Happy Monday!! I am grinning with pure joy! It is about time and I LOVE that the announcement came from Fox. The cracks are widening and the dam just might be about to burst.
Wooo hoo! Not quite time for the champagne….. but a small happy dance? Ohh yeahhhh!
Thanks, Jack!! I’m hoping it felt good to write this one. 👍☮️
Not only does Trump lose what he craves most - attention, he loses control of his narrative. The networks will still get information as Jack pointed out, but they will get it from sources as unfiltered data. That will be like turning the knife not Trump's narrative because every outlet will carry their own version. History shows Jack's sequence is spot on. I'll be keeping score.
I have come to believe that the news media forgot about trust. They seem to have forgotten that without trust, they might as well be covering turtle races. No trust, half truths, softball questions, and I can scroll past them so fast that it makes your head spin. Breaking ranks will lose trust but more than that, it will lose credibility for the profession. I need my trust restored….
Mary Ann...well said...and...thank you for being here.
Trust is EARNED in the moments when it COSTS something. THIS... is one of those moments. I'll be watching whether they hold...and I'll call it out either way!
Thank you Jack! This latest move doesn't surprise me. This idiot has been trying to shrink his circle to the smallest, most loyal claque of hangers on in order to carry out his delusional agenda in the dark...but he's trying to do it while holding probably one of, if not the most, public offices in the frickin' world!!! What an IDIOT!!!! LOL. Not gonna work, dude.
Philip...lol...you hit on the contradiction in a way that made me chuckle, and I appreciate it.
You can't run the MOST WATCHED office on earth...like a private club. The MORE he shrinks the circle...the MORE everyone outside it...starts paying attention.
This is honestly a breath of fresh air that will be with me for quite some time, Jack. Thank you.
Fox Just Told Trump No. That Should Terrify Him More Than Any Lawsuit.
There is exactly one currency Donald Trump has ever actually worshipped, and it isn't loyalty, and it isn't money, and it sure as hell isn't the Constitution. It's the camera. Specifically, it's a camera pointed at him, running, with someone on the other end who won't cut away. And this week, for the first time in a decade, the network that has spent ten years supplying that camera on command decided it would rather go dark than keep pointing it for a fight this petty.
That is the whole story. Everything else is noise around a man who cannot survive noise.
On Friday, Trump banned CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House, calling their coverage "FAKE NEWS" — the same three words he's recycled since 2017, because the man has never needed a fourth. By Monday, when CNN's turn came up to run the shared pool camera for his UN trip, the White House shut them out of that too. So the other four networks had a choice: step over CNN's empty chair and keep the lens rolling for him, or refuse. Fox's own Washington bureau chief — the man who chairs the pool — wrote the refusal himself. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox then signed one sentence together: no administration gets to restrict a newsroom because it doesn't like the coverage.
Sit with that. The network that has spent a decade as his security blanket just told him, in writing, that it won't hold the camera steady while he throws a tantrum on the world stage.
Here is what makes this different from every other press skirmish of the last nine years: it wasn't an accident, and it wasn't one outlet being brave. It was a decision. Five competitors, who spend every other day of the calendar trying to bury each other in ratings, sat down and made a cohesive, deliberate choice to pull the plug together. Nobody stumbled into that sentence. Somebody drafted it, somebody at each network signed off on it, and every one of them understood exactly what they were giving up and exactly who they were protecting by doing it. That's not spontaneous outrage. That's strategy.
And it matters because this was never just about CNN, or MS NOW, or Politico. When one outlet gets isolated and punished while the others stay silent, every journalist in that press corps learns the same lesson: keep your head down, or you're next. That's the whole mechanism. It doesn't require banning all of them. It just requires the rest to calculate that silence is safer. This week, for the second time in less than a year, that calculation broke — and it broke because enough of them, together, said no.
Because make no mistake about what the United Nations General Assembly is to this man. It isn't diplomacy. It's the biggest stage he gets all year, and he has never once treated it as anything but a stage. Fourteen seasons of network television taught him that a room without a camera isn't a room — it's a rehearsal nobody's grading. And this week, at his biggest rehearsal of the year, his own network told him the recorder's off.
