The fallout from the Paramount/CBS News settlement with Donald Trump still echoes with the charges of bribery since most legal experts termed Trump’s lawsuit as baseless, succeeding only because a merger with Skydance Media was dependent on the FCC, a la the Trump administration, resulting in final approval of the $16 million payoff. That money won’t go directly to Trump, but to his future presidential library — a political monument touting his name, and forever to be recognized as part of his legacy, and his ability to shakedown his victims. As Michael Cohen writes on MeidasTouch, “If American democracy were a deer, it would be standing in the middle of the highway trying to reason with an oncoming semi. That semi, of course, is President Trump. And the Democrats? They’re standing on the shoulder with a clipboard, giving speeches about traffic safety. It’s been a decade since Trump first took a wrecking ball to our political institutions, and still — still — Democrats haven’t figured out how to contend with a president who doesn’t break rules so much as bend them until they no longer resemble anything that could be called a law.” Thus, we have the $16 million payoff by Paramount Global to Trump over a ‘60 Minutes‘ interview with Kamala Harris that was edited much like any other television interview — no “deliberate manipulation,” no “election interference,” and hardly “the biggest scandal in broadcast history.” Cohen reminds us that Trump’s original demand was for $10 billion before bumping it to $20 billion — not being one to allow reality to get in the way of leverage.

Press freedom groups called the suit “beyond frivolous,” and the CBS/60 Minutes release of raw footage and transcripts showed nothing diabolical was afoot. Cohen says the finality achieved its purpose: intimidation, silence, and compliance. A similar shakedown was paid by Disney/ABC after Trump sued George Stephanopoulos for defamation which resulted in a payout to avoid political and regulatory aggravation — no apology required, no admission of guilt sought, just the money will do! Cohen sees this as a new model of media control, which is not about censorship, but consequence. Trump won’t have to muzzle the press if he makes it expensive, risky, and exhausting to be truthful, with valid journalism becoming a liability. And those Democrats with the clipboards find they are no match for Trump’s second term, with no strategy to parry with a president who views the law as a tool, using litigation not as a means to justice, but as a tool to jimmy the works for political power and monetary benefit. Victims of the fallout brought the resignations of ’60 Minutes’ executive producer Bill Owens, and CBS News President Wendy McMahon. Owens cited loss of editorial independence, and McMahon said she disagrees on “the path forward,” — a path of compliance, timidity, and self-censorship facing legal intimidation and regulatory blackmail. Cohen says we are watching not only the erosion of the First Amendment coupled with monetization of fear, but Trump’s proving our guardrails are only as strong as the will to defend them. That will is lacking in media companies, law firms and the Democratic Party, allowing setting of the precedent that a president can and will sue the media into silence, funneling the proceeds into a personal monument, and skate away sans inquiry, with the opposition stumbling over whether to resist or concede. Cohen concludes that though Democrats are writing letters, making speeches, and asking America to believe that norms and decency are enough — not so, not anymore, and perhaps never again. The most noteworthy monument standing at present is the one to Paramount’s surrender.

As reported on The Hartmann Report, in the wake of the Paramount/CBS payoff, CBS is installing a ‘monitor‘ to look for ‘leftwing bias.’ Such as facts. Hartmann writes, “Reality has a well-known leftwing bias because much of the rightwing ideology out there is based, simply, in lies. Trickle-down economics benefits working class people. Immigrants are more likely to be criminals. Women lover getting abortions, particularly late-term. Unions steal from their workers to make ‘union bosses’ rich. Global warming is a hoax. The fossil fuel and chemical industry aren’t poisoning us and our environment. Green energy is more expensive than gas, oil, or coal. People on Medicaid and food stamps are lazy. Unemployment insurance discourages work. Raising the minimum wage increases unemployment. People only value a college education if they go into debt to get it. Healthcare for all Americans is too complicated for any government to create and administer. America was created as a Christian nation. Every single one of those statements is a demonstrable lie, but when they pop up on CBS News going forward don’t expect any push-back. As part of Skydance’s deal with Trump and the FCC, they not only gave the president a personal $16 million bribe (and apparently also offered a similar amount in free advertising) but also agreed to install in the CBS operations a ‘monitor’ to catch and kill any semblance of ‘leftwing bias.’ This is the sort of thing that routinely happens when nations lose their democracy, and is a flashing red sign that we’re in the actual process of losing ours.”

