Bari Weiss Is the Propagandist Donald Trump Deserves

[Celerity]

The would-be dictator would get a much better class of censor if his regime didn’t hoist the biggest morons in the country into leadership positions.

https://prospect.org/2025/12/23/bari-weiss-propagandist-donald-trump-deserves/


Journalist Bari Weiss in 2019. Credit: Alberto E. Tamargo/Sipa USA via AP Images

Every authoritarian regime has a characteristic style of propaganda. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf (better known as “Baghdad Bob”), the Soviet Union had Glavlit, and Donald Trump has Bari Weiss. “Bob” became famous for his blustering denials of reality as Hussein’s regime rapidly collapsed in the face of American attack. Glavlit was a big committee that stamped out proletarian agitprop. And Bari Weiss is an incompetent toady (and unlike her, I know what that word means) who is busily obliterating one of the crown jewels of American journalism, 60 Minutes, in service to Trump.

Back in October, David Ellison, son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, bought Paramount, CBS’s parent company, and installed Weiss as head of CBS News. Her short term there has now culminated in her ham-fistedly attempting to suppress a report about the people Trump has deported to the El Salvador torture prison CECOT—and failing.

The segment did not run on CBS in the U.S., but it did run on a Canadian station that had a contract to run the show. Many sharp-eyed Canadians quickly realized what was happening and recorded the segment, or took video of it with their cellphones, much like how forbidden samizdat publications were passed around under the Soviet dictatorship. The full segment is now all over the internet; see here to watch. It’s impossible to quantify, but the attempt at suppression is likely to drive orders of magnitude more attention to the story than simply running it would have.

The segment doesn’t break any huge news—it was already reported in multiple articles and reports that CECOT was a torture dungeon, that many of those Trump deported there had no criminal record, and in some cases had been in the U.S. legally. But it does confirm many important details and report many new stories.

snip

[mdbl]

1. Just turn off anything CBS or Paramount.

Otherwise, you're voting for this to continue.

[hatrack]

2. God, she's even worse (and dumber) than I thought . . .

And I thought she was pretty fucking dumb.

[Botany]

3. She is not dumb but she is a toxin on democracy.

One more shit person in a long stream of right wing purposely pushed disinformation in
order to knowingly hurt America for money, power, and influence. She is more insidious in
that ,she can push her agenda from behind the scenes without putting her face on camera.
What is surprising is her lesbian background you would think that might give her a more
diverse and balanced perspective. Where are the Ed Bradley, Eric Severied, Dan Rather,
or Connie Chungs standing in front of the White House showing the wonton destruction
of America’s history and beauty by a mad man who is using the rubble and soil of the White
House to work on public golf courses?

[thesquanderer]

4. re: "The segment did not run on CBS in the U.S., but it did run on a Canadian station"

From what I've read, it did not run on any Canadian station... rather the segment appeared on CBC's app.

Other than that, though, good piece!

[Kid Berwyn]

5. Baghdad Bari

May the shame never rub off.