Hey everyone,
This one’s personal.
For those who don't know, the Trump White House put up an official government webpage, built and maintained with your tax dollars, cataloging journalists and commentators they've decided are "media offenders." There are literal categories. "Left-Wing Lunacy." "Bias." "Mischaracterization." And they put me on it. Me and my friend Brian Tyler Cohen were the two independent YouTubers they specifically called out by name.
Since then, it hasn’t stayed at the list. Steven Cheung, Karoline Leavitt, and Don Jr. have all taken shots at me directly on Twitter. I’m not going to belabor the details of who said what, but the pattern is the point: this has moved from an official document with my name on it to the White House’s own communications apparatus and the president’s family piling on in public.
I break down what’s actually going on in the video above, including why I think this is straight out of the Nixon Enemies List playbook, why it’s escalated the way it has, and why it isn’t going to work.
What the “media offenders” list actually is, and why an official government platform naming private critics is different from ordinary media criticism.
Why Brian Tyler Cohen and I were the two independent YouTubers singled out, and what that says about who they’re actually trying to intimidate.
How this has escalated over the last few months, from a webpage to White House officials and Don Jr. going after me directly online.
Why my friend Mike Nellis, dealing with his own Trump DOJ nightmare, name-checked me in his own video. Different tactic, same goal.
Why none of this is going to change what we cover, or shut this show down.
This is about what happens when a government decides that criticism should have consequences, and starts building the infrastructure to make examples out of people. It’s about fear, and about refusing to give it what it wants. If you value independent voices who aren’t going anywhere, help me keep doing this.
$6/month, or $60/year — every subscriber is one more reason this show doesn’t need anybody’s permission to keep going.
Not backing down,
—David
