No one whines and boasts in the same breath quite like Donald from Queens, who’s brought the impotent braggadocio of a sports-talk radio caller to the Oval Office.
“Remember, we won. We have a bigger voice than anybody but we don’t get covered fairly,” he whoasted at his White House Social Media summit Thursday, where the old order was formally inverted.
Instead of conspiracies about the White House, the calls came from inside the house as our commander in chief rambled happily in front of the TV cameras about how Twitter was suppressing his follower count, his supporters would beat up violent people on the left if it came down to it, and Arnold Schwarzenegger “died” after replacing Trump as host of “The Apprentice.”
“The crap you think of is unbelievable,” Trump told his elite assemblage of plagiarists (Benny Johnson), fabulists (James O’Keefe), conspiracists (Ali Alexander and Jim Holt and Bill Mitchell and pretty much everyone there), and Scientologists (Joy Villa).
The best people!
“We have terrible bias. We have censorship like no one has any understanding, nobody can believe,” Trump told them. “They’re playing with a lot of minds and they’re playing unfairly.”
As leaders on the left and the right are finally focusing on the danger the tech giants present as they disrupt every part of our lives and hoard tremendous wealth derived from our personal information, Trump warned Twitter not to mess with his likes count, or suffer the consequences.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, another Republican who doesn’t know better or doesn’t care, took the mic briefly to fly over the cuckoo’s nest and spray a warning shot at “the establishment media, the fake media” before directing his fire at Google, Facebook and Twitter, none of which were invited.
“They’ve gotten rich off of their special privileges from government,” Hawley said, naming those three tech giants. “If they want to keep their special deal, here’s the bargain: They have to quit discriminating against conservatives.”
Nice business you’ve got there; shame if something were to happen to it.
Trump, too, touched on the conduit between new and old media, reflecting at one point that “we hardly do press releases any more, because if I put that out in a press release, I’m telling you people don’t pick that up. If I put in on social media, it’s an explosion: Fox, CNN, crazy MSNBC.”
He declared out of nowhere, in classic no-puppet style: “that’s the collusion: It’s collusion between the Democrats and the media and social media and these platforms. It’s a disgraceful thing.”
Still, Trump concluded, “I am not speaking for our side. I don’t even know if you’re on our side… but we’re talking about for everybody. Big tech must not censor the voices of the American people.”
He nodded to the room and “people that really have almost found a new life in the last short period of time with this new technology.”
Finally, the cameras cut off as Sebastian Gorka — the far-right fringe academic who found his own new life saying crazy things in support of Trump on Fox News as an audition for what turned out to be eight months as a White House adviser he’s since parlayed into talking-head gigs at various Trumpist media outlets — was posing a sycophantic “question” to the president.
Gorka showed up again an hour later along with the rest of the internet comments section in the Rose Garden as the TV cameras recorded Trump’s announcement about the Census. Afterward, Gorka was filmed shouting “you’re a punk!” as he walked, chest-out, directly at and nearly into a credentialed long-time reporter standing to the side.
As Gorka completed his literal heel turn and stormed back to his chair, the summit “dignitaries” piped in, telling the reporter that “just for the record, he’d kick your punk ass” and “fake news is over! Be real journalists!” while others chanted “Gor-ka! Gor-ka!”
Later, Trump himself jumped in on Twitter: “@SebGorka Wins Big, No Contest!”
Do you really want Donald from Queens judging the fairness of social media rules, let alone setting them?
![In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]](https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1820955015.jpg?w=490 "In a narrow vote this week, the Federal Trade Commission approved a rule that will ban the vast majority of noncompete clauses by U.S. employers, which have long prevented workers from switching jobs or setting out on their own. In doing so, the agency did its duty to protect American economic dynamism and opportunity, nothing less, nothing more. We hope that’s the clear conclusion of the courts that will now rule on a lawsuit being brought by the Chamber of Commerce, which has strenuously supported this anticompetitive practice. Of the arguments that the business group and other opponents have rolled […]")
