One of Donald Trump’s favorite lines at campaign rallies is that the free press is “the enemy of the people.”
Today, newspapers across the nation are publishing editorials in support of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Someone should read that Amendment out loud to Trump because he may never have read it or even heard about it.
He names and shames journalists who are in cages at the back of his events, inviting his followers to jeer them.
Polls show that most Americans don’t agree with him, but almost half of all Republicans do. That helps to account for the shrinking number of people who call themselves Republicans. If the responsible leaders of the GOP (if there are any) don’t speak up and risk the wrath of Dear Leader, the GOP will become the Trump party, the party of racism, greed, and stupidity, allied with Putin and Kim and other autocrats.
This is what the Boston Globe wrote today in defense of freedom of the press.
It is probably behind a pay wall. Maybe not.
Here is some of what it wrote (sorry I can’t include the poll numbers showing the difference between Democrats, Republicans, and Independents on these issues):
Replacing a free media with a state-run media has always been a first order of business for any corrupt regime taking over a country. Today in the United States we have a president who has created a mantra that members of the media who do not blatantly support the policies of the current US administration are the “enemy of the people.” This is one of the many lies that have been thrown out by this president, much like an old-time charlatan threw out “magic” dust or water on a hopeful crowd.
For more than two centuries, this foundational American principle has protected journalists at home and served as a model for free nations abroad. Today it is under serious threat. And it sends an alarming signal to despots from Ankara to Moscow, Beijing to Baghdad, that journalists can be treated as a domestic enemy.
The press is necessary to a free society because it does not implicitly trust leaders — from the local planning board to the White House. And it’s not a coincidence that this president — whose financial affairs are murky and whose suspicious pattern of behavior triggered his own Justice Department to appoint an independent counsel to investigate him — has tried so hard to intimidate journalists who provide independent scrutiny.
There was once broad, bipartisan, intergenerational agreement in the United States that the press played this important role. Yet that view is no longer shared by many Americans. “The news media is the enemy of the American people,” is a sentiment endorsed by 48 percent of Republicans surveyed this month by Ipsos polling firm. That poll is not an outlier. One published this week found 51 percent of Republicans considered the press “the enemy of the people rather than an important part of democracy.”
Trump’s attack feedback loop helps explain why his faithful are following him into undemocratic territory. More than a quarter of Americans now say that “the president should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior,” including 43 percent of Republicans. Thirteen percent of those surveyed thought that “President Trump should close down mainstream news outlets, like CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.”
Trump can’t outlaw the press from doing its job here, of course. But the model of inciting his supporters in this regard is how 21st-century authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan operate; you don’t need formal censorship to strangle a supply of information.
Trump’s apologists feebly insist that he is referring only to biased coverage, rather than the entire fourth estate. But the president’s own words and long track record show again and again just how deeply cynical and dishonest this argument is.
The nation’s Founding Fathers took for granted that the press would be biased and yet they still explicitly enshrined the freedom of journalists and publishers in the Constitution. “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost,” wrote Thomas Jefferson.
American politicians of all parties since the Founders have groused about the media, trying to work the refs by arguing that the news is biased against their tribe. But there was always respect for the press as an institution. It was not that long ago that Ronald Reagan proclaimed, “Our tradition of a free press as a vital part of our democracy is as important as ever.”
“The press was to serve the governed, not the governors,” Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black wrote in 1971. Would that it were still the case. Today, the only media that Trump’s movement accepts as legitimate are those that unquestioningly advocate for its leader personally.
Indeed, it is not just that the president is stoking domestic division for political and personal gain, he’s asking his audiences to follow him into Fantasia. “Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news,” he told an audience in Kansas last month. “Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” George Orwell put it more gracefully in his novel “1984.” “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
It is an essential endpoint to Trump’s deluge of dishonesty that he now contests objective reality and urges his supporters to do the same. In the first 558 days of his presidency, Trump made 4,229 false or misleading claims, according to a list compiled by The Washington Post. Yet among Trump supporters, only 17 percent think that the administration regularly makes false claims. “Alternative facts” have become de facto.
Lies are antithetical to an informed citizenry, responsible for self-governance. The greatness of America is dependent on the role of a free press to speak the truth to the powerful. To label the press “the enemy of the people” is as un-American as it is dangerous to the civic compact we have shared for more than two centuries.
Reader John Ogozalek wrote this:
A new Ipsos poll highlights the fact that an alarming number of Americans believe that President Trump should have the power to close down media outlets.
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/americans-views-media-2018-08-07
Overall, a QUARTER of the respondents (26%) in the survey agree that the president should be able shutter news outlets engaging in “bad behavior”. A very troubling 13% overall feel that even “mainstream” news sources, such as the New York Times and CNN, should fall under the president’s control, too.
Ipsos calls that 13% statistic “reassuring”. I sure as hell don’t. That means that more than 1 out of 10 people you might walk past on the street hold views that are so far outside the mainstream of our nation’s political history and culture, that you have to wonder what country their brains are inhabiting. So many of our citizens seem to be worried these days about illegal immigrants and their children -while the real danger to our republic is…THEM, not the immigrants. It could be your neighbor, the friendly guy who has been mowing the same yard for 40 years who holds this sort of authoritarian view. And, what does this idea of media “bad behavior” mean anyway?
