The ongoing capitulation to Donald Trump by the mainstream media continues, slowly but surely. Jumping into the vanguard of media surrender two months before Trump is sworn in is the now second- or third-rate metro daily, the once august Los Angeles Times.

You may remember that its billionaire owner—without any background in or understanding of the essence of journalism—spiked his editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, wound up firing the board, and took to Twitter with a pathetically ignorant note defending his actions. He basically apologized for a non-existent liberal bias, saying the voters had spoken and now it was time for “all voices” to be heard, as if conservative views had been censored in the paper previously—a preposterous proposition.

Now, this oligarch has returned to Elon Musk’s Twitter Toilet to drop another stinking load of groveling Trumpist claptrap in his obvious quest to save himself from any coming clampdown on his paper, and maybe make a few hundred million bucks while he’s at it. Here’s his latest crawling on his knees love-Tweet to Trump and RFJ Jr.

@DrPatSoonShiong
“The appointment of three highly qualified, critical thinkers—all of whom are MDs—to leadership positions in key agencies that influence the health of all Americans… FDA, CMS, and CDC… is an inspired decision! These doctors understand the needs of patients and community care and have the vision to finally transform our health system from sick care to true health care. Hopefully, the era of dogma, groupthink, and implementing policies based on incorrect assumptions that have driven our high-cost, poor-outcomes healthcare system for decades is over. Congratulations on these great decisions, President Trump and RFK.

Let’s unpack this kiss-ass note. Dr. Patrick Shoon-Shiong or PSS as he is called among many others nicknames, as LA Times owner declared when he spiked the Harris endorsement shortly before the election that it wasn’t really the paper’s role to tell voters who should be president.

But now, a month later, with Trump repeating his long-time threats about the media being “the enemy within,” PSS has gone out of his way to congratulate RFK Jr. and “President” Trump (president-elect, dummy) for their “appointment of three highly qualified, critical thinkers—all of whom are MDs—to leadership positions in key agencies that influence the health of all Americans… FDA, CMS, and CDC… is an inspired decision!”

Hey, the exclamation point is his, not mine. Whoopee, he’s excited!

PSS would not let his editorial board—whom he appointed—endorse Harris for president, but now he is publicly blowing kisses to Trump and RFK Jr on Musk’s discredited platform. The former is a convicted criminal and the major mis-manager of the COVID pandemic responsible for tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, and the latter is one of the most prominent wack-a-doodles in the country, responsible for 83 childhood deaths from measles in Samoa. Do not overlook that PSS tagged both Trump and RFK Jr., who together reach 300 million Twitter users.

Let’s take a look at these three inspiring MDs who have so deeply set the LA Times owner's heart’s aflutter.

He lauds the appointment of the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who, in fact, is an MD. So was Dr. Mengele. To be precise, the new CMS chief is Dr. Mehmet Oz, the well-known TV personality, failed senatorial candidate, peddler of dubious remedies, idolizer of Donald Trump, and “critical thinker.” And I would add, now, a national punchline. One scientific study of the supplements Dr. Oz hawks found that 40% of them were useless.

Mr. PSS must have missed Monday’s story by NBC, which revealed that Dr. Oz has been acting as a celebrity frontman for a sleazy operation that preys on the elderly, including the mentally impaired, to persuade them to cancel their Medicare and replace it with the company’s private insurance. Well, at least we can say that as head of Medicare, Dr. Oz does have lived experience in the field—ripping off the elderly.

The other two picks, the FDA nominee and the person chosen to head the crucial CDC, are much lower-profile choices. Both are MDs and both are closely aligned with RFK Jr.’s, ahem, “vaccine skepticism.” All three can be expected to adhere to whatever orders come from their boss, RFK Jr. I could just post this New York Times headline, which tells you at least the minimum you need to know.

But let’s delve a little deeper, thanks to The New York Times, which seems to have a dimmer view of these "Tres Amigos." The equally inspiring Dr. David Weldon, named to head the CDC, spent 14 years as a Republican congressman from Florida before returning to medicine. As a sitting congressman, he spread the patently false notion that thimerosal, a preservative used in many vaccines, was responsible for an autism outbreak. He also attempted to pass a “vaccine safety bill” in 2007 that would have removed most vaccine safety research from the CDC, reducing the scope and power of the agency most qualified to evaluate vaccines. The bill failed. But he’s now going to be in charge of that same CDC. I would expect a mass exodus from that shop asap.

The soon-to-be new FDA commissioner, Dr. Martin Makary, has been more positive about children’s vaccines but has raised questions about the hepatitis vaccine, as well as a third COVID booster for children.

The New York Times reports:

“Dr. Makary has become known—in opinion articles, on podcasts, and on spots on Fox News—for critiquing vaccine mandates and many other aspects of U.S. COVID policies, and for arguing that doctors have underestimated natural immunity.”

He has also testified on Capitol Hill as a GOP shill, questioning the COVID vaccines.

“The notion that this man, who has held a series of false beliefs about science and medicine, could rise to the position of heading the CDC is, in some sense, frightening,” said Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a current advisor to the FDA.

Ten days ago, Jonathan V. Last(“JVL”) of The Bulwark easily predicted that the nomination of RFK Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would not be the last shot fired at public health. And he wrote this before the "Tres Amigos" were named:

“One of the downstream consequences of Robert Kennedy’s appointment to head the Department of Health and Human Services is that vaccination rates in America will plummet."

“Please understand that Kennedy is not a vaccine ‘skeptic.’ He is opposed to all vaccines and claims that no vaccine is ‘safe.’“

“RFK’s formal merger with Trumpism will have the effect of making his view of vaccines a de rigueur tenet of MAGA politics. People who pledge fealty to Trumpism will discover that, in addition to being required to believe that Trump won the 2020 election, they are also required to oppose vaccinations of all types.”

