Few Will Ever Forget the Injury and Remarkable Recovery of Safety Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills Two Years Ago; an Inspirtation for Everyone – Football Fan or Not.
As many of us get psyched for the big, beautiful test between the Pats and the Bills tomorrow, it’s worth reading this sobering warning from Miles Taylor of Defiance News: Are the Patriots really as good as their winning record demonstrates or is it just all “fake” and “rigged”? Or, Mr. Taylor says:
“Don’t be fooled by the Christmas theme and the happy music. Trump’s “Naughty List’ puts him in the company of the Soviets and the Nazis, Mr. Taylor wrote yesterday in a long essay on-line. Only excerpts from it will be reprinted herein. But, It starts like this:
“Throughout history, regimes on the march toward autocracy have relied on ritual humiliation of the press long before they relied on prisons. The press is criticized and branded as an ‘enemy of the people.’ Trump has long done that and now he’s taking the next step. He’s naming the specific reporters and outlets he deems disloyal, knowing that as long as a large portion of the public accepts that framing, everything that follows becomes easier.”………………..
“In the Soviet Union, this process was bureaucratic and quite relentless. Journalists who deviated from the party line were placed on watchlists, denied access to government buildings, stripped of credentials (sound familiar?) and eventually as it all escalated, erased from public life altogether. Their names circulated quietly at first, then openly, until exclulsion became normal and expected if they took positions that were contrary to the regime.”………………………
Mr. Taylor’s warning continues: “The White House is on a simillar path. That’s not exaggeration or heedless historical comparison, meant to accuse Trump of being a “Nazi” to score political points. The man………………………have a stated and demonstrated desire to subvert the free press in this country. The comparison isn’t just fair, it’s urgently necessary. They’re avowedly hostile toward the tenants of the First Amendment. And if we see it as anything less, we’ll be deemed fools of history.” There is a Christmas video that accompanies the Trump list that is appalling, Mr. Taylor says, as his essay continues:
“Paired with the fact that Trump’s team has been threatening virtualaly every major media outlet…suing networks that report about the president unfavorably…erasing the possibility of broadcast license revocations….yelling at and demeaning journalists who ask questions the president doesn’t want to hear…stripping reporters of their credentials at the White House and Pentagon…..and so on.” Have you noticed especially recently Trump’s attacks on women journalists calling them representing “fake news” stations?” asks this blogger.
Mr. Taylor wants you to remember “something: authoritarian power does not announce itself with midnight arrests at the start. Too many Americans have this image of World War 11 movies where the people are subjugated when men in fatigues start kicking down their doors. In reality, the subjugation happens way, way before that. And it begins just like we’re seeing here. Despite training citizens to laugh along. When the state names journalists publicly and invites the audience to enjoy their degradation, it’s rehearsing a new moral order and preparing for the next phase.”
According to Mr. Taylor, reporters at major news organizations say that they believe the Trump administration is preparing to ramp up efforts to expose their sources. “After taking office, AG Bondi quietlly revoked policies that provided extra protection for members of the press — a move legal experts say clears the path for subpoenas, survelliance, and compelled testimony from reporters — with the threat of jail time. Such tools had been severely restricted under the Biden adminisgtration following revelations that Trump’s DOJ had secretly seized the records of members of Congress, their staff and multiple journalists in prior investigations.”
“I’d love to be wrong about this. I won’t be. The Trump administratioin is almost certainly monitoring some journalists’ communications and conducting ‘leak investigations’ that are not yet known publicly. Just ask Barbara Starr about her experience. That will seem tame compared to what’s coming. It bears reminding that democrcies depend on a free press not because journalists are virtuous, but because power itself is not.”
Mr. Taylor concludes with the following: “In the United States, that moment is right now. But don’t avert your eyes. Because what comes next is something we can never condone and never permit. A president who publishes a blacklist of reporters is not making a silly Christmas “joke.” He’s testing how far he can go, preparing to crack down, and seeing how many people will smile while he does it. I hope you will be the reason he fails.”
GO PATRIOTS – give ’em hell Drake Maye – our new Tom Brady!
For more information on Miles Taylor, please visit post herein dated November 25, 2025 on the Trump Admiistration’s abuse of US Senator Mark Kelly. Mr. Taylor served in the first Trump administration and was the first ot that ilk to endorse Joe Biden for President. He is a frequent guest on cable news.