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The 50501 Protests: A Battle for Reality in our Era of Manufactured Consent

J.D. Johnson

How Corporate Media is Censoring America’s Last Stand Against Authoritarianism

The coup is happening while you’re at work. And no, it’s not televised but the 50501 Protests on President’s Day is how you pushback against Trump’s authoritarian Christian nationalist takeover. Yet corporate media is working overtime to ensure you never hear about it. Instead of relentless coverage of Trump’s Project 2025—a direct blueprint to dismantle democracy—mainstream outlets are either failing to investigate or are complicit in its implementation. (FiftyFifty.one), (Project2025.org)

The stakes of these protests go beyond a single administration or policy. This is a fight for the survival of democracy against a coordinated, well-funded plan to turn the U.S. into an autocratic, theocratic corporate state. And yet, instead of a media landscape filled with hard-hitting investigations, America is drowning in manufactured consent, where billionaires, media moguls, and political elites decide what the public is allowed to see, think, and believe– all in the name of profit.

Ignoring Project 2025: The Plan to Dismantle Democracy

Project 2025 isn’t just a fascist manifesto—it’s the personnel manual for Trump’s authoritarian takeover. Written by far-right think tanks and stacked with Trump-loyalist operatives, its architects are no longer just policy wonks scribbling in the margins—they’re running your government.

A search of major media headlines over the past month reveals that networks like MSNBC and CNN have barely covered Project 2025’s key players—despite their direct control over government agencies.

Russell Vought, one of its key designers, is now Director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he’s got his hands on the federal purse strings. Brendan Carr, who helped draft the project’s “Mandate for Leadership,” now controls the FCC, shaping what Americans can see and hear. Tom Homan, another contributor, is the White House “border czar”, setting immigration policy straight from the playbook of hardline nationalism. Karoline Leavitt, trained through Project 2025’s “Conservative Governance 101”, is now White House Press Secretary, controlling the administration’s messaging. And then there’s Peter Navarro, a longtime Trump enforcer and Project 2025 author, now Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing, with a direct line to Trump’s economic war room. (Forbes.com, USNews.com, NYMag.com)

Project 2025 isn’t a plan. It’s your government. 

Project 2025 lays out the step-by-step methods to gut federal agencies, criminalize dissent, enforce Christian nationalism, and replace career civil servants with political appointees loyal only to Trump. Yet, corporate media has largely ignored this on-going assault of democracy and the rule of law. Why? Because the billionaires who own your attention are profiting from the chaos.

During the first week of February, as major news outlets flooded the cycle with coverage of Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl, they buried reports on the 50501 protest organizing efforts.

Meanwhile…

  • The Guardian reports that Trump’s aggressive propaganda campaign is going largely unchallenged, allowing his authoritarian culture war to gain traction.
  • The Financial Times notes that Vice President J.D. Vance’s rhetoric at the Munich Security Conference signaled the administration’s full embrace of Christian nationalist ideals, yet mainstream media avoids calling it what it is.
  • France24 is reporting an emergency European summit on Ukraine this Monday. Why? Because Trump’s Ukraine envoy just made it clear—Europe has no seat at the table in upcoming peace talks between the U.S. and Russia. This isn’t just about Ukraine—it’s about Trump’s foreign policy pivot. Locking Europe out of talks with Putin is a power move, one that signals a shift away from NATO and toward unilateral deals with Russia.

Wake up, the media isn’t asleep at the wheel—it’s actively running interference for Trump’s MAGA nightmare.

It’s not just about what they choose to cover—it’s about what they choose to ignore. While Trump’s authoritarian playbook is unfolding in real time, what are the major networks talking about? Fox News is fixated on Trump’s foreign policy strategies, spinning his approach to Ukraine and the Middle East as diplomatic genius. ABC News is laser-focused on Israel and Netanyahu’s hardline threats, while CBS is recycling interviews with top political figures about legislative priorities and global security. And MSNBC? Predictably silent. Not a single headline about Project 2025’s direct assault on democracy. This is how it happens—not with a bang, but with a well-placed distraction.

