As Cher said on Moonstruck, Democrats “We need to get out of it!”

As a country, we are the opposite of ROM-COM, but let’s start with the classic film line anyway. Before “Having What She Has” from “Harry Met Sally,” there was a faster, more despicable line from my personal favorite, “Moonstruck.”

In 1987 Oldie, Cher is lovingly disgusted with Nicholas Cage with her brave, take no crap prime. He can’t stop feeling sorry for himself with his character, Mopie, sad face. Life is terrible, everything is rotten. At the film’s most iconic moment, Cher suddenly slams him in the face: “Then get out of it!” she barks.

***

From this side of Trump’s split, we are standing or gathering now – the Blitzkrieg has not left. The news is so merciless, the Trump tsunami is so breathtaking, Muskrat has digged a very intense hole, the sights are so unstoppable, his HR choices are so twisted and revenge. National Mope.

Most of my friends and relatives have found themselves overwhelmed and not wasteful. No, I can’t listen. more. words. There’s no other article, no other TV report, no other clips or another tweet.

I will talk about it from experience. My wife, Cheer, is a braveer than me. She watched MSNBC, Rachel Madow, and Joe in the Morning (of course, she watched Joe’s verbal abuse early). She checked in CNN with Anderson Cooper and Jake Tupper. It’s not me. This is Jake from Chinatown. Not only is it there, it’s noir.

But as many of us are ducking this news, I listened back to the medium last week with a warning from my brother. There was a live broadcast from the oval office. Vlodomyor Zelenskyy, a true paladin of our sorry times, was visiting the White House earlier this week following a drop-in from French and British leaders.

The chronicles of political history do not summarise the most infamous cries, and the humiliation that is alive. However, my dormant news antenna quickly rose. Like other old Jarnos, I smelled of setup, ambush. And certainly, Smarty Veep showed off his toughness towards his audience, was insulted, and baited Zelensky.

Trump grabbed the wheels, which led to a limousine wreck that changed history. The stacking ended under the bus with Zelensky in Ukraine and Zelensky, NATO in Critical Care and Putin walking with hood decorations.

Political consultant James Kerrville and others have warned us to be patient and rope-a-doped. Let the Republicans collapse on their own weight and let the Americans get away with our side. Most importantly, don’t get caught up in receiving every blow. Instead, choose the one that matters most.

This is my only problem.

Media. An institution that I have given 60 years of my life. Plus, whatever I’m left in the tank right now.

My Newswhisker mixed when I heard that the White House had banned both the Associated Press and Reuters from this Zelensky White House photo shoot. However, my nose was visibly convulsive when it came to the point that Tas, a Russian provincial propaganda service, was there instead. Away from the oval office, there is nothing to see here.

It’s so bittersweet that I flipped through the news again a few days later, seeing Zelenskyy warmly welcomed in Europe, and in a show of solidarity at once, I felt it belonged to another millennium.

But a few days later, I checked in on Trump’s speech to Congress and knew we were home again. Amidst the stirring of protests, his message was an ominous vow that he was “just starting.” The old gnawing feeling has returned. It sounded like a horrifying movie warning and it came from inside the house.

***

Of course, that sentiment was the reason why many of us didn’t see the news during Trump’s six-week burnt earth campaign to win all the levers of the US power. His shamanesque did not escape at least all media institutions from marching to the Savannah of full conquest.

It’s not particularly disrespectful and hateful media. “The enemy of people.” AP? It’s gone, Reuters? Outside the pool. 60 minutes? What about the $20 billion lawsuit? Countless media lawsuits on planes for the powerful crimes that are assumed. Media owners push out non-white news forks and rush to surrender, paying horror tor. NBC, CBS, ABC, lot.

Since January 20th, I thought Congress had taken the cake for Cravenness. My formative book was John F. Kennedy’s “Comment Profile,” about lawmakers who sacrificed their careers to confront their parties. After confirming Trump’s cabinet and clicking on the heels in the Senate since, I moved the book from the non-fiction section of the bookshelves to the fiction shelf.

So we know that resistance is not immediately and not coming from the yellow white caves of the Congress. And our institution is done with the grip of the refurbished shicophant. It is two pillars: the courts and the press.

If you allow both my pride and my bias, I lean against the other pillars: the media. You know, low-wage pros believe that getting a story is more important than making big money. (Well, except for the highly overpaid TV anchor, I’m currently being thrown overboard and heading to Davy Jones’ locker.)

It’s not just Trump’s own looting of the press, but his Putin-style attempts are trying to eliminate all press. It’s also a shameless pivot by big technology and media owners. Mark Zuckerberg eliminates fact-checking. Owner of the Los Angeles Times Kotowing. Jeff Bezos terraforming edited pages for The Washington Post.

