667
submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Veteran 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley reported on Donald Trump’s efforts to strong-arm some of the country’s top law firms into doing his bidding on Sunday night’s episode of the embattled CBS newsmagazine.

Pelley’s segment pulled no punches in describing Trump’s efforts and reminding viewers that Trump is the “first felon” ever to sit in the Oval Office.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 149 points 2 months ago

Pretty terrifying honestly.

I'm kind of astonished that even republicans can't see anything wrong with everything happening. Like conservative ideals are one thing but dismantling the rule of law is a whole other thing.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 73 points 2 months ago

Uh... What did you think conservatives stood for again? Conservatism has always been about putting wealth in the hands of the few and scapegoating vulnerable people to distract the masses; everything else is camouflage.

[-] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 months ago

I don't think the majority of conservatives actually want that.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 45 points 2 months ago

They claim they don't want that, but every single one of their positions feeds into one or both of these two results.

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you. ― Lyndon B. Johnson

[-] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago

The majority of Republicans are fucking morons that have no idea what is going on in the world and have no desire to so long as they have identified which group they are supposed to hate.

[-] FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 19 points 2 months ago

They just want to hate the people who they fear

Because they're fucking idiots who choose ignorance because thinking is difficult for them

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

I wish more people understood this. Fear drives them just hate is an easier emotion that they can handle.

[-] frunch@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

What would you say they want, then?

[-] mister_flibble@lemm.ee 17 points 2 months ago

I do suspect there's a pretty decent sized chunk who bought into that "Republicans are good for the economy" line of bullshit DECADES ago and have just spent the intervening time hell bent on not giving anything political even the tiniest iota of thought. These people still fucking suck, as that basically involves waking up every day and choosing to be a completely uninformed moron rather than spend 5 fucking seconds thinking about something they find uninteresting. So some are hateful bigots and some are just so fucking stupid it's a minor miracle they've survived this long without someone to follow them around covering the outlets and safety pinning mittens to their sleeves. Fuck em both.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I do suspect there’s a pretty decent sized chunk who bought into that “Republicans are good for the economy” line of bullshit DECADES ago and have just spent the intervening time hell bent on not giving anything political even the tiniest iota of thought.

"I've been a conservative because I believe the Regan trickle down economics works."

My old coworker. I literally said "my guy we've had fifty goddamn years to show that is complete bullshit. How many more decades do we need to try it for you to realize it doesn't work?"

As you said, he just spent 0 time thinking about it.

But to be honest, it does work for him in a way... His parents were wealthy and so he has lived his life as a janitor and a doorman and will still be able to retire into a nice house with a ton of inheritance money...

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah, it trickles down from rich parents to their kids. That's good enough for him I guess.

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

Then why did 77 million Republicans vote for Trump and Republicans?

[-] Philote@lemmy.ml 20 points 2 months ago

Because their propaganda game is laser focused and extremely well funded. Propaganda works. They convinced half the population that if you like guns and are a Christian you must vote red or the blues will take it all away. It’s almost that simple.

[-] rayyy@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

propaganda game

THIS should be the top comment. I've seen friends and family fall for the BS because it was perverse and they never bothered to actually check things out. Republicans have worked overtime propagandizing the population since Nixon. No lie was too outrageous, no dirty trick too vile and eliminating liberal voices was top on their agenda, all backed by big dirty money.

[-] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Sure, but that view makes it sound like they are helpless victims in all this. They have access to the internet just like we do. They fall for the propaganda despite all evidence to the contrary and I only see two possibilities that can explain that; they are stupid or they want all that hateful stuff to be true so badly that they choose to shut out everything else. Neither explanation makes them anything other than shitty, selfish people.

load more comments (12 replies)
[-] 4am@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Capitalism is the entropy lottery, and the more you remove the graphite the more the reaction runs away toward total meltdown

Conservatism is the belief that we should ban pencils because how dare you limit my chances even a little before everything breaks

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 41 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I've lived in several countries and watched conservatives in all of them over half a century. Nothing I have seen has ever changed my view that conservatism is pathological selfishness disguised as a political philosophy. While other political movements agree on making life better for people in general but disagree on how to do it, conservatives indulge their personality disorder, call it politics, and demand to be taken as seriously as those who actually try.