Especially disturbing is the breakdown in the findings between Republicans and Democrats. 23% of the Republicans would give President Trump the authority to padlock the doors to sources like The Washington Post. 8% of Democrats agree with this lunacy. (43% of Republicans agree with the overall idea of more presidential power over media sources in general.) WHAT THE HELL?
Do these citizens who answered the poll in this way even understand the basics of their country’s constitution? These people sound perfectly willing to throw away their own freedom. My God, what a mess.
Sure, there are plenty of culprits to blame for this shocking example of civic ignorance.
But I have to wonder if me and my fellow social studies educators deserve at least some small part of the blame, too. I’ve taught history and government for 30 years. Is this one of the results of my life work? A country unraveling before my very eyes?
Maybe we social studies teachers have been WAY too busy getting students ready for the next standardized test and not focusing enough on what really counts? I don’t know…
So… sure, 85% of the respondents in the poll support the abstract concept of “freedom of the press”. But what does that concept mean in real life -not as some multiple choice question? Through the years, for example, the test taking mavens in New York State have loved putting Peter Zenger on the 11th grade U.S. History Regents Exam. I guess it makes them feel good. But what does Zenger’s fight for a free press REALLY mean? Huge numbers, thousands of students keep passing this required Regents each year but obviously something is missing here….. everything is NOT all right.
It is a very depressing news, that’s for sure.
https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/americans-views-media-2018-08-07
What the hell is “bad behavior”? And, do these citizens who answered the poll in this way even understand the basics of their country’s constitution? These people sound perfectly willing to throw away their own freedom. My God, what a mess.
Sure, there are plenty of culprits to blame for this shocking example of civic ignorance.
But I have to wonder if me and my fellow social studies educators deserve at least some small part of the blame, too. I’ve taught history and government for 30 years. Is this one of the results of my life work? A country unraveling before my very eyes?
Maybe we social studies teachers have been WAY too busy getting students ready for the next standardized test and not focusing enough on what really counts? I don’t know…
It is a very depressing headline, that’s for sure.
-John O.
Dump promotes NON-thinking people. If one can think, then the sham is gone.
“Maybe we social studies teachers have been WAY too busy getting students ready for the next standardized test and not focusing enough on what really counts? I don’t know…”
There is no doubt that social studies has been marginalized over time, and that the Common Core standards movement has not helped, especially if teachers have been held responsible for addressing the mixed bag of specifications in the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) document titled “The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History” (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/c3/C3-Framework-for-Social-Studies.pdf
I am not an expert, but have analyzed most of the standards in various subjects since 2008, in addition to those written for the Goals 2000 project.
There can be no doubt that the tests and quests for “alignments of standards with tests” have really be undermining the good judgment of teachers. The civics standards emphasize:
Civic and Political Institutions;
Participation and Deliberation:
Applying Civic Virtues and Democratic Principles;
Processes, Rules, and Laws.
But these broad themes are not clearly related to the standards for History, Geography, and Economics. The writers here, and for other standards, seemed to me conflicted about traditions of subject/discipline-centered curriculum and a curriculum where “inquiries” are primary, and can determine content to be studied.
In any case, I think it is not entirely fair to think that lessons in school from social studies teachers are entirely responsible for the erosion of public knowledge and what looks like a very deep dive into and embrace of totalitarianism. Elaborating on multiple reasons is way beyond a blog.
Agreed, and a LOT of social studies teachers like us have been teaching against these stupid standardized tests and “standards.”
What an interesting document. It is neither a set of standards nor a curriculum, but a framework that can be used to develop both. It reminds me of the curricular frameworks I found when trying to learn more about the Netherlands education system. I knew that all their schools were reqd to meet the same “natl stds,” & was expecting to find something exhaustive like CCSS, but instead found docts like this [tho much shorter & simpler] — basically, statements of what the govt wants students to be able to do w/what they have learned. Actually, NJ’s “Core Curriculum Stds” of the ’90’s [pre-CCSS] – tho again much shorter & simpler – were similar.
How could teachers be “held responsible” [i.e., high-stakes testing accountability] for any of this, which is merely a starting point for states to develop grade-by-grade curriculum? The answer, of course, is that such docts were once held to be appropriate guidelines which school systems and teachers could use to shape their own curriculum and assessments, as professionals do, without waiting for the fed/ state to deliver detailed beans and bean-counting metrics by which to assess teachers and schools
Social studies teachers are responsible.
For ALL our problems
Hold them accountable!
Preferably in the stocks
![](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Men_in_Bramhall_stocks_1900.jpg)
Ha, ha…yeah…. stocks.
