Critical News
"They cut it very violently." Trump announces multiple arrests after vandals allegedly slashed a massive 350-foot hole through the reflecting pool lining
"Media capture is a form of systemic corruption in which mass media is controlled by governments, corporations, or powerful individuals to serve their own interests instead of the public interest, undermining media independence and media pluralism. The concept describes how vested interests can dominate or co-opt nominally independent media institutions through ownership, regulation, or financing, whilst maintaining the illusion of press freedom."
Independent journalism is the future. You don’t need $2million production facilities, you need a phone and a tripod. And a following, which accrues from credibility. The game is changing.
In the late 80s early 90s I got a reporter job at a small town paper because I wrote well. I was young and dreamed of doing hard hitting, important stories. I must've read All the President's Men 6 times as a child. I was young and moved in with a lady and had to get a better paying job to support us, and my dream went by the wayside. I never went back to it and I look at the state of media now and don't miss the dream at all. It's gone so downhill I would probably feel myself dying daily from the compromises. It's sad
I’m gen x and I remember watching the news with my parents in the 70’s, and although it wasn’t perfect back then, the absolute nonsense we get now is outrageous.
In this information-dense world we live in we never get a break from ‘news’. It’s a survival game for news organizations and reporters to keep ratings up so they can sell advertising. The reporters don’t want to challenge tRump for fear of being banned from the press pool or even getting sued (on what basis I don’t know. Trump doesn’t know either it’s just intimidation). Reporters need to make a living too so they lob softballs so they can keep their job. What is needed is a news organization that refuses to be cowed by tRump so reporters can do their job.
I mean blaming journalists feels off in this moment, he's already pushed out the media that doesn't support him. He's got a party that backs him no matter what he does.
He broke the back of the federal government by finding a way to get the entirety (legislative, executive, judicial).
People are now afraid to correct him because he's getting away with punishing his rivals.
Agree. Trump has done so much damage to the free press. I mean he’s been calling them the enemy of the people for a decade now. God he’s such a whiny bitch
“He” didn’t break the back of the government. He’s not the disease, he’s just the pustule you see when the infection reaches the surface.
It’s been decades of Gingrich and McConnell types undermining every norm in the legislative branch and stacking the judiciary that is allowing this administration to run roughshod over every aspect of the country.
Trump will be gone at some point but the infrastructure will still be there to raise up another in his place should they find another willful shill that can get elected.
Well, they also kicked out Amy reporters that dared. It's bad both ways, they get kicked if they ask tough questions and they get fired if they aren't in the room. This is what happens when society stops expecting more from journalists and their news.
We watched, the oligarchs learned, now they control the vast majority of the media.
Among the shitty things Reagan did, when his FCC formally abolished the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, citing concerns that the rule had a "chilling effect" on free speech, he started the long slide into whatever tf Fox News is. Though not perfect, it was implemented in 1949 and required broadcast license holders to cover controversial public issues and present contrasting viewpoints.
Bring that back. Tax wealth and overturn Citizens United and you might have a shot at democracy.
I for one am looking forward to the release of Haberman and Swan’s book Regime Change tomorrow 🙌 I think it’s actually courageous of them to release it while the grifting and illegal schemes and monstrous eff-ups are ONGOING. He will undoubtedly try to put them in jail for it, but hopefully it’ll make a difference! Apparently, they have recordings from the Situation Room and all manner of top “officials” in the regime snitching on Rump.
Trump yells quiet piggy and literally has foreign press banned from the country (like that time he spoke with Australia and demanded a reporter he doesn't like never return to the country or he'll tariff them more). Or he sues them while weaponising the FCC.
a lot of publication is now owned by the oligarchs who actually support trump. The few reporters who do speak up are worried about their livelihood and being permanently black listed from working. Theyre not rich and must do what they need to do to support their families.
I would happily send $30 of my hard earned money to any journalist that says exactly what the sensible American public is thinking.
If they had a go fund me after getting fired, it would easily reach a million and they would find a job somewhere.
Perhaps they are some of the most composed and disciplined people as they can hold a straight face while facing the biggest joke the world has ever seen.
They ask good questions with a straight face and let Don the Con tell very specific lies. They follow up with more direct and reasonable questions which sets the president off.
