I have a reputation for bringing hidden truths to light, but the most damning truth about

the Trump crime world is that very little of its elicid activity was hidden.

It was out there, decontextualized and obscured, but reported in real time for decades on

end.

I stood out as an anomaly, not for what I claimed, but that I thought it was important,

particularly when it came to predicting how he would act as president.

From 2015 until 2021, my response to inquiries about how I was able to predict Trump's

behavior was, it was in the public domain.

I lost track of the number of times.

I told a dubious reporter, deeming my allegations of Trump and his associates past behavior,

a conspiracy theory, to simply consult their old archives for proof.

But it was the availability of archival materials that allowed me and other journalists and social

scientists to put the pieces together.

For nearly the entirety of Trump's campaign and tenure in office, most media outlets remained

free.

Many offered archives that provided a window into decades of dirty deeds.

But in the beginning of 2021, after democracy had been defenestrated, that window abruptly

closed.

He who controls the past controls the future, said Orwell.

And now they who control the past decided people needed to pony up to see what had happened.

By spring 2021, nearly every major news outlet had erected a paywall, often prohibitively expensive,

blocked content from general view.

...