Joyce Vance writes on Civil Discourse that the CBS ‘bias monitor‘ prompts her to comment on George Orwell’s novel, ‘1984,’ which she quotes from in her upcoming book, ‘Giving Up Is Unforgivable.’ She calls Orwell’s novel ‘illuminating‘ as it looks at the risks of succumbing to fascism. “It underscores the vital role of open, truthful dialogues. It’s about the protection of democratic institutions against the corrosive effects of misinformation and attempts to rewrite history. A bias monitor. Accepted by a major news network. Not a huge public outcry as Trump brings the thought police of fiction into fact. We are overdue to read, or reread, 1984.” In the words of George Orwell: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” In July of 2024, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that spawned Project 2025, and one of that document’s chief architects, said on Steve Bannon’s podcast, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” Vance tells us that after that announcement, Trump disclaimed all knowledge of Project 2025, and most people moved on. Four months later, Americans returned Donald Trump to office, and now we’re living under Project 2025 — lots of parallels to 1984. FBI deputy director, Dan Bongino tweeted that he knows things that you don’t — a dark brooding vibe, insinuating that there’s more, enflaming any conspiracy theory MAGA may wish to revisit.

In this same vein, Steven Asarch writes on MSNBC, “Franklin Roosevelt mastered the use of radio. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were top of the game on TV. And Donald Trump is the first AI slop president. Since January, Trump’s administration has used artificial intelligence to churn out a steady stream of fake images on social media, from alligators in ICE hats to crying members of Congress, while the official White House account on X has used it to portray the president as Superman, the pope and a villain from ‘Star Wars.'” Asarch brings up the AI-generated clip showing President Obama being forcibly detained by the FBI, and another showing various Democrats in orange prison jumpsuits tagged as the ‘Shady Bunch.’ He says it’s not harmless, necessarily, but it’s mostly just lame trolling usually done by a 14-year old boy, or someone who acts like one. It becomes another thing entirely when Trump does it, as he muddies the waters of reality, encouraging his MAGA horde to believe everything and nothing — to a Trumper steeped in these memes, the answer may not even matter. Past presidents may have lied or presented false evidence on occasion, but Trump at this stage of his political presence, has made us all so tired of his commonplace mission to blame everyone else for the problems he’s created, that it’s easily overlooked. Two risks: One is that malevolent forces disseminate a fake video that is widely believed, leading to real-world consequences. The other is that people stop believing video entirely — the next video leak of prisoners being tortured or a presidential candidate bragging about his sexual assaults, may lead Americans to shrug it off, saying it’s fake. Trump is creating a world in which you can’t trust anyone, facts are fungible and the truth is whatever your political team says it is.

MSNBC’s columnist, Michael A Cohen, writes that the biggest political story in the country is the Jeffrey Epstein saga, but that the hidden story is the cratering popularity of President Trump, with Real Clear Politics, Nate Silver, and Elliott Morris all agreeing that Trump has fallen to the lowest point in his tenure, and that the numbers are still in free fall. The populace is souring on his campaign promises, the very issues his zealotry has visited upon the country. Seeing and hearing stories about his ICE secret police and their unmerciful tactics, the construction of Alligator Alcatraz and a promise to build many more, and most of all, the economy and the threat of even higher prices with his new tariffs aren’t passing muster. If we are fortunate enough to hold midterm elections next year, and the president can’t move the needle into a more favorable position in the interim, the GOP could be in a world of trouble — and it’s difficult to see him dramatically changing his mind about any of his agenda items. In MAGA’s realm, the Epstein situation weakens Trump, and even if he can somehow maintain support in this area, he is taking his party into treacherous political waters. With his Big Beautiful Bill, Immigration and Customs gets a huge infusion of money with which he has promised to double down on mass deportation cruelty, and the tariffs have become his mantra, so voters can expect more Republican trickle-down in the form of pain. If Democrats can get it together, they should have an easier chore at recruiting viable candidates to pit against Republicans, while raising the money to compete successfully. Even the campaign slogan, ‘We’re not President Donald Trump,’ which was a midterm success during Trump’s first term, might work for them again.