There were several profiles to resign in principle. I know there is more. But that takes time. And please be considerate. People need their jobs. There has been a lot of criticism over the past few years for the moderate enthusiasm on the left. But now, in 2025, the media-repressing drive is completely on the other foot. It looks like he’s wearing boots.

***

The other day I was talking to a group of graduates from a medium-sized St. Petersburg university, spinning an old journalistic war story. One woman asked me, as the oldest Newshand in the room, what someone she likes can do to resist surrender.

I said “subscribe.”

I meant to sign up. Anyone, everyone, appears to be trying to report the truth that has been confirmed. Support thoughtful people who provide plausible, measured opinions. With Cable, Online, Subsack and Podcast Apps. This is because the old advertising business model has declined significantly for the media.

Subscribers – Your readers and Skrah! – Informational support for the media now and in the future. It’s all kinds of media – legacy, digital, podcasts, streaming, tick tock true terror you think you can trust. They need you. I feel embarrassed to share my password. Pay your own Atlantic.

There’s nothing more important to us in the coming months than looking at what the villains are doing. It’s difficult if you’re playing ostrich. We must pay attention. And make sure more news isn’t dismantled.

Don’t do this when it comes to unsubscribe to the Washington Post due to the horrifying bootlicking of the owner. If a brave reporter continues to report, do not release bail. Reupload. Forget the compromising editorial. We need the influence of the remaining reports in the country’s capital.

The courts matter. But the media must keep it.

If James Kerrville’s theory is correct, then for now we can rope a dope. Take the punch and build chaos. There aren’t many options. But theory depends on confirming that the masses see destruction, complete chainsaw nihilism, human sacrifice. If we can report it, the public will see it – glyft, immature, cruelty, unemployment, reductions to service, bullying. The voices rise and the votes change. Local race, at City Hall, even before the mid-term.

As long as you can see what’s going on.

Take me to wind this stem winder. Leave the media lights on – before more things get dimmed, crushed and go out of business – must start with the grassroots. That’s where the protest and pushback come from. People are already being pushed back everywhere. It happens, it always has. Sadly, it usually happens when they come for you, or to someone you care about. (First, they came for the aid workers. Then…)

But what about big money support? How about our rich?

We listen endlessly about their billionaires. Zuckerbergs, Bezos, Musks, what is called Paypal Mafia (a group of South African billionaires with strange views). Those who clenched all media traffic and pretended to be liberal. And within days of Trump’s tension it gotten so intense and intense. Ayn Rand’s novels of golden muscles, buffs, yachts, yachts, all cabins.

One of their billionaires, Elon Musk, paid the president’s fee.

Another billionaire, Paypal “Mafioso” Peter Thiel – JD Vance’s sole hedge fund employer – paid the vice president.

So, what about our billionaires? Are good people, centrics, and fair play followers stuck to the underdog? Mike Bloomberg? Bill Gates? Warren buffet? Melinda Gates? Mark Cuba? Lorena Powell Jobs? Mackenzie Scott, formerly Bezos? Yes, Redoobeable George Soros?

Most of the time, our billionaires do something worthwhile, unlike their counterparts in the yacht-based rocket-riding Maga. Save lives and eradicate diseases in Africa. But where are the newspapers, sites, media properties and podcasts? Or do you want to save it? Or invest more?

Why are there no more nonprofits who own important media properties? (Like the way the Poynter Institute owns Tampa Bay Times.) How did you bring the advantages of the field to the other side? And “the other side” includes private equity companies like sharks who buy tied up media properties, strip them up for profit and die. Their ashes are blowing in the wind.

The single biggest loss to America’s important democracy is the near obsolescence of local and small town press and reporting, for Jefferson’s goal of informing citizens.

Due to the change in Chump, our billionaire little cartels were able to report in every town and village, embracing villains from the sea to the sparkling sea, reporting in every town and village, paying for the renaissance of thousands of small media properties.

Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Was it up to me to decide whether to have a government without a newspaper or a newspaper without a government? The rest of the quotes are italics of my own, “But I should mean that everyone should be able to receive those papers and read them.”

In other words, we need money from within you. We will continue to run the “press” and support New Town Clear. From the rest of you, we need your attention. Do other things, but don’t lose focus.

Cher agrees to Thomas Jefferson – except for the “All Man” part. We’re mopping now. But as the woman said, sooner or later we need to do it: “Then get out of it!”

Guest columnist Barry Golson covers the Tampa Bay senior scene. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Playboy, Forbes and Earp. He is the author of “The Gringos of Paradise” (Scribner). Contact him at gbarrygolson@gmail.com.