Media which overdo their daily coverage of Trump and all his scandals, tweets, and Russiagate to the nearly total exclusion of reporting on the two existential threats we all now face – the rapidly-accelerating Climate Crisis and nuclear weapons – just to get higher ratings and sell more copies, are indeed enemies of the people, because they irresponsibly neglect to keep us informed about the two unprecedented, greatest threats to all life on earth in human history.
Trump’s greedy, suicidal, anti-environmental policies and the continued endless, illegal U.S. wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen; continuing U.S. efforts to overthrow the governments of Iran, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, to name a few; U.S. complicity with Saudi Arabia and UAE in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Yemen; the wasteful, unnecessary empire of more than 800 U.S. military bases in more than 70 countries; and the U.S. Special Operations Forces now operating, mostly illegally, in more than 140 countries; all deserve much more daily news coverage than Trump’s scandals.
Media which do NOT inform the people of the government’s atrocities and crimes are irresponsible and anti-democratic, and are, therefore, an enemy of the people who must be informed about these atrocities and crimes. Otherwise, such media are no more than propagandistic enablers of the brutal U.S. Empire.
This. And this is why Trump’s “attacks” on the media are so successful. The media leave the door wide open. The media collectively need to turn inward and do some self-reflection on how they got to this point. Among other things, the fact that nearly every news outlet is owned by the same six corporations, most of which are entertainment corporations. Since roughly the 80s, news has been “sold” to us as “entertainment”, not information. Facts are boring (especially when “news” runs 24/7), so “news” outlets have to find a way to spice things up, which inevitably dumbs things down.
Ed,
Trump makes the news. He is very clever at making news. The media cannot avoid covering his outrages. I am not sure what you are proposing. That the media not cover his scandals? That the media not report his outrageous behavior and insulting tweets? Since neither you nor I control the media, I think we have to be grateful that they exist and avoid joining Trump in criticizing them for not doing what we think they should do.
Our nation is currently in an existential crisis. We have the worst, most dangerous, most mendacious president in our history. I won’t go through a list of his misdeeds and lies. Too many, too long, and life is short. Anyone who blames the media for creating Trump is looking in the wrong direction. Blame his parents. Blame him. Blame the GOP, which lacks the spine to defend the Constitution.
I am going to watch network news, CNN, and BBC and see just how much news each delivers. I am getting more from the L. A. Times at this point. I do not need every scandal reported and re-reported then digested over and over. I am afraid Dienne77 is correct about what people are seeing. Lacking my cynicism they draw conclusions on all this coverage. How many times have the issues regarding coverage and money been discussed? If I were still teaching, I might do an opinion/fact unit and have students watch and take notes on the language used.
So true, Ed. Your description of the “news” nails it as regards CNN & MSNBC (probably Fox, too, tho I wouldn’t be caught dead watching it). There was a time when the “Headline News” station really was mostly headlines; that constrained format required them to at least reach into regional & global events to fill out the schedule. Sadly they have become just a soft-sell version of the others. I now get headlines via Google News & links to articles of interest; check in on the 24/7 news analysis stations for 10 mins or so to catch the Trump outrage[s] of the day; News 12 NJ for local headlines, BBC for global headlines, PBS Newshour & NJTV for natl & local govt news/ analysis. Can’t say any of those will cover the issues you raise, but there are a number of websites which dig into those.
Oh & I forgot the best natl govt coverage out there, which is CSPAN. Highly recommend. There you can see for yourself what goes on every day in House & Senate w/o talking heads blabbing in your ear.
Many (if not most) talking heads are not real journalists.
Just as it is absurd to think that someone can be a teacher with little or no training, it is also absurd to think that a person can be a journalist with little or no training (but some of them actually seem proud of the fact that they have no formal journalistic education and training)
It’s just bizarre that talking heads and “columnists” continue to get the sort of attention they do, even after their ideas have been thoroughly discredited.
Thomas Friedman is a perfect example of a nonjournalist who gets far more attention than he deserves (which is precisely none).
The claim that “the US will be turning the corner in Iraq within six months” that Friedman repeated for several years during the Iraq war was classic Friedman — and so ridiculous as to be comical.
http://progressive.org/dispatches/thomas-friedman-s-iraq-amnesia/
And yet, there are people who continue to hang on his every word.
I don’t know who is more pathetic, Friedman or the people who quote him as if he were an Oracle (an invented word that sounds like Oracle but starts with “wh ” would be much more apt)
And then, of course, there are people like Bill O’Really, who don’t need any further description.
A degree in political “science” [sic ] or “middle eastern studies” does not qualify one as a journalist any more than a Doctor of Philosophy qualifies one as a medical doctor.
Journalism is about much more than simply expressing an opinion on something one might (or might not) have knowledge about.
I agree! We need to find a different way to fund the media and stop giving overwhelming preferential treatment to the six oligarchs controlling over ninety percent of the media. When it some to exposing privatization of education Diane does a much better job than traditional media but most people don’t know who she is; when it comes to preventing violence from escalating people like Barbara Coloroso or James Garbarino do much better yet can’t get coverage; Grist and other environmental news outlets do better on that and the list goes on the best can’t get mentioned by commercial propaganda machine!