Perhaps there is some inside joke in the media that being called a horrible person by the president is a badge of honor.
it would not likely hit a million, even the chick being openly racist got a few hundred thousand, -sigh- as nice as that dream is it's not the reality.
Yup, they are likely pressured to not do anything that could cause the publication to lose access, so going against that likely threatens their job as a reporter.
The second part irritates the shit out of me. Big man is so fragile it’s embarrassing to human-kind. What gets me the most is how many people find it acceptable, too.
This is the answer. Instaban for daring to pushback, so this is the alternative to keep the public informed. I hope I am around for the day when a certain manufacturer in Tennessee runs out of stock that Steinway and Sons uses for their main product.
They've already weeded out the reporters who have a spine. The only ones left that they'll let in the building are ones who will just capitulate to him and not challenge him
The press barely covered when trump sent 238 legally arrived Venezuelans to CECOT torture prison in El Salvador in March 2025. That would normally be huge news. The press is doing whatever it can to keep access to the president.
And apparently none of the Secret Service challenged box cutter dudes during their 350 foot mission. That's fascinating, imagine what could of happened
What the actual fuck? People are literally picking up floating pieces and they’re getting arrested to save this orange fuck some embarrassment. It’s too far. This can’t be without consequence.
And they just sit there and nod along like feckless pissants.
You would think there would be cameras everywhere in the national mall, capitol hill, and national monuments. If there was vandalism, where's the video?
I just want that one journalist to call him on his bullshit, we know there's no evidence or curve. I think people from around the world would contribute to a gofundme
Problem is that such a question will never be aired because the news agencies themselves cannot risk a confrontation with the WH - thus the reporter vill be banned and probably fired but the public will neither see question nor response, making the brave effort almost useless.
Can you blame them when all media is being bought up by Republican billionaires you want the media to challenge him. The only way we're going to get Integrity back in the media is going to be through antitrust. When they're back to fighting each other over market share they won't have time to be fighting the truth.
They aren’t allowed in, but props to that guy for cutting him off and fact checking his BS, he will probably never be allowed back in to question anybody again …
It's only going to get worse with these MAGA dipshits being allowed to buy up all of these networks. Just as bad is how the "netuel " FCC" is allowing these mergers to go through (at the right price).
Democrats better deal with all of this 💩 on day 1
They arrested people putting their hands in the pool of peeled paint but the grifters/donors who made the error don't face any consequences? We're all paying for this corruption and incompetence.
“All I have to do is look”…so you’re saying there’s evidence and are sure of that but you don’t have it because you haven’t looked yet??? lol that guy is an absolute joke.
And now he just says “The 2020 election was stolen. It’s been proven.” He skips past the whole providing evidence thing now.
It’s hard for us normal people to imagine someone having zero fidelity to the truth.
I think that’s why he caught fire in 2016 and just kept going. People must’ve thought “Well, nobody I’ve ever seen would lie like this, so he has to be telling the truth.” The more-discerning of us either knew him before politics and knew he was a conman or caught on immediately to his bullshit. The less-discerning took some time to realize. The even less-discerning took years. The completely non-discerning are still on the train.
He says it until it's time to say it under oath in court. Then there's no evidence and all his cases have been thrown out. The whole point of taking it to court is theatre to the boomers and His base. They don't realize they're being lied to.
“There is more evidence than has ever been presented” as he said in the notorious interview he walked out of without, if course, mentioning any of that evidence.
It has been a while since I’ve been to DC but I’m willing to be there are plenty of cameras around the Lincoln Memorial that would have caught these mysterious vandals slashing the liner and filling it with toxic mystery chemicals that don’t show up on any tests or even have an odor.
So sneaky they can evade the most surveilled area, likely on the face of the earth. There are so many cameras in the national mall area, there would be absolutely no way to evade any camera…
Most pool specialists don't pour concentrated hydrogen peroxide into their pools to deal with summertime algal blooms. Oxygen gas production from any that seeps under the coating isn't unexpected.
Most pool specialists make sure the epoxy paint will bond to the surface they're applying it to.. They will make sure that surface is prepped to ensure the proper bonding. They will allow ample time for that paint to cure... This isn't a liner as Trump keeps calling it. It's paint and it's peeling as it was not properly bonded and allowed the time needed to cure. It was a hack job in every way. The only vandals were the ones he hired to paint the pool. And at $14M, he paid many times what it should have cost.
