Republicans know that retribution works.  They practice it every day, directly, and using their attack machine to amplify every slander.  President Trump, indifferent to the harm he causes, retaliates obviously and obliviously.  He has no idea it’s supposed to be wrong.  And the difference between the President and his bespoke Republican Party remains simple: Trump acts openly.  Retribution is still the default Republican reaction to criticism.  Because it works.

Here’s how you know that Republican retribution works.  Every news organization should tell us, every day, that the Trump administration is still bungling the Coronavirus pandemic.  It’s the most critical fact of every day when another day’s delay will cause thousands more Americans to die over the epidemic.  Every major media group knows this is what’s happening.  But they don’t say it out loud.  They’re lying to you because they’re afraid of Republican retribution.

Cowards.  They ask for our trust, then monetarize that trust, allowing Republicans to murder us by the score because speaking out is too scary.  So they choose to keep quiet.

I watch the industrial news (ABC, NBC, CBS, sometimes CNN), mostly to see what our corporate masters want us to think.  It’s useful, if depressing.  For the last decade or so, though, the meat of the network news has gotten weirdly empty.  And the trend started well before Trump.  The news shows report the raw facts, sure, but they stop there. It’s mostly ‘he said/she said,’ with almost nothing about the recent history and context.  They do practically no fact-checking.  Our ‘news’ is still just a talking head repeating official press releases, no matter how stupid they sound.  Really, repeating anything that starts with “President Trump announced …” will not end well, especially given the pace of bald-faced Republican lying?  And it’s not hard to find the truth.  Most of the context is in the public record.  Suppose someone claims that “There are three million new units on the shelf!”  A simple web search shows the lie.  I’m left wondering why our corporate masters didn’t feel that basic reporting wasn’t necessary.

With exceptions, our politicians have gotten weirdly quiet, too.  We’re in a nationwide pandemic without federal coordination.  Every state laments how we’re all in an insane competition.  And nobody – nobody – says the name “Trump.”  Ask them about any earlier events, and they’ll dodge.  “That’s the past, and I don’t have time for that.” 

Anyone who doesn’t start ‘news’ with the most significant cause of death – Republican dereliction – is lying by omission.  And that almost all our major news sources have made the same decision proves that retribution works.  They don’t have to stand along, quivering in fear.  If they asked, we’d be with our valued reporters, standing united against the bullies.  But they don’t.

There are strong economic reasons why it’s difficult for a large corporation to antagonize Donald Trump.  Trump routinely indulges in retribution. And you know what?  Fuck that noise.  I don’t care.  Nobody expects compassion for malignant leaders.  Why should anyone expect compassion when they ask for our trust every day, then use that trust to hurt us?  They’re covering up for murderers.

Any newspaper that doesn’t list yesterday’s federal failures and today’s opportunities — above the fold — is lying to you.  They’re hiding critical news that directly affects your life.  Right now, for example, every news source could start every day with, “Trump again refused to use the Defense Production Act.”  It’s easy to write.  But most newspapers aren’t even trying.  Our news sources are deliberately making it easier for Republicans to massacre thousands of Americans without leaving their fingerprints behind.

Our leaders betray us every day they delay.  Their neglect will cause tens of thousands of us to die needlessly.  Why aren’t our purported defenders – the major media – even talking about it?  That’s how we know that Republicans have corrupted the media.  Retribution works.

Now the question is how to fix all this. We need a working press to report on a working political system.