It’s the Epstein files that are driving Washington, DC’s Republicans and the MAGA bunch, into insanity, prompting the House Speaker to call for the August recess despite unfinished business. And Trump took a cue from Johnson’s action, hotfooting it to Scotland on a business/pleasure trip — the business part being a combination of Trump Golf course business and US government business, all courtesy of the US taxpayer, of course. Scotland’s newspaper, ‘The National‘, greeted him with the headline: ‘CONVICTED US FELON TO ARRIVE IN SCOTLAND.’ Hordes of demonstrators with appropriate signs are welcoming him as well, so he will do his utmost to avoid them, but the Scottish press hasn’t let him forget about his pedo-buddy Epstein. It would probably be his preference to remain on his golf courses until September when Washington comes back to life. Nobody seems to know where JD Vance is hiding out, but he’s saying very little about Jeffrey Epstein in an effort to salvage his political future according to Trump biographer, Michael Wolff. Wolff says, “JD Vance cannot, for his own political future, lose the MAGA base, but at the same time he cannot lose Donald Trump. Go figure.” Some see Vance as the heir apparent to Trump, but the president may have a different view — “We’ll see,” he has said. JD hasn’t been in the White House spotlight lately, which some see as a diminished role in Trump’s hierarchy, with New York Times columnist, Jamelle Bouie describing his function as the ‘president’s official fanboy,’ able to effectively communicate his leader’s vile messages to the base. “And in addition to acting as cheer captain for his boss, Vance also works to give the administration a veneer of intellectualism to cover its cruelty, corruption, and incompetence — a spokesman for the president’s brand of national populism,” Bouie argues.

Even the First Lady is in the middle of the Epstein drama according to Michael Wolff, being “very involved” he commented to Joanna Coles of The Daily Beast. “She was very involved in this Epstein relationship,” Wolff says, adding that Melania was introduced to Trump through model agent, Paolo Zampolli, who had a relationship with both Trump and Epstein. “This is another complicated issue in this — where does she fit into all this? Where does she fit in the Epstein story? Into the whole culture of models of indeterminate age?” asks Wolff. The president has frantically tried to cast off the Epstein tie, trying to blame the Democrats, Obama and Biden, calling it a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.” But with the numerous stories in magazines, tabloids, and the shoeboxes full of photos online, Musk’s revenge won’t be an easy one to turn aside. If doing humiliating and irreparable damage to his former Oval Office buddy was the point with his infamous X post — “Trump is in the Epstein files” — Musk has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. The Washington Post’s Cat Zakrzewski wrote, “If Musk’s goal was merely to stoke the controversy without necessarily settling it, his mission has been accomplished — and then some.” Musk has danced around the periphery of the hidden files, and while not directly attacking Trump since then, he has lent no support either, simply remaining a potent political risk with his reaping of the spoils of his DOGE gleanings. Zakrzewski notes that the X hashtag ‘#TrumpIsAPedoRapist,’ has been popular, and that, “Allies of Musk serving in the Trump administration have had to tread carefully, largely declining to comment on the feud between the president and one of the world’s most powerful business leaders.” Trump posted on Truth Social that he wishes Elon and all US businesses well, for the good of the country, but Elon chose to ignore the post since he still carries a grudge toward the president and the administration for slashing tax credits for electric vehicle purchases, yet retaining subsidies for the petroleum industries.

