Trump election win— will Elon Musk buy it?

Yale University expert on authoritarianism and author Timothy Snyder observed, “There is a problem when the people who have the most money set the example of yielding to power first,” which he describes as "textbook anticipatory obedience.” 

The pattern is clear: Corporate media has given up on standing up for democracy and will now likely be compliant bystanders as Trump systematically fulfills his campaign pledge to destroy what's left of America's democratic institutions.

The information war now underway in the U.S. will determine whether or not our nation's multi-racial democracy survives!

Without your support, Between The Lines’ vital voices on the airwaves and diverse media platforms would not exist. Consider making a contribution today so we can continue the fight to protect democracy.

For the Between The Lines crew -- Scott, Melinda, Bob, Richard, Anna, Denise, Jeff, Susan, Ruthanne, Mary, Elaine, Leslie, Catherine and Marco

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