Paul Jay says that though it’s important to oppose the new FCC rulings and tax breaks, we should not forget how Trump came to power

Story Transcript

PAUL JAY: Hi everybody, Paul Jay at The Real News Network. The FCC has struck down net neutrality, changed regulations on concentration of ownership in the media, regulations on finance, regulations on the environment. One by one, weakened, struck down. “This isn’t a presidential administration, a government, that’s completely, utterly submissive to the demands of Big Business.” Well, a lot of people are saying that. A lot of news sources are saying that. But what we say that’s different at The Real News Network, the question we try to answer is, how did the climate denier get elected president? How did an administration get elected that does the bidding of billionaires without any reserve at all?
Well, you can only point to the Obama administration. You have to look at the Democratic Party and the corporate Democrats who created the conditions for the rise of Trump because of the enormous increase in income inequality during the Obama presidency. How does one critique Trump without merging with corporate Democrats? Well, that’s what we’re trying to do at The Real News Network.
This kind of independent stand is only possible because we don’t take corporate funding, we don’t accept government funding, we don’t sell advertising, and a lot of times we take positions that are not very popular. It would be real easy right now to jump on the bandwagon that the Russians are destroying American democracy. But it’s pretty clear that the American elites have done far more to destroy American democracy than anything the Russians have done.
We don’t take stands because they’re popular. We actually don’t provide analysis and reporting because it gets us a lot of views and a lot of clicks. We try to follow facts, and we start from what’s in the interest of the well-being of the majority of people. And maybe sometimes we’re wrong. But we go there because we think it’s true, and we know the limits of what we’re capable of, and as I said, we have no problem admitting when we’re wrong.
But we can only have this kind of approach because of our economic model, and the economic model only works if you donate. If you watch and you don’t donate, then don’t think we’re always going to be here. If you have donated, thanks very much. If you think you might be able to donate more, thank you even more. And best wishes from everyone at The Real News team here in Baltimore.