8/16/18, 12:28 PM
JUST IN: US Senate passes resolution with unanimous consent by voice vote that “affirms that the press is not the enemy of the people” and “reaffirms the vital and indispensable role that the free press serves” and “condemns the attacks on the institution of the free press.” pic.twitter.com/uK8DvhsXie
A rare public repudiation of the Trumpster, but how deep the conviction is needs to be considered.
Not a word (yet) from the House.
Josef Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister, invented the phrase “Lugenpresse,” which means “lying press,” about the German media because one of the first things a chronic liar like Hitler needs to do is to destroy people’s trust in the media that reveal his lies. By destroying the German people’s trust in the nation’s free press, Hitler was able to lie his way to his rule that led to Germany’s ruin in World War ll.
When “60 Minutes” reporter Leslie Stahl asked Trump why he accuses the press of “fake news” when the reports about him are based on documented fact, Trump answered: “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”
These days you can hear the German phrase “Lugenpresse” being shouted out at Trump’s political rallies. That shouting is a warning of danger for our democracy. Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and author of our Declaration of Indepence that forms our nation’s ideological foundation, declared in 1787 that “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” And Founding Father John Adams, one of the key creators of our Constitution, declared to future generations of Americans that “The liberty of the Press is essential to the Security of the State.” Attacks on America’s free press are attacks on the security of America’s democracy.
Fascinating. And, truly scary.
Trump is a disaster for this country. Good for Brennan who says Trump “will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person.”
We need more people in high places who will speak the truth.
…………………..
White House Revokes Ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s Security Clearance
Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited Brennan’s “erratic behavior.”
”The White House announced last month that it was looking at revoking the clearances of other Trump critics, including former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe….
https://thebea.st/2Bfzi2t?source=email&via=desktop
Half of registered Republicans believing Trump that the media is the enemy of the people is a very small Minority of Fools.
26% of Registered voters are Republicans … not voter turnout but registered voters.
“America hits new landmark: 200 million registered voters
By SHANE GOLDMACHER 10/19/2016 01:57 PM EDT”
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/how-many-registered-voters-are-in-america-2016-229993
Now we can figure out how many registered voters believe Trump’s lie that the media is the enemy of the people.
26-million out of 200 million. I’m going to turn that into a competitive score to reveal how many people belong to Trump’s Minority of Fools.
Donald Trump, that score is 26 to 174. That makes you not only the biggest liar to be president of the United States but also the biggest loser.
A feat I think you will turn into another lie of some kind.
As always Lloyd, thanks for the perspective.
26% 0f 200,000,000 is 52,000,000, right? However you cut it , about a quarter of registered voters should not be in control of all three branches of government.
“26% 0f 200,000,000 is 52,000,000, right?”
Correct, but I read that only half of Republicans approved of that one issue. That’s why I cut it.
With Trump, there are so many issues based on his assembly line of endless lies and insults. One of his followers might not approve or believe a lie but accept and support another one.
If each Trump lie was a dart and he was throwing those darts at a dart cork board, he probably figures eventually one of them will hit the bull’s eye. Then when that one dart out of hundreds he’s tossed lands in the bull’s eyes, he lies again and brags that he’s the greatest dart player on the planet.
This is off topic but concerns me. This, just like Trump’s wall, is a total waste of money. Everything he does is to praise himself. Couldn’t this money be used for any number of things…our infrastructure is crumbling, schools, healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, SNAP, Medicaid, opioid addiction, green jobs, unemployment insurance, etc? His being born to money means he has no idea of what life is like for people who are struggling or need assistance. They don’t matter.
………………..
Trump’s Military Parade Is Now Estimated To Cost $92 Million — $80 Million More Than Earlier Estimate
The Department of Defense and its interagency partners have updated their perspective cost estimates for the parade, according to a U.S. defense official with firsthand knowledge of the assessment. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The parade, slated for Nov. 10, is estimated to cost $92 million, the official said. The figure includes $50 million from the Pentagon and $42 million from interagency partners such as the Department of Homeland Security. An initial estimate last month pegged the prospective cost for the parade at $12 million.
A Pentagon spokesman said in an email to CNBC that the Defense Department expects to make an announcement soon, but he would not comment further. The White House referred questions to the Defense Department.
Happily, the parade is now rescheduled to 2019. I’m hoping that the Democrats will control at least the House after the election, and kill the funding for it.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/16/politics/military-parade-postponed/index.html
That is good news!
The Department of Defense and its interagency partners have updated their perspective cost estimates for the parade”
Of course they have because nothing they do costs ” just” ten million dollars. That’s not even a rounding error in their $700 billion budget.
For them to throw a parade for such a “pittance” would be like having a birthday party for your 6 year old, not having any presents and only putting one candle on the cake (and making it a trick candle).
I am currently on record of supporting the St. Louis Post Dispatch in their choice of barring my comments after their stories and editorials, on the basis of their first amendment rights. I think it is a lousy thing to do. (I do not support the public radio in doing so). The press is often part of powerful corporate forces. They must remain free to make full expression of their views.