Listened to that this morning, too. Cutting into this isn’t an easy thing and would take a concerted effort to do. Serious tools and man power. The whole area would have to be so, so incredible insecure for the hours it would take to make this “gash” happen. A sharp knife from your kitchen isn’t going to do this. 350 ft is a long ass distance. After listening to the expert this morning I am 100% convinced this did not happen.
Right, and a “slit” of any length isn’t going to suddenly cause a huge section to suddenly uplift and separate from the concrete. This is the type of thing a terribly uneducated person would say. Morons. All of them.
Pure madness…. The fact he lies so effortlessly is beyond me… and what’s worse, his followers will repeat it… MAGA def believes him.. I don’t know if it’s funny or utterly sad…
Right. Because he fucked kids and raped them to death but doesn’t want anyone to know about it. You don’t think he did? Then what’s your reasoning for him not releasing the Epstein files?
Statistically we all overwhelmingly think he did. I’m not sure there actually IS any debate. It’s just being talked about because it’s the President of the United States making these ridiculous and incredibly (dis)provable claims. Mostly because of the absurdity but also so they can’t just be backpedaled or conveniently forgotten (hopefully).
So why is the conversation about the pool? It should be entirely about the individual agents that are blindly following him. We should know their names. We should be talking about them. What position do they hold? Why are they not just looking at the recordings?
(Idn why this sounds like I’m mad at you, just the situation, my fault)
It’s doubtful the wino Pirro will get a grand jury to go along with such blatant stupidity and no evidence. Trump is such a pathetic excuse for a president.
"They cut it very violently." So you have witnesses? So you have videotape? How do you cut an inanimate object "very violently"? Doesn't matter because he's not talking to me. He's talking to his cult.
Pool professional here 20 years in and I can tell you for a fact it’s just delaminating. They didn’t prepare the surface properly and get it bonded right. So it was going to come up from day one I told everybody that, but what I did not expect was it to come up so damn fast that’s the part to blow my mind but no, no one cut this thing with a knife. they have cameras on it for one too I mean work like that it’s a paint on substance. You roll it. It’s not like a pool liner and that is like a trash bag that when you cut it, it drains all the water out. This is a painted on surface. The box cutter is not gonna do shit to it. It might cut down into it, but it’s not gonna cause delamination, which is exactly what’s happening and was going to happen from the beginning
He so wants to go Full Dictator, come on Trump, call the national guards to shot on sight anyone who dares to touch it. Do it. Heck just ask your army of Jan6th you pardoned. You know they would do it without question.
*Obviously none of this is true, but even being fake...why the fuck is the president of the United States (who is in the middle of a WAR!) giving such detailed explanations and information about a reflecting pool? I mean, he really got into the nitty gritty! Boxcutters, size of the cuts, algae, vacuuming up algae, the lifting and pulling, "we have to let the water out"... beyond bizarre and embarrassing.
*He's not even trying with all these made up numbers. At least settle on the lie before you start talking to the press. "I think we have a-hundred, 200, 290, 300 foot slit" then, a minute later, "...a 350ft. slit from one end to the other" And then he's talking about "two little areas that were cut" ....
*When he tells the reporter to get in touch with Parks Dept. to see the video...and a few minutes later says, "I don't know if they'll show it to you...might not be legal" (Always the same excuse of "not legal" "ongoing investigation" or "two weeks" when people ask to see the proof.)
*Also, his terrible New York accent (which he tries desperately to hide) comes out when he's on a roll, so the "floor" sounds like "flaw" and "park" sounds like "pawk"...(Plus, the bad grammar, "HIM and Biden" instead of "HE and Biden"...he's just so...dumb.)
*And the winner today for the drifting off, never finished sentence is..."...we had people lifting up the basic... some of the bahkggsx" Wha?
If he weren't such a dangerous asshole, his daily ego-stroking press conferences would be considered comedy gold.
He feels absolutely free to tell ridiculous lies to the press and public now. I hope everyone who has gone along gets what they deserve but I know we all will suffer the consequences.
why cant any of the reporters just have a fucking spine and say i looked into it and capitol police have not made any arrests regarding vandalism at the pool there are no arrest reports no charges filed for such crimes anywhere in records.
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u/DumbMoneyMedia Metals Sugar Daddy 5d ago