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Donald Trump attacked the free press yet again during a speech in North Carolina on Monday.
On multiple occasions, he declared that CBS should lose its broadcasting license simply because he didn’t like how the network’s “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris had been edited. This, of course, is rich coming from Trump. There’s no proof that CBS deviously edited the interview, but we have ample evidence that pro-Trump networks — like Fox News — have tried to prop him up with dodgy editing or by filling a town hall event with MAGA fans.
And we ought to take his threats seriously — because his ambitions might be more feasible than they seem.
Trump seems to want the endless stream of propaganda afforded to authoritarian leaders of repressed countries, such as Kim Jong Un. And we ought to take his threats seriously — because his ambitions might be more feasible than they seem.
In fact, they sound eerily similar to the “24/7” fount of fawning press that his buddy Viktor Orbán told Republicans to create back in 2022 — and the media environment that the Hungarian authoritarian has created for himself.
At the Conservative Political Action Conference two years ago, Orbán advised American right-wingers to “have your own media,” an apparent reference to the rigged media ecosystem he’s created in Hungary. As The Guardian reported:
“We have to take back the institutions in Washington and Brussels. We must find allies in one another and coordinate the movements of our troops,” Orbán said.
He told Republicans in the Balnaconference centre on the banks of the Danube that media influence was one of the keys to success. In Hungary, the prime minister and his allies have effective control of most media outlets in Hungary, including state TV.
“Have your own media. It’s the only way to point out the insanity of the progressive left,” he said. “The problem is that the western media is adjusted to the leftist viewpoint. Those who taught reporters in universities already had progressive leftist principles.”
Orbán then gave Republicans some programming tips:
“Of course, the GOP has its media allies, but they can’t compete with the mainstream liberal media. My friend Tucker Carlson is the only one who puts himself out there. His show is the most popular. What does it mean? It means programs like his should be broadcasted day and night. Or, as you say, 24/7.”
The message from the Hungarian leader seemed clear: “End the free press — as I have in my country — and you can rule indefinitely, just as I am.”
Trump, who has praised Orbán’s dictatorial style, is already dreaming of just such a crackdown.