Nothing being said by the press, corporate or solo voices is as dangerous as what is not being allowed to be said. The press shares the blame for that.I believe that is the case in their choice to bar my commentary….a lot of it is criticism of privatization of education.
that was a big much….my point….nothing the press is saying is as dangerous as what they choose not to say..
The irony here is killing me. The press has been taken over by corporate interests, and has been an enemy of public education, for example. The press has been in fact an enemy of the people, supporting privatization schemes supported by corporate interests over democracy, supporting Trump and DeVos. Who runs this country post-Citizens United? Government or oil and hedge fund billionaire cabal? Who runs the press? Government or Eli Broad and the billionaire cabal?
The real problem is not the press versus Trump. The real problem is Trump, the rest of the billionaires, AND the press versus everyone else. The solution lies in trust busting.
LCT, I don’t agree. Reporters have very honestly reported on the machinations of the Koch brothers, DeVos, Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg. The editorial writers have ignored the privatization movement. Without a free press, we would not know what we now know. I am writing a book, and almost everything in it is drawn from honest reporting. Without the press, Trump would decide what we read and see.
Not the first time disagreeing on this issue, I think. I respect and appreciate the validity of your argument that your and others’ books and news sites, and I’ll add blogs, are examples of an enduring 1st Amendment. There is something to be said, however, against the attack on free press by information monopolies like Google and Facebook, against foundations securing control of PBS funding, against billionaires buying newspapers, and on and on. While appreciating that free press still exists in many spots and is not Trump’s “enemy of the people”, I think one must also keep in mind that free press is and has been under attack, and that unswerving faith in news outlets is a right, soon to be a luxury, no longer afforded us.
LTC,
Do you have “unswerving faith” in anything? Teachers unions? Religion? Democracy?
None of them is perfect. No one should have “unswerving faith” in any of them, including the press. Democracy means we have to hold all of them accountable and point out errors, mistakes and sometimes corruption. But that has nothing to do with Trump’s or any leader claiming that they are enemies of the people.
I don’t understand how critics of the press concentrate ONLY on the bad things as if the NY Times was a propaganda organ just like Trump wants the public to believe. It’s no different than the dishonest critics of teachers’ unions only focusing on the bad things teachers do and ignoring everything else.
The Catholic Church did some bad things covering up child abuse. I don’t think that justifies anyone calling the church the enemy of the people. It is a flawed institution as is every institution, including teachers unions.
The late night comics have been best at telling the public about the depth of Trump’s evil.
John Oliver exposed the greed of charter schools.
SNL should use Campbell Brown as a cartoon. It would be a fun skit with Bitsy DeVos, on a yacht that’s been set adrift.
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this Great Lakes port
Aboard this not small ship.
The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
The superyacht was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Seaquest would be lost, the Seaquest would be lost.
The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan
The Skipper too,
A billionaire and his wife,
A washed up star
A grizzly and Mary Ann,
Here on Gilligan’s Isle.
It’s funny how prescient Gilligan’s Isle was, including the billionaire and his wife!
I loved that show.
Thanks!
PS surely, Diane must be The Professor.
The only sane one in the whole group.
Lord of the Flies is a better parallel for the Kochs, DeVoses, Trump’s cabinet, Stephen Miller, Rick Berman, Bill Gates,…
Any faraway, deserted island will do for Dick and Betsy and the billionaire crew. They could take Campbell Brown and Michelle Rhee along as their loyal servants. Heck, they could go to Mars. Just somewhere else.
That second to last line should really have been Kellyanne instead of Mary Anne. A grizzly and Kellyanne. Here on Gilligan’s isle.
LCT
Thanks for clarifying about Kelly Anne.
That has been bothering me for a day now.
I know how critical it is to get these parodies just right because I have agonized for days on end about them myself.
Maryannes everywhere will thank you.
Also, Maryanne never got the respect she deserved on Gilligan’s island, so it’s good you are giving her some now.
When Mary Anne starts making record players and electric generators out of coconuts like everyone else on the island does, then she can have our respect. Until then, she is an enemy of the people.
Did you mean anemone of the people?
Seemingly harmless but actually predatory.
Seemingly harmless and pretty as a flower
“(43% of Republicans agree with the overall idea of more presidential power over media sources in general.)”
So 43% of 27% of Americans who identify as Republicans want the president to have more power over the free press. If you do the math that represents just short of 12% of Americans. Is that really much changed from the past? I have vague memories of a survey done a number of years ago in which an alarming number of Americans would not support the concepts addressed by the Bill of Rights. (I mentioned this study once before. I think someone else was able to identify the reference, which I still have not internalized if they did.) It is still scary that so many people do not understand the importance of a free press. I have noticed some attempts recently to highlight the reaction to Nixon’s attempt to subvert the press. We need to collect even more to highlight its importance even down to the local level.
I think certain people on the left have really jumped the shark if they are DEFENDING Trump claiming that the press is the enemy of the people.
Hello??? No one here is saying that the press is perfect. No one here is saying that the press doesn’t have its own biases and fails to report correctly on all the issues of the day.
