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Independent journalist Matt Taibbi told Newsmax’s America Right Now on January 17, 2026, that the media’s treatment of immigration enforcement has flipped now that Donald Trump is back in the Oval Office. He argued that many of the tactics being denounced as unprecedented—like street detentions and status checks—were standard practice under previous administrations, and that the only real difference now is who’s enforcing the law.
Taibbi laid the blame squarely at the feet of legacy newsrooms that have grown reflexively hostile to anything Trump does, saying coverage is driven more by narrative reflex than by sober reporting. For hardworking Americans watching the nightly news, this rings true: policies get a free pass or a full-frontal assault depending on who’s in the White House, not on the merits.
He also highlighted why the same enforcement feels different today—visibility and scale, not novelty—with agents more numerous and masked on the streets, making the actions impossible to ignore. Conservatives have been warning for years that optics matter, and when law enforcement is made hyper-visible while the policy itself remains consistent, you get predictable outrage from the same outlets that cheered when the policies were quiet.
Taibbi’s broader point about trust is one every patriot should consider: the media is a trust business, and audiences tune out institutions that make predictable, politicized mistakes. That loss of trust benefits independent outlets and platforms where real reporting—warts and all—can reach people who are tired of seeing their values and concerns filtered through a partisan lens.
He went further in saying the high point of legacy media’s narrative control was around the summer of 2020, when editorializing often crowded out straightforward reporting, a dynamic that fractured public confidence. Conservatives have watched this for years as editors and producers decided what stories deserved outrage and which deserved silence, and Americans are smarter than those gatekeepers gave them credit for.
The remedy is obvious: demand accountability, not partisan theatre. Encourage journalists to admit mistakes, consider all angles, and stop treating the public like they’re required to swallow whatever narrative is pushed from the newsroom pulpit.
Hardworking Americans deserve a media that tells the truth and holds power to account no matter the party in power. If the legacy press wants to regain credibility, it will start by doing honest reporting on immigration and every other issue—without playing politics—but until that day comes, patriots should keep supporting independent outlets that refuse to wear a party jersey.
