Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy. It is democracy. Walter Cronkite said that,

the most trusted man in America at the time. Today we're taking a closer look at Donald Trump's relentless

campaign to break the American press, a campaign that's part of something much larger and more dangerous. If you take a look around today,

you'll see Donald Trump employing not one dramatic seizure of power, but a steady deliberate

coordination and capture of institutions that underpin our civil society, from law firms and

universities to independent agencies

and cultural pillars like the Smithsonian. There's a German word that bears understanding here,

Glykeschalting, which translates into English as bringing into line or coordination. Historians use

that term to describe how the Nazi regime methodically bent every societal institution one by one to the party's will.

As fascism expert Jason Stanley says of Trump, quote, he's going to target the universities, the schools.

This process is called Glykshelten in the literature on Nazi Germany, where every organization, every government institution turns loyalist-like

and is transformed. Their employees are replaced by people loyal to the leader and loyal to the

party, and Trump has already announced he's going to do this, so he's already announced a full

fascist plan, end quote. That plan now reaches into America's most foundational institutions. The director of the Dwight

Eisenhower Presidential Library, for example, was recently ousted after refusing to hand over a

ceremonial sword simply because Donald Trump wanted to present that sword as a personal gift to

King Charles. What do you do when the president asks you to help him loot public property?

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom

of speech or of the press. Yet this week, the target is once again America's oldest watchdog,

the essential bridge between we the governed and those who govern. A free press is the backbone

of American democracy. Without it, a vital link between voters and those who govern. A free press is the backbone of American democracy. Without it, a vital link

between voters and those who wield power in their name is severed. At the Pentagon this week,

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