But Holy Cow! If people do not understand the difference between criticizing press coverage when it is biased, and trying to shut down the free press and throw reporters who report anything that leaders don’t like in jail and calling “THE PRESS” the enemy of the people, then you should go back and read the First Amendment.
Instead of outrage on this attack on Freedom of the Press, you are justifying it by saying that it is all the media’s fault because if the media isn’t perfect, why shouldn’t Trump be able to threaten to jail reporters for being enemies of the people. That is how fascism takes place, with complicit citizens who normalize what is not normal.
When Hitler started saying that “the Jews” were enemies of the people, it was not okay for Germans to start saying “well there are those Jewish bankers who were pretty bad and helped cause our economic plight”. Once you normalize Hitler saying Jews are the enemy of the people by looking for reasons that justify that attack on Jews, you are part of the problem.
And that is what I read here. People saying “the press” brought this on themselves because it isn’t all perfect. It is sad to see Trump normalizers on this blog. Sometimes you have to just acknowledge that Trump is an abhorrent fascist without ALWAYS insisting that Trump’s enemies brought it on themselves. Fascists depend on that kind of warped thinking to take power.
Maybe this will help some of you understand how offensive your normalization tactics are. Imagine if Trump said “all teachers unions should be dissolved and banned because teachers unions are the enemy of the people”.
How would you feel if you read a lot of comments about how because the teachers union wasn’t endorsing the right candidates, or because a teacher somewhere was not fired, that the unions have only themselves to blame for the fact that Trump has now banned the union and outlawed it?
Do you understand that there is a difference between criticizing some aspects of something and a President calling it the “enemy of the people”?
First they came for the press, then they came for the trade unionists. And I said “yes, that media is just not good and it’s their own fault and that trade union is just not good and it’s their own fault.” And then they came for me.
Maybe a little hyperbolic. I didn’t mean all that. I was saying something more like this: Donald Trump hating Jeff Bezos doesn’t make either of them right.
Jeff Bezos is a person.
“The press” is not. It is an industry. It is an idea. It is a vast complex of different people and organizations and mediums.
Donald Trump criminalizing the children of teenage moms because Jeff Bezos was a child of teenage moms isn’t right. Nor is Trump criminalizing all Princeton grads because Bezos was a Princeton grads. If Trump wants to hate Jeff Bezos, you don’t have to defend Jeff Bezos. If Trump says Jeff Bezos is an enemy of the people who should be thrown in jail, and you say “well Jeff Bezos brought that on himself”, then I suggest you think about what you are enabling.
Trump can and will continue to criticize his coverage by CNN reporters and MSNBC. He is a thin-skinned insecure man who needs to be praised at all times.
However, he isn’t complaining about press coverage. He is saying that the media itself is an enemy of the people. That the media itself is an enemy of truth.
And that is pretty much what I understood some people believed after reading some of the posts blaming the media.
The AFL-CIO endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo is the tool of right wing billionaires. Ergo, using your logic, if Trump bans unions, it will be the fault off the AFL-CIO endorsing Cuomo. The union has only themselves to blame. And anytime anyone brings up how appalling it is that President Trump has just banned all unions, you can bring up the AFL-CIO endorsing the right wing tool Andrew Cuomo as if that is justification for Trump criminalizing unions. But you would be enabling fascism.
Fascism only takes hold when people buy into the argument that the victims of fascism are to blame instead of the purveyors of fascism.
Journalists in jail? Name one!
There are quite a few in Russia. Or perhaps they are no longer in jail having met with unfortunate “accidents” and died in prison.
If CIA and Trump, now that the campaign is over, have their way Jillian Assange will be, for exposing fraud.
It is not the press as such that Trump is castigating, only the biased, unfair anti Trump collusive press. They tell lies about him all the time trying to bring him down. That is not the function of a fair and free press. Trump fights back against lies. That’s all. The lies he fights back against appear on this blog regularly. If teachers of government posting here don’t even get constitutional government right, it’s helpful that they can turn to less biased sources than the Boston Globe. The government CANNOT shut down newspapers for criticizing it. The First Amendment protects absolutly from that type of censorship. To claim Trump has the power to do so is an absolute falsehood, even if they are biased. Much of the press and media IS against Trump. So what? Such news outlets merely diminish their reputation for truthfulness. We know what they are up to and we know what most Democrats want, to impeach Trump. Conservatives understand that it’s just nasty politics, and are benevolent and tolerant because we all want equality before the law, freedom, prosperity, clean water and air, and good schools. It is a shame Democrat party leaders have gone down the impeach Trump road. Truly a disgrace to everyday Democrats. Get rid of the socialists, and put up candidates that an everyday person could actually vote for. Socialism is Democrat suicide. Think about it.
Harlan,
So your point is that Trump himself never lies but he has devoted his life to “fighting back” against lies told by the media?
ha ha ha. Good one!