Picture him. Not the Truth Social bravado, not the all-caps — picture the version of him that exists in the fifteen minutes after the post goes up, when the phone isn't ringing the way it used to, when the loyalty test comes back with a maybe. That's a man built entirely out of applause, discovering the applause has a condition attached to it now.
Jack's right to rank this second only to voting, and it's worth saying plainly why those two things belong together. Voting is the one vote that decides who holds power. This is the version of that same math that plays out every week in between elections — one editor, one bureau chief, one network deciding whether to go along or say no. It takes one signature to break a boycott. It takes one network peeling off for the whole wall to come down. And it takes one email, from one man in one bureau, to prove the wall can hold instead.
That's the whole lesson of this week, stripped down: when enough people — enough outlets, enough voters, enough ordinary citizens — say no at the same time, the tactic stops working. Not because the man wielding it changed. Because the math he was counting on stopped adding up.
Watch Fox in the weeks ahead. Whether it holds under pressure will tell you more about the actual strength of this presidency than any poll or lawsuit ever will. But don't watch it as a media story. Watch it as a rehearsal for the only vote that ends this for good.
You didn't just COMMENT ON the piece...you wrote a COMPANION TO it. "A man built entirely out of applause," yeah...I like that. A LOT.
To those who aren't already reading Jane's expressions (and I don't imagine that applies to many... if any), I invite you to start. I do...and find I often wind up having an even better understanding of my OWN positions.
You’ve both done a beautiful job here. It’s lovely, truly, and thank you both.
I have one little thought to share regarding the timing of this. I don’t feel as though it’s too late at all. Himself seems to be feeling enough of a vulnerability of sorts that he’s slipping up more than usual. He’s more attuned to the idea of his power’s being temporary, etc. In short, he’s flailing. I think this may have been the absolute perfect time to remind him that we’re not all off balance due to his shenanigans all of the time.
He’s not really the boss of us.
Some of those around him are actual PEOPLE and they are not takin’ it.
I don't know that I've ever been more surprised by a compliment in my life. I wrote "a man built entirely out of applause" not expecting anyone to look twice at it, and you've gone and made it feel like something we built together. That means more than I probably know how to say.
What you're pointing at — that even one common denominator is enough to move people in unison — is exactly the thing I think this moment in America is starving for. Not agreement on everything. Just enough shared ground to stand on together. Watching that idea land, and land with you, of all people... I'm not going to pretend I'm not a little pumped about it.
Thank you for reading me the way you read me. Your writing is inspiration in itself.
And watching with FASCINATION is one useful approach to intentionally detach from some of the anxiety...when/if you feel the need.
When I watched my clients with FASCINATION, I noticed things that later proved critical...that I would have never noticed is that I was watching for some preconceived idea of what I THOUGHT I SHOULD see...while also helping me detach in an emotionally healthy way...from my emotional need for a certain outcome.
Of course, we DO know what outcome we want here. It's just that...sometimes...being so emotionally attached TO the outcome...creates an anxiety...that...interestingly enough, keeps us from doing what we need to do...to ACHIEVE it.
"Now, I understand… and feel completely engaged in watching this unfold" is perhaps the most rewarding thing you could have written. That's really what I'm striving for with each piece I publish. To me, if I fail there...I have failed YOU.
And...lol...believe me, I understand how WRONG it feels to think about thanking Fox. The way I process it...to make it a little less "icky" is that I am thanking them for their DECISION on this ONE thing, not that I am suddenly aligned with the network as a whole.