Sanitizing the War on Reproductive Rights

Project 2025 isn’t about “policy debates”—it’s a war on bodily autonomy and democracy itself. Forced pregnancies, contraception bans, and the criminalization of LGBTQ+ rights aren’t just on the agenda—they’re already happening. State after state is enacting abortion restrictions, birth control access is under attack, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is rolling out nationwide. Trump is flooding the zone—stacking the courts, the agencies, and the government with loyalists to entrench it all.

  • The New Yorker reports that these policies are already being drafted into state laws across Republican-controlled legislatures, yet media coverage frames them as mere “cultural issues.”

And corporate media? They’re soft-pedaling the takeover, treating these draconian rollbacks like partisan squabbles instead of fundamental human freedoms being stripped away in real time.

Burying International Alarm

World leaders are sounding the alarm about America’s descent into authoritarianism. European officials openly state they no longer trust the U.S. as an ally under Trump’s regime. (Politico.com)

  • The Guardian reports widespread concern over Trump’s abandonment of global democratic norms, yet American media coverage remains scarce.
  • Foreign Affairs warns that Trump’s foreign policy doctrine signals a shift towards isolationism and full alignment with other right-wing autocrats, yet mainstream U.S. media refuses to acknowledge the threat this poses to international stability.

This silence isn’t an oversight—they have smartphones too. They see what’s happening. It’s a deliberate effort to keep the American public uninformed and passive.

Who Controls the Narrative? The Billionaire-Owned Media Landscape

The reality is, a handful of billionaire families own nearly every major news outlet in the country. Comcast has its claws in NBC and MSNBC, while Disney has ABC, ESPN, and Hulu.

Warner Bros. Discovery controls CNN and HBO, and the Redstone family runs Paramount Global, which owns CBS and Showtime. And let’s not forget the Murdoch empire controlling Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.

These billionaires don’t just own the news—they curate your reality. They decide what’s covered, how it’s framed, and what conveniently gets left out. It’s why Project 2025 barely makes headlines, while breathless 24-hour coverage is dedicated to celebrity gossip and stock market jitters.

This isn’t just about what the media shows—it’s about what they want you to ignore. While corporate news buries the coup, billionaires continue their looting spree. The average American struggles to make ends meet on $168 a day. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg rakes in $320 million every 24 hours.

Elon Musk? He’s banking around $96.1 million every single day, exponentially more than the entire lifetime earnings of most Americans. Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok, makes $119 million a day—for running an app that pushes teenagers into algorithmic echo chambers.

This isn’t just about money—it’s about power. These men don’t just hoard wealth, they hoard influence. They shape narratives, mold public perception, and ensure that working-class Americans stay distracted and divided while they consolidate control.

The 50501 Protests Are a Battle for Truth

This is an inflection point and the world is watching. If Americans don’t seize the narrative now, billionaires, Christian nationalists, and corporate elites will erase your truth and rewrite history in real time. The 50501 protests aren’t just about resisting—they are the last line between democracy and Trump’s MAGA abyss.

The media won’t save democracy. It’s too profitable to let it die slowly. That fight belongs to you.

If you are paying attention—you are the resistance.

Next Steps…

What You Can Do Next

This isn’t the time to sit back and wait. The 50501 protests are a call to action, but they’re just the beginning. If you’re paying attention, you are the resistance. Here’s how to fight back:

1. Get Informed and Share the Truth

2. Support Independent Media

Corporate media won’t expose this fight, but independent outlets do. Subscribe, donate, and share their work.

3. Disrupt Manufactured Consent

They control the media, but you control your voice. Spread independent reporting, challenge corporate narratives, and amplify the truth.

  • Use social media to call out media silence and demand coverage of Project 2025.
  • Fact-check and counter disinformation when you see it.
  • Push local and independent journalists to investigate and report.

4. Show Up

5. Vote Like Democracy Depends on It—Because It Does

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