[-] errer@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

The only reason why Trump’s approval rating has sunk a bit amongst conservatives is that tariffs are directly affecting them. As you said, they are selfishness incarnate.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Bouzou@lemmy.world 70 points 2 months ago

It's insane, because it's not some sassy or hyperbolic report. It's perfectly measured and...logical. A well made report.

[-] knightmare1147@lemmy.world 69 points 2 months ago

I love this. It's kind of a rule of the internet that if you tell it to stop doing something it'll just make everyone more determined. I want to see every group that interacts with the administration be so resolute to give them shit.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 63 points 2 months ago

This is real journalism, which has become increasingly rare these days. Everything else is just PR.

[-] blattrules@lemmy.world 63 points 2 months ago

This is what every journalist in America needs to be doing right now.

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I would argue it's what every journalist in America should have been doing 8 FUCKING YEARS AGO, but no, they helped create this monster so they could report on it. They are a human/media centipede crossed with an Ouroboros eating it's own shit. Support independent media, not partisan sources in either direction, they're ALL compromised by capital.

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

OK, but this is also what every journalist needs to be doing right now.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Almacca@aussie.zone 63 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Jesus Christ. What subject, other than abject flattery, is Trump not sensitive about? No matter what they do, any story that's based remotely on fact is gonna piss that fragile little man off, so why not just have at him?

[-] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

so why not just have at him?

Money, it's always money. I'm not sure if it is capitalism in general or American culture specifically but our system rewards greedy people so much that they are essentially all we have left in positions of power. Principled leaders barely exist, just craven pretenders who view power as another means to enrich themselves.

[-] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 46 points 2 months ago

Glad legacy media still has a few balls left

[-] courval@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago

Make no mistake, the only reason we're seeing this in the media now is because big business is getting hit. Mostly a shot in the foot with tariffs but let's keep those boycotts up!

[-] comfy@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Absolutely. This kind of media is owned (literally) by big business investors. I know it's obvious but it needs to be said plainly, mass media is the mouthpiece of the rich. It's no coincidence that Musk bought Xitter and Bezos bought Washington Post.

They will only cry alongside us when they're being hurt. They sure didn't care until now.

[-] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 months ago

I assume the big boys lost more money from the tariff insanity than they made from getting their next tax cut. Losing money is the only thing they do not tolerate because it hurts them in their inhouse pissing contest on who can be the biggest societal parasite.

[-] RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago

Trump is the biggest piece of shit America has ever produced.

load more comments (14 replies)
[-] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 12 points 2 months ago

My only hope at this point is that, by firing most of NOAA, they somehow miss or are otherwise unprepared for a freak hurricane that blows right through DC while congress is in session and Trump is doing a photo op while signing a new bullshit order.

[-] laranis@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 months ago

Only nine years too late.

Still, hope this marks the start of a trend.

[-] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 10 points 2 months ago

Extortion of law firms. What the fucking hell scared these businesses so much? Just stopping federal contracts with them?

And with that threat looming overhead, how do they not have the motivation to quietly resist? You want to talk about respecting the law and fighting back - that's who needs to do it.

Except they bent the knee anyway. We know they're just as complicit in the Regimes acts now.

And that's just one issue.

[-] Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

It’s a shit spot to be in, as basically all of them work cases in federal court. If your lawyers are physically prevented entry to federal property because some orange buffoon bans the entire firm by the stroke of a pen, that law firm is completely impotent and unable to argue in federal cases, even those that don’t end up in a courtroom. Judges chambers, pre-trial motions, informal meetings, etc all are impossible or vastly more difficult.

It was a very targeted and deliberate move to put these firms in a lose:lose scenario - give an absurd amount of pro-bono work to your abuser, or wither and die as your clients are forced to move to another firm:

The orders threatened to bar attorneys from where they work, courthouses and federal agencies and cancel the contracts of law firm clients. For example, an aerospace company could lose its federal contracts if it stayed with the firm. A senior partner at one firm told us the president's orders were, quote, "diabolical." "Intended to bankrupt [us]."

[-] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago

Man that's such a small detail I glossed over, that they can bar them from courthouses.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] demizerone@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

I hate 60 minutes but watched that on YouTube. Anything to piss on trumps shallow ego.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

60 Minutes finally found their spine? They’ve been barely tolerable for a while now with poor reporting. Looks like getting attacked personally was what it took to hit back with actual accuracy.

[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

That pesky first amendment comes back to bite again!

load more comments
this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
667 points (99.6% liked)

politics

24628 readers
1350 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS