The fallout of the Albanese government’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive feels predictable. The tech oligarchs will likely urge Donald Trump to punish Australia for the government’s efforts to protect publishers from the financial harm caused by the big tech platforms’ use of news content from established media companies.

It is the same playbook used by the big US pharmaceutical companies to fight back against Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and similar programs in other countries. Australia has so far dodged much of Trump’s tariffs on medicines, but Trumps’ desire to punish US trade partners is unwavering.

Trump’s contempt for mainstream media companies in the United States is explosive. In his 2016 presidential campaign, he labelled the major media companies “the enemy of the people” – a line right out of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Trump has called any reporting that varies from the lines coming out of his and his press secretary’s mouth as “fake news.” That term has now become for some politicians worldwide the go-to denial of authoritative media reporting.

We could see Trump’s anger at the media even after the attempt on his life, and that of others, in his extraordinary interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes the day after the White........

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