https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-2-2025
"Today I spent time organizing the many tabs I had opened over the past six
weeks. When they were grouped by topics, what emerged was the story of an
administration that decided from the start to portray President Donald Trump as
a king, creating an alternative social media ecosystem designed, as Drew
Harwell and Sarah Ellison of the
Washington Post noted in early March, “to
sell the country on [Trump’s] expansionist approach to presidential power.”
The team set out not just to confront critics, but to drown them out with a
constant barrage of sound bites, interviews with loyalists, memes slamming
Democrats, and attack lines. “We’re here. We’re in your face,” said Kaelan
Dorr, a deputy assistant to the president who runs the digital team. “It’s
irreverent. It’s unapologetic.” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said their
goal was “FULL SPECTRUM DOMINANCE.”
They are engaged in a marketing campaign to establish Trump’s false version of
reality as truth. The White House has also brought into the press pool
right-wing influencers, who are asking questions that tee up opportunities for
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to push administration talking
points, which the influencers then amplify on social media.
Trump’s aspirations to authoritarianism are showing today in the announcement
that there will be a military parade on Trump’s 79th birthday, June 14, which
coincides with the 250th anniversary of the Second Continental Congress’s
establishment of the Continental Army in 1775. About 6,600 soldiers, 150
vehicles, and 50 helicopters will proceed from near the Pentagon in Arlington,
Virginia, to the National Mall at a cost of tens of millions of dollars."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
