Hartmann Report

The CBS merger isn't a business deal — it's a pay-to-play scheme fueling America's slide into oligarchy… The CBS merger deal illustrates everything that's wrong with post-Reagan Revolution America. It's not just another corporate merger: it's a road sign on our accelerating march toward oligarchy, propaganda, and the collapse of honest media. We've watched one of the most important legacy broadcast platforms in America pay a $16 million bribe to our convicted felon president, reportedly offer him another $16 million worth of free air time, and try to sell its entire operation to a billionaire with a God complex. It's the worst of the Reagan revolution coming home to roost, on our screens, in our homes, and in our civic life. Start with the $16 million payoff: Trump sued CBS and its parent company Paramount over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, laughably arguing that CBS's editing of the interview constituted unlawful election tampering. The lawsuit was instantly and widely regarded as frivolous, but instead of fighting it, CBS quietly settled for an astonishing $16 million. No trial. No discovery. Just a big, fat check. This isn't journalism: it's tribute. It's what oligarchs have done for centuries when they want to please the king.

The explosive case for why Donald Trump Is the most dangerous criminal in U.S. history… When historians look back on this era, they'll inevitably ask how a nation built on principles of democracy, justice, and equality allowed one man to commit such a broad range of crimes and abuses, and whether Donald Trump is indeed the most dangerous criminal in American history. To fully grasp the gravity of Trump's actions, consider the extensive categories of his criminal and potentially criminal conduct, each more disturbing than the last. First, there's the relentless financial corruption. Trump has long played fast and loose with the law when it came to his finances. In New York, his company was convicted of tax fraud and financial manipulation designed to deceive lenders and inflate his wealth. Trump University was shuttered after a $25 million fraud settlement, its "students" left feeling defrauded.

With Fox sharpening the blade and MAGA losing its grip, America teeters on the edge of a political Jonestown... "He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done." —Leonardo da Vinci (anticipating Merrick Garland?) Elon Musk is probably chuckling as Trump flails; today's firestorm around the Epstein documents arguably started when he tweeted that Trump was in the files. Which has led to some significant changes in the Trump/media/politics/deep-state landscape that it's important to review. They include questions about the future of Trump, his cult followers, a possible power struggle between Trump and Murdoch, and JD Vance's Presidential ambitions. To begin: if you want everything around the Epstein furor to make sense, all you have to understand is that Donald Trump has been leading a cult.

The fastest and most enduring way to build broad, widespread prosperity (“the American Dream”) for any country is through manufacturing; it’s why the main job George Washington gave Alexander Hamilton was to figure out how to reboot and build American manufacturing (as I detail in The Hidden History of Neoliberalism: How Reaganism Gutted America). Many products manufactured in China — including products sold into the domestic Chinese market and equipment used by the Chinese military — require parts from America. China is trying to end this reliance on us. They’re throwing massive resources into becoming technologically independent of the United States, and it’s a safe bet that their desire to seize Taiwan the way Putin has attacked Ukraine is part of their equation.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — If possible, the whole Epstein saga is getting weirder. — The suck-ups and cowards at CBS apparently caved to Trump and canceled Stephen Colbert. — Do Americans want Trump to give asylum to Bolsonaro?! — There's a special place in Hell reserved for Franklin Graham and I'll tell you why... — Four big banks flagged more than $1.5 billion in transactions to Epstein from wealthy people including thousands of wire transfers and payoffs of women, and Senator Ron Wyden is on it! — Fired Epstein Prosecutor Maurene Comey exposes a big truth: "Fear Is the Tool of a Tyrant."

Why has the GOP declared war on everything: healthcare, Democracy, science, and you? Every day, it seems, we see or hear about another way in which Trump and his lickspittles in Congress and the various federal agencies are tearing down our country, weakening our defenses, pitting Americans against each other, looting our government, and making life harder for everybody except the morbidly rich. The question nobody seems to have an answer to is, "Why?"

Each escalation — from ICE kidnappings to threats against critics — is a measure of how much authoritarianism we'll tolerate before we push back. Trump's threat to strip Rosie O'Donnell of her citizenship is a "test." Kids do it all the time. Throw a tantrum in the store demanding cookies and if the parents don't remove them from the store right away, every visit will see the tantrums escalate. Testing the boundaries. When the test succeeds, the boundaries get moved and a new boundary gets tested, on and on until finally the child's behavior is so egregious he's stopped. Or he always gets away with everything and grows up to be Donald Trump. We learn this early.

We must call this what it is: a full-scale assault on our economy, our democracy, and the peaceful world order that's prevented a third world war for nearly 80 years… The headlines this week are wild: Trump is threatening nutso tariffs against America's traditional trading partners (although none for Russia, of course), demanding that our allies proclaim their willingness to go to war with China, and — along with his billionaire buddies — looting our government while immiserating small business and the American middle class. As a result, America stands today at an extraordinarily dangerous crossroads economically, politically, and geopolitically. We're talking a second Republican Great Depression, fascism, and the very real possibility of a third world war

Most of America’s labor and childcare policies were established or find their foundation in FDR’s New Deal and the work of his Labor Secretary, Francis Perkins. At the time, women had few rights and little economic or political power. Their opportunities in the workplace were strictly circumscribed (I still remember, in the 1970s, The Lansing State Journal requiring me to place a “Help Wanted: Secretary” classified ad in the “Women Wanted” section), pay was correspondingly low, and benefits were non-existent.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Killing them softly with criminal negligence — Trump's IRS now says that churches, contrary to Jesus's teachings and the law, can openly advocate political positions and hustle on behalf of politicians. — Democrats need to take a lesson from Republicans, like those who run the Lincoln project, about how to "take names and kick ass." — There are an estimated half million white undocumented immigrants in the US, most from Europe, particularly Ireland and the rest of the UK, but to date very few have been arrested or incarcerated at Alligator Alcatraz or any other ICE facilities. — Texas Governor Greg Abbott is trying to "fix" the midterms? — Work in the fields for $5/hour or lose your healthcare? — Red state Republicans won't discover how badly screwed they are until after the next years' midterm elections. — Billionaire wannabe dictators who try to loot their nations gotta stick together, or at least so says Trump. — Got a wacky conspiracy-nut theory? Trump's administration and the GOP is here to help!