By Ben Meiselas
I had the chance to sit down with Jim Acosta, a journalist who knows firsthand what it’s like to cover a wannabe autocrat. It was great to catch up with Jim again following our recent Meidas Meet Up with him on Substack Live. We hope to do many more collaborations with Jim in the near future.
We talked about Trump’s blatant assault on the free press—banning the Associated Press (AP) from the Oval Office and Air Force One simply because they refused to play along with his propaganda. This isn't just an attack on the AP; it’s an attack on journalism itself.
As Jim pointed out, the AP isn’t just any news outlet. It’s a 100-year-old institution that provides reporting to nearly every news organization in the country. So when Trump kicks them out, he’s not just throwing a tantrum—he’s waging war on the public’s right to know. And yet, too many in the media continue to show up and pretend this is normal. Should the press corps boycott Trump’s press briefings? Should they refuse to cover his orchestrated circus until he stops treating them like enemies of the state? Jim thinks it’s time for some serious soul-searching.
And let’s be clear—this is all because the AP refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America." Yes, you read that right. Trump tried to rename a body of water, and because the AP had the audacity to stick to reality for the sake of their international audience, they got blacklisted. That’s where we are. The man who once mused about Americans injecting disinfectant into their veins is now unilaterally rewriting geography.
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Jim also took aim at Karoline Leavitt, Trump's press secretary, who is proving herself to be yet another morally bankrupt solider in the regime’s disinformation machine. From pushing debunked lies about Social Security fraud to repeating MAGA conspiracy theories straight from Elon Musk’s fever dreams (AKA his Twitter feed), she’s working overtime to outdo the likes of Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Kayleigh McEnany.
Then there's Trump himself—promising on the campaign trail to lower prices on “day one” and end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. Instead, he’s spending his time joyriding at NASCAR and attending the Super Bowl, while his administration puts Marco Rubio in backroom meetings with Russian officials. As Jim put it, Trump is acting less like the president and more like a guy who just won a VIP pass to every major sporting event. Meanwhile, Americans are left wondering what the hell they actually voted for.
So, what happens next? Will the press keep playing along? Will voters continue to fall for the grift? Or will people finally wake up and realize that this so-called “strongman” is nothing more than a weak, desperate showman, obsessed with his own image?
The fight isn’t over. Not by a long shot. And as Jim reminded us, the work of independent, fearless journalism is more important than ever. So let’s do our part—stay informed, push back, and never let Trump’s propaganda machine go unchallenged. If you are able to support our independent journalism, consider joining as a paid subscriber now.
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