“That’s coming. There’s no avoiding it.”

“And as sure as day follows night, we will see the large-scale reappearance of preventable diseases such as measles and polio. Children will die.”

Let’s circle back to the media. So, what difference does it make if a newspaper’s owner makes a miserable and woeful endorsement of three questionable health officials, and then thanks Trump and RFK for such inspiring choices? Well, PSS, himself a doctor, became a billionaire in the biotech industry. With billions invested in all sorts of medical-related enterprises, you know it’s good business to flatter these regulators—or rather, de-regulators. As billionaires go, PSS is a small fish worth about 8 billion, making himself a tougher sale to Trump than Musk with $300b. That partially explains the groveling.

But, as the overused phrase goes, the guardrails are not listing; they are collapsing. The journalistic consequences here are quite grave. The atmosphere in the LA Times newsroom has been described to me by one reporter as “funereal, surreal.”

Would you want to be the reporter assigned to cover RFK, Trump, Dr. Oz, or any of these other "vaccine skeptics" when you know your boss loves them and can dispose of you with the snap of his fingers?

It’s a regularly violated, but nevertheless fundamental, rule in journalism that the business side needs to keep its nose out of the newsroom and its editorial content. PSS has set a new low bar by publicly editorializing, lauding this administration crew—and what consequences does that bring?

"A lot of us are looking to get out of the place," says the LA Times reporter. "I feel like I am being suffocated." In the usual way over the past twenty years of journalism's decline, PSS is probably hoping for a mass exodus of reporters who cost too much and can easily be replaced by low paid recent grads who would be totally compliant.

I might be wrong, but I don’t think there is any precedent for a major newspaper owner publicly editorializing about and heaping praise on the individuals coming in with a new administration. PSS has got it ass-backwards. It’s the editorial board (representing the editorial staff) who should do the opinionating, and he should keep his trap shut.

Expect a lot of turmoil in the coming weeks at the LA Times as PSS drags it to new lows in his pathetic quest to be loved by Trump and his not-so-private desire to be named some sort of health advisor to the administration. But only $8 billion? He shouldn’t get his hopes up.

CNN, like the rest of cable news, is struggling as millions overdosed on the massive political coverage and its dismal outcome and ratings for cable news are tanking. So, of course, CNN—while still doing some good reporting—is about to perform its own political shift.

The mainstream news outlet Semafor has this bit of news for us:

During an internal meeting with staff earlier this month, first reported by the Status newsletter, CNN boss Mark Thompson emphasized that he did not want the network to default to leaning into anti-Trump coverage ahead of another four years of Trump in power (though he did not mention the president-elect specifically). He told CNN staffers that there would be numerous important stories outside the Beltway that should not be pushed aside.

That’s a wordy way of ordering the troops to soften their coverage of the criminal president. Expect more pro-Trump shifts from NBC and ABC, who Trump has publicly derided. They are coming, for sure. And surely there will be no news about Trump's felony convictions or the more serious charges he has faced, because those have all gone away.

Donald Trump must have ordered an extra-large portion of McDonald’s fries today to celebrate the total failure of outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland. (Trump doesn’t drink, as we know from stories of his contempt for his alcoholic brother. Instead, he eats to keep his weight constant at 165 lbs.)

As of Monday night, Trump no longer faces any criminal charges—owing at least in part to the unbelievable 20 months it took for Garland to appoint Special Counsel Jack Smith after the lawlessness of January 6. A dead turtle moves faster than that.

Smith today formally closed down both federal cases against Trump for his role in the conspiracy to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, as well as the case against him for the purloined classified documents he hid for two years from the National Archives. The judge in the New York case, where he was convicted on 34 felony counts, has “indefinitely” suspended any sentencing—originally scheduled for mid-September 2024. And the Atlanta RICO case is also in chaos and death-bound, thanks in part to the reckless personal behavior of prosecutor Fani Willis.

The most threatening cases were the federal ones dismissed today. Some legal scholars opposed this move, which would have forced Trump to take the embarrassing self-serving step of ordering his own cases dismissed when he was sworn in.

Smith, I think, made the better decision. Two absurd memos, written years ago by the Office of Legal Counsel, set as a norm—not as a law—that the DOJ could not put a sitting president on trial while in office. Smith made his move and ensured the cases were dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning they can still be reopened once Trump finishes his term and if Hulk Hogan is not the latest the Attorney General. The case against his co-defendants, two low-ranking flunkies from Mar-a-Lago, will proceed.

(No kidding, Hogan’s name was floated this week as a possible Trump appointee to some Physical Education Directorate, as Bozo the Clown was not available.). If Smith had let Trump dismiss his own cases it would have been “with prejudice,” closing off any future prosecution.

So that’s where we stand this Thanksgiving week. Donald Trump sits firmly above the law and is bolstered by the hideous ruling by the Supreme Court providing him immunity from a broad range of law-breaking while in office. And the media is backsliding because it is more important to pander to Power than just tell the truth.

Yes, this is all grim news, but it is all for real. At the same time, Trump will face many more obstacles and a lot more public dissent and opposition once in office. Do not despair yet. I’ll let you know when.

I suggest you fully enjoy this coming holiday weekend. That’s my plan. And I’ll check in with you after the weekend with more uplifting news and maybe even the rough outlines of a viable oppositional strategy. No Surrender. Every space you abandon will be filled with MAGA, and that is not acceptable. Solidarity!

Marc Cooper has written for Harper's, The New Yorker, The Nation, and many others. At the University of Southern California he was the founding director of Annenberg Digital News. Read him on Substack at ​The Coop Scoop​.

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