They are standing together.. that’s something I thought I’d never see.. great article my dear friend!! They got Akamai ( smart in Hawaiian).. what do you do with an unruly child… take away his toys and put him in a time out.. about damn time
It's one of those complex issues, though. Yes, GREAT that the major networks and especially Fox say, "Nope, not happening" they send the message that we are all in this together. Here's where the problem is, and you named what will happen: pro-Trump producers on the one or two networks that love him will produce campaign videos --- just the propaganda he LOVES more than anything. I hope you are right that people won't believe it, but I fear the cult will just eat it up. In the meantime, I am smiling that FOX has said no. That wall needed to crumble. #holdingfaststill
Trying to find the 3 minute NBC affiliate news clip that showed up in my youtube sidebar "thumbnails" is probably futile. Summary: CNN has already filed lawsuit and the judge assigned is the same judge who heard the case CNN filed against WH during t's 1st term when one of their journalists had their press pass taken away.. Judge ordered that the journalist be temporarily given back their press pass while the case was pending and WH eventually gave up the suit.
Found the link: News networks refuse to provide pool coverage of White House after CNN was banned
P.S. On June 7, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Kelly to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Jack, I remember when President Harry Truman talked to me, and that was exciting when he visited the town where I lived. We had radio and newspapers but no television back then.
Eventually, we had a television, and I found it odd that news of President Eisenhower was mentioned so much. In fact, I even complained about it and asked the adults why the television people had to do that. I was much more interested in “I love Lucy”, “Pinky Lee”, “Super Man” starring George Reeves, and eventually “The $64,,000 Question” and “Howdy Doody”.
Presidential news continued, but I was gaining better understanding. It was exciting when Mr. Adlai Stevenson ran for president. That was the first campaign I paid attention to, and we talked about the two candidates in class at school! Later in life I visited the presidential homes and/or libraries of Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, G. W. Bush, Hoover, and possibly more. I am not planning to be finished visiting those types of places, but it has been a while since the last time.
Meanwhile, as you know, we are flooded with news of presidents, one more that any of the others, and I have expressed my disillusion with the overly done televising. In fact, I do not have television now.
We have had presidents to be proud of and grateful for in various categories, and I am always thankful for people who truly care about people, kindness, and truth as well as politeness and our country, friends, neighbors, and animals. Right now, I am extremely grateful for the network people banding and standing together for what is right to protect Our First Amendment for The People, All of the People!
Thank you for all you have explained, for sharing your prediction based on knowledge, and for keeping us posted!
Hey Jack…the fact that FOX is saying no and joining with other news outlets is great news…my husband was blown away, couldn’t believe it! I think that Donnie is starting to overplay “his hand” and, like he told President Zelensky, Trump is “not holding all the cards” that he thinks he is! He’s at 39% in his approval ratings, and those numbers were broadcast on FOX! Everything he has touched has turned to garbage and the American people are starting to realize that we are the ones footing the bill for all of this…while we struggle to fill our tanks and grocery carts and just get by from day to day! Fingers crossed the court comes down with a ruling very soon and it lands hard!!
Thanks as always! Hanging on…still!!
Christie
PS. I try to catch Nicolle as often as I can…she’s great!
As much as I'd like to think that he will not be able to handle the lack of daily oxygen he gets from this, I think he'll beef up the press releases from his White House news platform and might even hire more broadcasters to run it under the scrutiny and approval of Trump himself. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
Happy Monday!! I am grinning with pure joy! It is about time and I LOVE that the announcement came from Fox. The cracks are widening and the dam just might be about to burst.
Wooo hoo! Not quite time for the champagne….. but a small happy dance? Ohh yeahhhh!
Thanks, Jack!! I’m hoping it felt good to write this one. 👍☮️
Happy Monday to YOU, Deb!
Yes...it felt incredible to write this one. In fact...I stopped a couple of times...just to reflect on the fact..that I WAS.
As you said, it's NOT time for the champagne...but this is a BIG deal...without question.
I'd say a person can feel less awkward in thinking about there being a day...some day...where champagne might be appropriate.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Deb, you grin in company! It means so much when people stand up together for what is right and put the people first!
YES!
Not only does Trump lose what he craves most - attention, he loses control of his narrative. The networks will still get information as Jack pointed out, but they will get it from sources as unfiltered data. That will be like turning the knife not Trump's narrative because every outlet will carry their own version. History shows Jack's sequence is spot on. I'll be keeping score.
Steven...exactly.
One camera meant ONE shared picture he could play to. Now...it's MANY angles...and he controls NONE of them.
Thanks for keeping score, Steven. It keeps me honest.
-Jack
I have come to believe that the news media forgot about trust. They seem to have forgotten that without trust, they might as well be covering turtle races. No trust, half truths, softball questions, and I can scroll past them so fast that it makes your head spin. Breaking ranks will lose trust but more than that, it will lose credibility for the profession. I need my trust restored….
Mary Ann...well said...and...thank you for being here.
Trust is EARNED in the moments when it COSTS something. THIS... is one of those moments. I'll be watching whether they hold...and I'll call it out either way!
-Jack
Jack, a humongous thanks go to you for spelling out the steps as you have, and we are watching!
Judy Robinson...you're welcome.
Little steps, repeated...over time...quite often create SIGNIFICANT changes. Thank YOU for paying attention...and caring.
In today's world, BOTH require energy...and are easy not to do. YOU matter.
-Jack
Thank you Jack! This latest move doesn't surprise me. This idiot has been trying to shrink his circle to the smallest, most loyal claque of hangers on in order to carry out his delusional agenda in the dark...but he's trying to do it while holding probably one of, if not the most, public offices in the frickin' world!!! What an IDIOT!!!! LOL. Not gonna work, dude.
Philip...lol...you hit on the contradiction in a way that made me chuckle, and I appreciate it.
You can't run the MOST WATCHED office on earth...like a private club. The MORE he shrinks the circle...the MORE everyone outside it...starts paying attention.
"Not gonna work, dude" is EXACTLY right. It's not. Hell NO.
-Jack
YES INDEEDY!
This is honestly a breath of fresh air that will be with me for quite some time, Jack. Thank you.
Fox Just Told Trump No. That Should Terrify Him More Than Any Lawsuit.
There is exactly one currency Donald Trump has ever actually worshipped, and it isn't loyalty, and it isn't money, and it sure as hell isn't the Constitution. It's the camera. Specifically, it's a camera pointed at him, running, with someone on the other end who won't cut away. And this week, for the first time in a decade, the network that has spent ten years supplying that camera on command decided it would rather go dark than keep pointing it for a fight this petty.
That is the whole story. Everything else is noise around a man who cannot survive noise.
On Friday, Trump banned CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House, calling their coverage "FAKE NEWS" — the same three words he's recycled since 2017, because the man has never needed a fourth. By Monday, when CNN's turn came up to run the shared pool camera for his UN trip, the White House shut them out of that too. So the other four networks had a choice: step over CNN's empty chair and keep the lens rolling for him, or refuse. Fox's own Washington bureau chief — the man who chairs the pool — wrote the refusal himself. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox then signed one sentence together: no administration gets to restrict a newsroom because it doesn't like the coverage.
Sit with that. The network that has spent a decade as his security blanket just told him, in writing, that it won't hold the camera steady while he throws a tantrum on the world stage.
Here is what makes this different from every other press skirmish of the last nine years: it wasn't an accident, and it wasn't one outlet being brave. It was a decision. Five competitors, who spend every other day of the calendar trying to bury each other in ratings, sat down and made a cohesive, deliberate choice to pull the plug together. Nobody stumbled into that sentence. Somebody drafted it, somebody at each network signed off on it, and every one of them understood exactly what they were giving up and exactly who they were protecting by doing it. That's not spontaneous outrage. That's strategy.
And it matters because this was never just about CNN, or MS NOW, or Politico. When one outlet gets isolated and punished while the others stay silent, every journalist in that press corps learns the same lesson: keep your head down, or you're next. That's the whole mechanism. It doesn't require banning all of them. It just requires the rest to calculate that silence is safer. This week, for the second time in less than a year, that calculation broke — and it broke because enough of them, together, said no.
Because make no mistake about what the United Nations General Assembly is to this man. It isn't diplomacy. It's the biggest stage he gets all year, and he has never once treated it as anything but a stage. Fourteen seasons of network television taught him that a room without a camera isn't a room — it's a rehearsal nobody's grading. And this week, at his biggest rehearsal of the year, his own network told him the recorder's off.
Picture him. Not the Truth Social bravado, not the all-caps — picture the version of him that exists in the fifteen minutes after the post goes up, when the phone isn't ringing the way it used to, when the loyalty test comes back with a maybe. That's a man built entirely out of applause, discovering the applause has a condition attached to it now.
Jack's right to rank this second only to voting, and it's worth saying plainly why those two things belong together. Voting is the one vote that decides who holds power. This is the version of that same math that plays out every week in between elections — one editor, one bureau chief, one network deciding whether to go along or say no. It takes one signature to break a boycott. It takes one network peeling off for the whole wall to come down. And it takes one email, from one man in one bureau, to prove the wall can hold instead.
That's the whole lesson of this week, stripped down: when enough people — enough outlets, enough voters, enough ordinary citizens — say no at the same time, the tactic stops working. Not because the man wielding it changed. Because the math he was counting on stopped adding up.
Watch Fox in the weeks ahead. Whether it holds under pressure will tell you more about the actual strength of this presidency than any poll or lawsuit ever will. But don't watch it as a media story. Watch it as a rehearsal for the only vote that ends this for good.
#HOLDFAST
Jane...this is extraordinary.
You didn't just COMMENT ON the piece...you wrote a COMPANION TO it. "A man built entirely out of applause," yeah...I like that. A LOT.
To those who aren't already reading Jane's expressions (and I don't imagine that applies to many... if any), I invite you to start. I do...and find I often wind up having an even better understanding of my OWN positions.
Well done, Jane.Thank you.
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
You’ve both done a beautiful job here. It’s lovely, truly, and thank you both.
I have one little thought to share regarding the timing of this. I don’t feel as though it’s too late at all. Himself seems to be feeling enough of a vulnerability of sorts that he’s slipping up more than usual. He’s more attuned to the idea of his power’s being temporary, etc. In short, he’s flailing. I think this may have been the absolute perfect time to remind him that we’re not all off balance due to his shenanigans all of the time.
He’s not really the boss of us.
Some of those around him are actual PEOPLE and they are not takin’ it.
Not today.
Not tomorrow.
It’s a thing of beauty, unity. I’ve missed it.
Jack,
I don't know that I've ever been more surprised by a compliment in my life. I wrote "a man built entirely out of applause" not expecting anyone to look twice at it, and you've gone and made it feel like something we built together. That means more than I probably know how to say.
What you're pointing at — that even one common denominator is enough to move people in unison — is exactly the thing I think this moment in America is starving for. Not agreement on everything. Just enough shared ground to stand on together. Watching that idea land, and land with you, of all people... I'm not going to pretend I'm not a little pumped about it.
Thank you for reading me the way you read me. Your writing is inspiration in itself.
This will truly be interesting to watch to see who has the fortitude to wait it out...
#HOLDFAST
Teri
Teri, it really will.
And watching with FASCINATION is one useful approach to intentionally detach from some of the anxiety...when/if you feel the need.
When I watched my clients with FASCINATION, I noticed things that later proved critical...that I would have never noticed is that I was watching for some preconceived idea of what I THOUGHT I SHOULD see...while also helping me detach in an emotionally healthy way...from my emotional need for a certain outcome.
Of course, we DO know what outcome we want here. It's just that...sometimes...being so emotionally attached TO the outcome...creates an anxiety...that...interestingly enough, keeps us from doing what we need to do...to ACHIEVE it.
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Thanks for explaining this, step-by-step, Jack. Now, I understand… and feel completely engaged in watching this unfold.
And… ok… I will thank Fox- (even as my hand shakes as I write my thank you…)
Jack- well done, made me smile. 👍🏻
CJ...thank YOU so much for this.
