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The New York Times, NBC News and the "legacy media" have got to change with the Trump times -- before Donald Trump takes power in six short weeks on Jan. 20, 2025.

One CBS News presidential historian commented on air after Trump's cruel 2016 "American carnage" inaugural address: "That was the best speech Trump ever gave."

In plain sight, Trump is surrounded by and getting free advice from some of the richest men in the world. That's a problem since Trump hinted (to House Republicans) he may never leave office.

Without reins of running for reelection, Trump can truly do whatever he wants, at last. Hello, friends and foes?

That alarming fact hasn't hit yet with reporters or others covering the transition.

At his decadent pink palace, Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect summoned a greedy gang of thieves to help him snuff out the remaining embers of playing by the rules of the republic. None ever got elected to public office.

Chief among them: Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX mogul; Larry Ellison, the Silicon Valley billionaire; and Vivek Ramaswamy, a pharmaceutical billionaire.

They aid in Trump's revenge agenda, not only on political critics but also on federal agencies that keep our secrets, travel, medicine, air, land and water safe.

The richest rogue thieves in American history, they conspire to plunder the public good and U.S. Treasury for their own personal tax and financial gain. They are the opposite of Santa's helpers while Christmas is coming.

Musk and Ramaswamy are given keys to the kingdom to make government "efficient," cutting public and constitutional parts to the bone.

They have no idea why the government, acting for all collectively, is not like a private business.

Belonging to the press in the best and worst of times, I'd say the mainstream media first fell down on the job since the George W. Bush years, when The New York Times vigorously supported his wars of aggression.

Iraq War hawks in the press turned out to be dead wrong about weapons of mass destruction and never said sorry.

Then the Times failed again to cover Trump rigorously in the 2016 campaign and instead turned its fire on Hillary Clinton's harmless emails.

It's always good to have the truth on your side, to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, as they used to say about journalism.

Right now, the Trump spectacle is so un-American that it's astounding he can get away with it. The extreme concentration of wealth is greater now than during the Gilded Age, especially with the rise of "tech" barons.

This selfish lot makes the railroad, steel and coal robber barons look like good citizens, because they founded libraries, museums and Stanford University.

In other words, they exploited the masses back then but gave something back to society. It's a subtle distinction.

Even with less than half of the 2024 popular vote and a 1.5% margin of victory, Trump acts like a dictator for life.

Trump is by nature so ferocious that the White House beat correspondents soften their stories. For example, a recent story on the billionaire advisors went like this:

"Their involvement, to a degree far deeper than previously reported, has made this one of the most conflict-ridden presidential transitions in modern history," wrote the Times in the lead story Sunday.

Duh.

"To a degree far deeper than previously reported": That's the operative line.

No need to look hard to know this outrage may lead to oligarchy.

Wide-eyed "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker asked Trump if he'd like to see the House members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee jailed.

The murderous Jan. 6 mob that attacked the Capitol, injured 140 police officers and tried to overturn the election was sent by Trump.

It hurts when that truth gets lost in translation.

Remember, Ms. Welker?

And Trump's threat to pardon the Jan. 6 violent offenders?

Sure, on my first day, says he.

The Sunday host did not challenge the incoming lawbreaker. Mr. Trump believes he can bully women in elections and interviews. He almost always does.

The times are changin' and so must we, to keep up with the radicalized Trump White House, Congress and Supreme Court.

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The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.

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