I am hoping more military and other leaders and politicians will speak out like Admiral McRaven did. Just think if many, many of them spoke out against Trump’s presidency. Would our feckless Republican Senators be able to say they are ALL “buttheads” like Senator Kennedy of Louisiana?
Hmmm…bad sentence. Should read, “…like Senator Kennedy of Louisiana said of John Brennan.”
Obama was elected twice which offers evidence that Republicans crossed party lines and voted for him. (I know a few.) So, the current, , “I’d vote for a Russian before a Democrat”, requires an explanation. Either, FOX has had increased success in portraying Dems falsely as supporting people of color taking from Republicans’ hard earned money (or, from their inheritance welfare) or, a significant number of voters didn’t perceive Obama as an “other”. Anti-democracy men like the Koch’s never saw Obama as anything but a lesser other.
So our baby/man president has to attend a military parade in France because the one here would cost too much. Why do taxpayers have to spend money on his traveling for this type of nonsense? He wastes our money enough going golfing all the time.
………………..
NYT
President Trump canceled plans for an expensive military parade this fall, blaming Washington city officials for inflating the costs.
Friday, August 17, 2018 9:01 AM EST
Mr. Trump said he would instead attend another parade planned at Joint Base Andrews this year and a military parade in Paris.
A day earlier, the Pentagon said Mr. Trump’s parade to celebrate the military could be postponed to 2019, as officials said the event could cost more than $90 million.
Trump is one of the few that can make traditional media look good by comparison; and this absurd rant against the media is playing right into the hands of the six oligarchs that control over 90% of the media. Now they’re making them look like heroes standing up to a nutcase.
For starters one of the things they fail to mention is that they gave him the obsession coverage that enabled him to get elected for decades, increasing it during the campaign, in the first place. These six oligarchs only cover a small number of candidates that debate a narrow group of issues that others familiar with alternative media might recognize.
They fired Phil Donahue when he spoke out against wars; they refuse to report on best research to prevent violence from escalating or do a good job covering environment which is also covered better on alternative media outlets.
They provide an enormous amount of coverage for those that want to privatize education and now treat you, Diane, like fringe because you expose a lot of it.
Many of us were taught that the first amendment was supposed to prevent a fraction of one percent of the public, like Kings ruling Europe, from controlling this much of the media now they have a massive propaganda advantage.
Trump makes a horrible case but there is a major problem and intentionally of not he’s making them look like heroes, even though they’re a greater, and more insidious threat than he is. He’s so obviously bad; but now progressive people are coming to the defense of a media establishment that is incredibly corrupt and isn’t providing a good service to the public, and even though “enemy of the people” isn’t the way I would phrase it, they come way to close to it!
This isn’t a free press it’s an Oligarchy press, making those they disagree with seem fringe!
What exactly are you saying?
I really don’t understand what you think “free press” means. It allows oligarchy-owned newspapers to publish whatever biased reporting they want to publish AND they allow other journalists to publish what they want to publish. It means that The Nation can publish something that is coming from the left without being shut down.
You may not like Rachel Maddow, but she isn’t pulling her punches because the oligarchs at NBC are ordering her to do so.
Are we supposed to AGREE with Trump that the major networks should be shut down because you claim they are owned by oligarchs so they don’t deserve to exist?
No press was more disgusting and despicable with lies than Fox News. Never did the Democrats call for shutting it down. They criticized it, but didn’t say it should not be allowed to exist.
You are mixing up definitions. A free press doesn’t mean that every news organization has to publish every opinion as that would be absurd. You sound no different than the neo-Nazis complaining because David Duke doesn’t have a regular column in the NY Times where he can present racist views as “news”.
And when you say of this non-defined “media”: “they’re a greater, and more insidious threat than he (Trump) is”, then you sound just like a Trump apologist.
The most fundamental principle of propaganda is “A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth,” or at least it seems to, especially if there’s few opposing views. These six oligarchies took control of over ninety percent of the media with the help of the government, and coincidence or not they only provide media coverage for people that don’t challenge their dominant positions in the media.
This includes Trump, believe it or not. They helped create Trump and he’s doing such in idiotic job demonizing the traditional media that it makes them look good by comparison.
If the media that you defended hadn’t provided him with obsession coverage as the only alternative to their incredibly biased coverage he wouldn’t seem like the only alternative to the oligarchy media.
You might want to read Robert McChesney “The Problem of the Media” or “Rich Media, Poor Democracy” or if you’re concerned with how I came to my conclusions check the link in my Name, it discusses how the oligarchies are controlled by six oligarchies, some of which was based on McChesney’s research.
I’m not disagreeing with your premise that there is major media owned by oligarchs. I am disagreeing with your claim that the people who you cite agree that “the press” is the enemy of the people. It is possible to make criticism of the press without resorting to the hyperbole you use in order to smear all media as “the enemy of the people” just as Trump says the media is. I doubt any of the authors of the books you cite would agree with your defense of Trump or claim that Trump’s desire to imprison journalists who don’t write fawning articles in jail is not as dangerous as the very existence of the NY Times.