"Now, I understand… and feel completely engaged in watching this unfold" is perhaps the most rewarding thing you could have written. That's really what I'm striving for with each piece I publish. To me, if I fail there...I have failed YOU.
And...lol...believe me, I understand how WRONG it feels to think about thanking Fox. The way I process it...to make it a little less "icky" is that I am thanking them for their DECISION on this ONE thing, not that I am suddenly aligned with the network as a whole.
Glad I made you smile!
-Jack
They are standing together.. that’s something I thought I’d never see.. great article my dear friend!! They got Akamai ( smart in Hawaiian).. what do you do with an unruly child… take away his toys and put him in a time out.. about damn time
It's one of those complex issues, though. Yes, GREAT that the major networks and especially Fox say, "Nope, not happening" they send the message that we are all in this together. Here's where the problem is, and you named what will happen: pro-Trump producers on the one or two networks that love him will produce campaign videos --- just the propaganda he LOVES more than anything. I hope you are right that people won't believe it, but I fear the cult will just eat it up. In the meantime, I am smiling that FOX has said no. That wall needed to crumble. #holdingfaststill
Trying to find the 3 minute NBC affiliate news clip that showed up in my youtube sidebar "thumbnails" is probably futile. Summary: CNN has already filed lawsuit and the judge assigned is the same judge who heard the case CNN filed against WH during t's 1st term when one of their journalists had their press pass taken away.. Judge ordered that the journalist be temporarily given back their press pass while the case was pending and WH eventually gave up the suit.
Found the link: News networks refuse to provide pool coverage of White House after CNN was banned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR6FL4TGysk
P.S. On June 7, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Kelly to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Wasn’t that Jim Acosta?
Jack, I remember when President Harry Truman talked to me, and that was exciting when he visited the town where I lived. We had radio and newspapers but no television back then.
Eventually, we had a television, and I found it odd that news of President Eisenhower was mentioned so much. In fact, I even complained about it and asked the adults why the television people had to do that. I was much more interested in “I love Lucy”, “Pinky Lee”, “Super Man” starring George Reeves, and eventually “The $64,,000 Question” and “Howdy Doody”.
Presidential news continued, but I was gaining better understanding. It was exciting when Mr. Adlai Stevenson ran for president. That was the first campaign I paid attention to, and we talked about the two candidates in class at school! Later in life I visited the presidential homes and/or libraries of Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, G. W. Bush, Hoover, and possibly more. I am not planning to be finished visiting those types of places, but it has been a while since the last time.
Meanwhile, as you know, we are flooded with news of presidents, one more that any of the others, and I have expressed my disillusion with the overly done televising. In fact, I do not have television now.
We have had presidents to be proud of and grateful for in various categories, and I am always thankful for people who truly care about people, kindness, and truth as well as politeness and our country, friends, neighbors, and animals. Right now, I am extremely grateful for the network people banding and standing together for what is right to protect Our First Amendment for The People, All of the People!
Thank you for all you have explained, for sharing your prediction based on knowledge, and for keeping us posted!
Hey Jack…the fact that FOX is saying no and joining with other news outlets is great news…my husband was blown away, couldn’t believe it! I think that Donnie is starting to overplay “his hand” and, like he told President Zelensky, Trump is “not holding all the cards” that he thinks he is! He’s at 39% in his approval ratings, and those numbers were broadcast on FOX! Everything he has touched has turned to garbage and the American people are starting to realize that we are the ones footing the bill for all of this…while we struggle to fill our tanks and grocery carts and just get by from day to day! Fingers crossed the court comes down with a ruling very soon and it lands hard!!
Thanks as always! Hanging on…still!!
Christie
PS. I try to catch Nicolle as often as I can…she’s great!
As much as I'd like to think that he will not be able to handle the lack of daily oxygen he gets from this, I think he'll beef up the press releases from his White House news platform and might even hire more broadcasters to run it under the scrutiny and approval of Trump himself. Wouldn't surprise me at all.