Up next in 10
In this edition of American Week, Simon Marks reflects on a series of significant developments in the US media landscape. CBS settles with Donald Trump for $16 million, raising questions about press freedom. Edits to a Kamala Harris interview come under scrutiny, while universities and lawmakers respond to new pressures from the White House.
00:06 | The ticking clock
01:12 | CBS’s 'soft' interview
04:18 | Trump’s $16 million victory
05:30 | Press freedom collapses
06:22 | Universities fold
07:45 | Capitol Hill cheers
10:30 | ICE’s mega-budget
11:32 | Trump signs the bill
12:48 | Jimmy Swaggart’s echo
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0:00
In more ways than one this week, the clock has been ticking for American democracy
0:05
I believe in my soul and heart the American people are ready to turn the page
0:12
On American television, there is no more familiar sound than the ticking of that stopwatch
0:17
It is the on-air hallmark of the CBS news programme 60 Minutes
0:22
And those were the final seconds of the broadcast's interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last October
0:28
one month before the country's presidential election. Well, welcome to Mikasa. Thank you. Hi
0:35
Hello again, Madam President. How are you? Good to see you, Bill. Very well
0:39
Thank you. Very well. Hi, everyone. Hi. What a crew. That bonhomie on display between the vice president and presenter Bill Whittaker
0:47
was never supposed to be seen by the public, but is now on the public record
0:52
after Donald Trump complained about the way in which the interview was edited
0:56
And to be clear, CBS did edit it with a knife and fork rather than simply transmitting the full uninterrupted hour
1:05
In one part of the interview where the talk turned to the war in Gaza, a major election issue last year, here's the clip that CBS broadcast
1:15
But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear
1:24
about where we stand on the need for this war to end. Declarative stuff, except that answer came from later in the interview. In fact, this
1:33
is how she answered the question when it was first posed. But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening
1:40
Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region
2:02
Meandering, hesitant, uncertain all over the shop. So there's no question CBS made a mistake by failing to show that to voters
2:11
Others think they were just doing what we always do on radio and television and editing things for time
2:16
But CBS did eventually grudgingly admit the error. And in the closing days of the election campaign, Donald Trump tried to turn the issue to his political advantage
2:28
That election interference They interfering with the election Am I right They should lose their license and 60 minutes should be taken off the air In the intervening months since that campaign appearance last October in Nevada
2:43
Trump filed a personal lawsuit against CBS News. Now, legal ysts didn't believe it stood a snowball's chance
2:51
against the blanket protections of America's First Amendment, constitutionally guaranteeing freedom of speech
2:58
especially for the fourth estate, the press. This week, in an absolutely stunning development
3:05
Paramount, which owns CBS, caved in, abandoning their efforts to defend the very defensible lawsuit
3:12
and agreeing to pay the president $16 million, a simply shameful amount of money
3:19
Today is a dark day for press freedom. Trevor Tim, the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation
3:25
says it is clear why Paramount bent the knee before the president
3:29
They were terrified that he might block their $8 billion planned merger
3:34
with another big media company. And this is all because they reportedly want to grease the wheels
3:39
for the Trump administration to approve its merger with another megacorporation, Skydance
3:44
So they not only threw their own respected journalists under the bus, but opened the door for Trump to target untold number of news outlets next
3:53
All told, it will be remembered as one of the most shameful capitulations
3:56
of a media company to a president in history. It is not only media companies that are capitulating
4:02
Ever since he arrived in the White House, Donald Trump has targeted the country's universities
4:07
its law firms, its scientific institutions, even its performing arts centres. And many of them, like CBS, have decided to prostrate themselves before him
4:18
Scores of law firms have paid, in essence, blood money to Trump to save their own federal government contracts
4:25
This week, the University of Pennsylvania waved the white flag after the White House froze funding
4:31
unless the college blocked transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams
4:36
It is hard week by week to keep up with the amount of surrender that is taking place to an American president
4:43