The House Republican proposal that The Kennedy Center opera house should be renamed to honor Melania Trump— ‘First Lady Melania Trump Opera House‘ — may be on tenterhooks as the Epstein revelations come to light. A House panel voted 33-25 to approve the push to pay homage to the first lady, following President Trump’s takeover of the ‘woke’ institution and naming himself as board chairman. It’s unknown at this time when the GOP plans to bring the legislation to the House floor for a vote by the full chamber, and it’s also unknown if Melania is in rehearsals for the role of Floria Tosca to headline a premiere performance.

Satirist Andy Borowitz writes of his own take on the opera house action in ‘The Borowitz Report‘: “Millions of Americans support renaming of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after the writer E. Jean Carroll, according to a poll released on Wednesday. Conversely, poll respondents opposed naming the venue after First Lady Melania Trump, strongly agreeing with the statement, ‘An arts center should not be named after someone who finds blood-red Christmas trees aesthetically pleasing.’ At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the decision to rename the Kennedy Center after Mrs. Trump, stating, ‘Since President Trump took it over, the Kennedy Center has been just like the First Lady: renovated and vacant.'”

Broadcast TV’s late night hosts were quick to jump on Trump and his Jeffrey Epstein troubles. The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert began his monologue with, “It’s a great day to be me, because I’m not Donald Trump. That guy has got a lot of problems…the Epstein scandal just won’t kill itself.” About the thousand FBI agents who scoured approximately 100,000 records related to Epstein in order to flag any mentions of Trump, Colbert said, “That is a suspiciously Herculean effort. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t hide who Dumpty humped with his friend. You cannot blame Trump and his allies for being scared here, because the more we know about Trump’s relationship to Epstein, the more WE wish we didn’t.” Court records show that Trump flew on Epstein’s plane, the ‘Lolita Express‘, at least seven times, about which Colbert commented, “That doesn’t mean he did anything illegal, but it’s not a great look when you fly on the pedophile’s plane enough times to earn Diamond Pervert status.” ‘Late Night‘ host Seth Meyers referenced Trump’s Truth Social post about hitting the six months mark of his second term, “Wow, time flies.” “Does it though? Its’ been six months of this term, but we already did four years of you, and even when Biden was president, you were still the president of every news cycle. It feels like you’ve been president forever. I think it goes Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and then you,” Meyers responded. Meyers also quipped that Trump has finally named First Lady Melania as his emergency contact.

Speculation is high that a pardon for Jeffrey Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, is in the works, with Trump’s former personal attorney, Todd Blanche — now his personal attorney AND now deputy attorney general of the US — has been assigned the task of ‘interviewing‘ Maxwell to ‘garner more information‘ about the Epstein files. A former official who worked with Attorney General Pammy Ann Bondi in Florida predicted that Blanche would work out a “hidden pardon,” and in light of the firing of Maurene Comey who was handling the case for DOJ, it seems that any obstructions are being cleared. Dave Aronberg, Bondi’s former border czar, called this move “extraordinary” leading him to believe a lot of politics is involved, which might get Maxwell some immunity now and a pardon of sorts in the future — if she claims that Trump is innocent of any wrongdoing in the whole mess. Senator Adam Schiff says, “Clearly, this errand that Todd Blanche, the number-two at the Justice Department, is going on now is in his capacity as Trump’s defense attorney. He wants to know what this convicted child sex trafficker has to say about Donald Trump. And, certainly, she wants a pardon. This whole thing stinks to high heaven.” Attorney Ben Meiselas of ‘MeidasTouch‘ believes Trump is giving Ghislaine a golden ticket for a retrial.

With all this activity, Andy Borowitz has a hit upon where VP JD Vance might be found, his theory datelined from Edinburgh, Scotland: “Donald J Trump revealed on Monday that JD Vance has agreed to serve the remainder of Ghislaiine Maxwell’s prison sentence for her. ‘JD wasn’t thrilled about it, quite frankly,’ Trump told reporters. ‘He was crying like a dog. I told him to be a man. It’s only 20 years.’ As for Maxwell, Trump said, ‘I wish her well,’ adding that he expects her to be a ‘terrific vice president’.”