The Skinny: Media Manipulation & Regime Propaganda

Author’s note: in addition to my work here on NIDC, I also blog about fascism and current affairs on the Fediverse; click here to check it out. Want more? Click here to subscribe to NIDC today.

 

Prime Time Fascism

Folks, as someone who grew up during the Reagan era, I think I can safely say we have to stop electing washed up TV stars to be president. The cameras were rolling this week as the Trump regime took to the airwaves to spread lies, fascist propaganda, and conspiracy theories at every available opportunity. Intimidating critics, threatening judges, and hiring Trump’s friends at Fox News were all on the agenda here in early May, and The Skinny was there to bring you the whole story once again. As always you can follow the links below to check out these stories on my Fediverse blog, or simply read them in their entirety on page two by using the navigation buttons at the bottom of this article.

 

May 8th – 15th, 2025

 

Judge Jeanine as Trump’s Instrument of Vengeance

“Look, is it possible the Klepto Kaiser just pulled Judge Jeanine out of a hat because he’s obsessed with loyalty and seems to feel a bizarre kinship with pretty much anyone else who has worked in the American television industry? Sure. But it’s also entirely possible that an embattled Trump cratering in the polls, losing consistently in court, and running into the first real opposition to his attempts to create a patchwork dictatorship, is preparing to lash out at “the haters and the losers” opposing his agenda. If that’s the case, the choice of a woman who is prepared to say literally anything to support Trump’s personal grievances, and seems to lust for vengeance against his opponents on his behalf, is a very ominous sign for the near future of American politics indeed.”

 

Billionaire Owned Media Is Already Obeying Trump

“Furthermore, the cost of this collaboration with fascism goes far beyond the mitigation of Trump criticism in our media environment; with billionaire media barons kissing his ring, and corporate outlets scrambling to settle his obscenely conspiratorial lawsuits based on open lies, the Kelpto Kaiser will now argue that he’s been right about the media all along and that justifies further cracking down on the so-called “free press” in America. Collaborating with fascism, will merely breed more fascism; not that any of these rich reactionaries who own media companies seem to give a shit at all.”

 

Every Dictatorship Needs Its State Media

“In three months of covering the Trump regime, I honestly can’t think of a single Fox News appearance by a US government official that hasn’t featured lies, manipulation, and fascist propaganda; in fact I’d argue that appearances by overt fascist dipshits working in the Trump administration, folks like Tom Homan, and Stephen Miller, have done more to normalize fascist ideology in our discourse than any overtly nazi YouTuber or essayist in our society. The idea that the Trump administration is working with Fox News to produce pro-regime, pro-fascist propaganda is indisputable in my opinion; and the raw numbers compiled by Media Matters here demonstrates that with absolute certainty.”

 

White Nationalism and the Refugees Trump Welcomes

“The existence of a “white genocide” in post-apartheid South Africa is literally a cracker supremacist conspiracy theory promoted by a racist organization in that country; it’s not real. Stormfront posters and racist Tucker Carlson conspiracies are now governing White House immigration policy. Which brings us to the larger, overarching meaning behind this sham “refugee” program; namely that the Trump regime’s immigration policies are blatantly white nationalist, and clearly an extension of the administration’s fascist quest to support global white supremacy while transforming America into a white ethnostate.”

 

Stephen Miller’s Fascist Threat is Illegal

“Miller’s threat would be heinously illegal; the fascist administration would be effectively suspending the constitution, and the power to do that traditionally does not reside with the office of the President for very good reasons. There is only one time in US History where a President suspended the writ of habeas corpus on his own, and that president was literally Abe Lincoln during the actual fucking Civil War. Furthermore, the situation was understood to be so extraordinary and potentially dangerous, that Congress got together after the fact and legitimized Lincoln’s play; the other three times the government has suspended “The Great Writ” all required congressional authorization.”

 

Gavin Newsom Still Loves “Homeless” Sweeps

“I’d argue that all the evidence you need to see Newsom’s fascist intentions can be found in studying his policies towards unhoused people in California. After all, Newsom vigorously supported our 6-3 fascist high Supreme Court’s nightmarish “City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson” ruling which effectively criminalizes being unhoused, and spent the lead up to the 2024 US election threatening California municipalities with being defunded unless they participated in fascist, anti-humanitarian “homeless sweeps” that destroy lives and address precisely zero aspects of the affordable housing crisis in California.”

 

The Regime Plays Bush’s Greatest Hits

“We’re looking at clear evidence that the Trump regime itself absolutely knows their fascist “invasion” arguments, on which much of their paper-thin legal justification for doing a host of blatantly unconstitutional activities rests, are complete bullshit; and they’re prepared to politically punish Trump’s own intelligence agencies for not agreeing to lie for them about it. This is, or should be, a major scandal on par with Bush’s Iraq War lies; and yet curiously the focus in the media seems to be how bad it is to train your intelligence agencies to not tell you bad news the president doesn’t want to hear.”

 

 

• Nina Illingworth

 

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic and analyst.

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, and on Mastodon.

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