who is willing to use public funds to bring the country's storied institutions to heel
4:50
Donald Trump aspires not only to be an authoritarian, but to be a totalitarian
4:55
Congressman Richie Torres of New York, like so many Democrats, simply providing a commentary to events here
5:02
rather than very much action that achieves success in pushing back against them What he seeks is control not only over the economy but over civil society That why he targeting law firms That why he targeting universities
5:16
He wants every civic, not only federal agencies, but every civic institution to be in his orbit of totalitarian control
5:24
Right. And with every bending of the knee in every corporate office
5:28
and public institution, it becomes harder to unwind the degradation of democracy
5:33
that is now taking place here. On Capitol Hill last night... On this vote, the yeas are 218, the nays are 214
5:43
The motion is adopted. A huge win for President Trump, his big, beautiful bill securing the votes
5:53
to become law that it needed. But those Republicans celebrating on the floor of the House last night
6:02
know they have rolled the dice with the country's future and with their own careers
6:07
The law will increase the deficit by an estimated $3 trillion. It will throw as many as 12 million Americans off health insurance
6:16
deny food stamps and other nutritional assistance to 4 million Americans, and it will cost the country's lowest-income families an estimated $1,600 a year
6:27
That's 4% of their annual income. The wealthy are celebrating $4.5 trillion in extended tax cuts for them
6:35
and for the military and law enforcement, the president is about to deliver manna from heaven
6:41
Stand by for a massive expansion in efforts to root out illegal immigrants living in America
6:47
ICE, the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Division of the government, whose masked agents have brought terror to migrant communities all over the country
6:56
will soon have a larger budget than the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency
7:02
the US Marshals, the Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms combined
7:08
And it's going to make this country into a rocket ship. It's going to be really great
7:12
Biggest tax cut in history, great for security, great on the southern border
7:18
Immigration is covered. We cover just about everything. Again, it's the biggest bill ever signed of its kind
7:24
Of course, size isn't everything, and if economists are right, and it proves to be a job killer propelling millions of Americans into poverty and uncertainty, Republican lawmakers will pay at next year's midterm elections
7:38
Congressman Troy Neils of Texas celebrating in haste despite the very real chance that he and his colleagues will end up repenting at leisure The American people spoke The American people spoke
7:51
and the elected representatives spoke today. And what did we do? We supported and passed this one
7:56
big, beautiful bill. So now you've got to accept it and absorb it, because it's the right thing to
8:01
do for the American people. President Trump will sign that bill into law at 10 o'clock UK time
8:06
tonight, his gift to America on the country's 249th birthday. But a hostage to fortune given
8:13
that we have no idea how Republicans will feel about it by the time the country's 250th birthday
8:20
rolls around. If by then they regret falling victim to a huckster in the White House, well
8:26
this week the country was reminded that made-for-TV conmen are nothing new in America
8:32
Secular humanism is a diabolical lie. And I want to be a little blunt
8:39
Any biologist, any teacher, any educator that teaches evolution, it's a lie
8:44
They are a liar and evolution is a lie. The prehistoric views of the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart
8:50
He died this week at the age of 90. In the 1980s, his multi-million dollar ministry was the biggest name in Christian evangelical TV
8:59
He bilked millions of Americans out of their hard-earned dollars until not once but twice the man of faith was found to have been consorting with prostitutes
9:10
which then gave rise to one of the era's most infamous TV confessions
9:17
I have sinned against you, my Lord. And I would ask that your precious blood
9:29
would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgetfulness
9:45
never to be remembered against me anymore. For that, as Mr Swaggart's obituaries will confirm
9:55
more time will have to elapse. But the amazing thing about his story
9:59
is that many Americans did stick with him, some of them even thinking he deserved the palatial home
10:05
the private jet and the luxury cars. Donald Trump this week called Jimmy Swaggart incredible
10:12
possibly because the late Reverend understood the power of television even before the current president
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