Trump’s First 100 Days Shows Mainstream Media Is Almost Dead. Long Live Independent Media.

Watching esteemed news outlets bend the knee for Trump has been excruciating. But their obsequiousness has created an opportunity for something better.

In thinking about Trump’s first 100 days, it’s the endless loop of horrors that first comes to mind:

• Mistakenly banishing Kilmar Abrego Garcia to an El Salvador prison and refusing to get him back.

• Shutting down USAID, a vital source of America’s soft power that’s backed humanitarian efforts around the globe.

• Arresting a Wisconsin judge deemed to be an enemy of the administration’s deportation policies.

• Removing a 4-year-old U.S. citizen with stage 4 cancer from our country with no medication or future treatment planned.

And that’s just the start. But before too long, the maddening frustration at institutional failures follows, such as:

• Decrepit Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer deluded enough to think that strongly worded letters to Trump are enough to combat ever-creeping fascism.

• Congress, which has ceded all powers to Trump — even the power of the purse — because in the GOP, reading the Constitution is hard and honoring your oath is weak.

• Continued infighting among the left, fueled by the progressive nonprofit industrial complex that’s more interested in preserving turf than achieving lasting change.

But the most heartbreaking thing for me is witnessing the mainstream media’s timidity, moral flexibility, and smug capitulation in the face of a second Trump regime.

I’ve devoted almost 25 years — most of my professional life — to journalism, reporting for small papers, running an insider political newsletter, founding a nonprofit startup — in the hope that I was doing my small part to save an ever-decaying industry. During it all, I had the unshakeable belief in Jefferson’s maxim: “A well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.”

So it’s been stomach-churning to see so many news outlets roll out the red carpet for Trump and his thugs with their “Better Know a Junta”-style puff pieces in some vain hope that this will save their business and the First Amendment (and because media stars and execs still want to get invited to the good parties).

Most news outlets took a defensive crouch starting on Nov. 6. Trump was hailed as a “transformational figure in American history.” There were the usual Rust Belt diner safari stories that were the hallmark of Trump’s first term. But you could feel a palpable change, a tectonic shift of cowardice in the face of authoritarianism. Suddenly, a Nazi salute was just a “straight-arm gesture” in headlines.

Trump was already buoyed by the Silicon Valley bros who had oh-so-generously funded his campaign and warped social media algorithms in his favor. Now, traditional media titans were lining up to kiss his ring, too.

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire benefactor of the Washington Post, effusively congratulated Trump on his win (on X, natch) mere weeks after killing the liberal editorial board’s presidential endorsement. Like dozens of CEOs, the Amazon founder also shelled out $1 million for Trump’s inauguration.

The paper’s motto (“Democracy dies in darkness”) was rendered a cruel joke, as Bezos continued to meddle in editorial affairs, decreeing that the opinion page would now be devoted to defending free markets and “personal liberties.” That accelerated the exodus of talent from what used to be one of the world’s greatest watchdogs, most notably Eugene Robinson and Jennifer Rubin. And just to put a fine point on the corruption, Amazon announced a $40 million deal for a documentary no one asked for on Melania “Who Gives a Fuck about Christmas?” Trump.

Meanwhile, ABC bent the knee by settling Trump’s defamation lawsuit (which the network almost certainly would have won) and pledging $15 million to his presidential library).

Trump filed another “laughable” suit against Paramount, CBS’ parent company, following a “60 Minutes” segment on his 2024 opponent, former VP Kamala Harris. But the show’s longtime executive producer recently resigned after bemoaning corporate interference.

And once-vocal Trump critic Bill Maher — whose brand of defiant social comedy was memorialized by his show, “Politically Incorrect,” getting canceled after 9/11 — just broke bread with the president in what appeared to be a corporate peace mission for his paymasters at Warner Bros. Discovery. (The meeting was apparently brokered by their mutual friend, Kid Rock, because we live in the dumbest time imaginable.)

The list of indignities goes on and on, from Trump kicking the Associated Press out of the press pool for refusing to use his boneheaded “Gulf of America” rebrand and welcoming right-wing cronies like beady-eyed, beanie-donning podcaster Tim Pool (who ask insightful questions like, “Do Dear Leader’s turds smell as sweet as we’ve heard?”)

Now, if outlets were serious about standing up for the free press, they would have boycotted White House briefings in solidarity with AP. But sadly, access and profit will always win out over integrity — and betting against the better angels of our nature has always been Trump’s superpower.

It’s clear that the mainstream media isn’t going to save us. So it’s up to us to save ourselves.

And while that might be frightening, it’s also freeing. Because in many ways, old-school media has never been less relevant. People trust Facebook posts from their friends and family more than a story they see on cable news. Gen Z and Millennials, by and large, get their news from Joe Rogan or Hasan Piker, not the New York Times or MSNBC.

In fact, the only young person I know who consumes a regular mainstream media diet is my daughter, who was raised by a journalist mom and Democratic strategist stepdad and ended up winning her first election at age 21. (So what I’m saying is that she’s an outlier.)

Most people are searching for a place to belong, for information sources they can trust. And they believe the traditional media have failed them.

As someone who’s managed to carve out a long media career, despite the endless cycle of layoffs, I know that upheaval can also breed innovation and opportunity — if you’re willing to take risks. And it’s even more important to hold fast to your values, especially in these times of Trumpian threats and intimidation. That’s the promise, I believe, that independent media represents.

At Lincoln Square, we’re listening to you. As my predecessor, Lisa Senecal, eloquently writes, we strive to be a “force for truth and courage in a perilous time.” We’re building a community of well-informed citizens — left, right, and center — who refuse to bow to authoritarianism. Because we know that freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are worth fighting for.

As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Susan J. Demas is the Executive Editor of Lincoln Square Media.