The major media helped make Trump. The major media helped destroy Hillary Clinton. The major media helped destroy Al Gore. The major media helped build up Barack Obama.
So what? You claim I am defending the oligarchic media when I am defending the first amendment and the right of journalists NOT to be thrown in jail as “enemies of the people”.
Why are your normalizing Trump’s unprecedented attacks on the media?
I didn’t defend Trump or call for violence against the media. My point wan’t to suppress media but to end suppression of diverse media by the Oligarchy which rigs elections by only covering corrupt candidates.
Intentionally or not, they’re using Trump to glorify themselves without reporting diverse research on many different subjects.
Please stop jumping to conclusions that I didn’t say here or in my articles.
Whatever your personal views may be I would urge you to watch Deutsche Welle fo see what Europe thinks of this personage in the White House. They are unbiased, look closely with a critical view, critical in more ways than one.
Look too at how many Londoners signed a petition to NOT have him visit their country, the signs in Scandinavia that read welcome to the land of freedom of the press or words to that effect.
It does nt good to comment on this blog but DO get out and vote before this country disintegrates entirely and democracy is lost AND once lost, VERY difficult to ever get back.
Subject: Congress: No More Tax Dollars for Slaughter in Yemen
Yemen’s civil war has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, and U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill. There’s no clear stake for the United States in this conflict, but nonetheless we keep funneling millions to a conflict that has had dire consequences for civilians in Yemen.
That‘s why I signed a petition to The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate, which says:
“Stop using Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars to support the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and left 8 million on the brink of famine.”
Will you sign this petition? Click here:
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/congress-no-more-tax?source=s.em.cp&r_by=1432174
Thanks!
The Freedom of the Press Is Yours…The Atlantic
It is your right as an American to read what you will, to write what you think, and to publish what you believe.
The press, says the 45th president of the United States, is “very dangerous & sick.” It causes “great division & distrust.” It is the “enemy of the people.”
Every president—starting with George Washington, who griped about his treatment at the hands of “infamous scribblers”—has felt maligned or misunderstood by the media. The rhetoric now emanating from the White House—remarkable in its ferocity, irresponsibility, and remorselessness—represents something darker. It is an attack not just on individual media outlets, but on the role journalism serves in a free society; not just on specific stories, but on the need for Americans to know the facts; not just on journalists, but on the right of all people to speak their minds.
…The Atlantic was created in 1857, in defiance of that violence, in defense of the right of a free people to criticize injustice where they see it. The Atlantic’s founders promised that it would be “the organ of no party or clique,” and that it would “deal frankly with persons and with parties”—values that we stand by today. This is why we now feel compelled to speak out—alongside hundreds of other publications—in defense of this essential freedom.
The president’s rhetoric doesn’t merely spread division and distrust; it is dangerous, and sick. Like all Americans, he has a right to critique the press. But he is also sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution—and this is what he must do.
Read More:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/the-freedom-of-the-press-is-yours/567655/?utm_source=eb
Carol,
In order to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, you have to know what it says. I think that is beyond Trump’s intellect or interest. He is always looking out for #1 and that is not in the Constitution.
And that, in one paragraph, sums up the last year and a half in the United States.
The Senate did a voice vote and decided that ‘the press is not the enemy of the people”. Oh my goodness. The Senate is showing some tiny, tiny, tiny bit of spine.
…………………………………..
…on Thursday, the Senate passed by unanimous voice vote a resolution offered by Sens. Brian Schatz and Chuck Schumer. The resolution is focused directly at “affirming Congress’ support of the First Amendment and condemning attacks on the free press, which undermine the credibility of journalists and the press as a national institution.” What follows are some of the more pertinent passages from the text of the resolution:
Whereas the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects the press from government control and suppression;
Whereas the freedom of the press—
–has been recognized as integral to the democratic foundations of the United States since the beginning of the United States; and< /li>
has endured and been reaffirmed repeatedly throughout the history of the United States;
[…]
Whereas tyrannical and authoritarian governments and leaders throughout history have sought to undermine, censor, suppress, and control the press to advance their undemocratic goals and actions; and
Whereas the United States, including its long-held commitment to and constitutional protection of the free press, has stood as a shining example of democracy, self-government, and freedom for the world to emulate: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that:
The Senate –
affirms that the press is not the enemy of the people;
reaffirms the vital and indispensable role the free press serves to inform the electorate, uncover the truth, act as a check on the inherent power of the government, further national discourse and debate, and otherwise advance our most basic and cherished democratic norms and freedoms; and
condemns attacks on the institution of the free press and views efforts to systematically undermine the credibility of the press as a whole as an attack on our democratic institutions.
……………………………….
It is the sense of the Senate that it is the sworn responsibility of all who serve the United States by taking the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States to uphold, cherish, and protect the entire Constitution, including the freedom of the press.
The fact that a resolution like this even needs to be brought up is a sad statement on the status of the United States government, and particularly the White House under Donald Trump. And its language is unambiguously aimed at Trump himself with the inclusion of the affirmation that “the press is not the enemy of the people.”
John Dean knows a little something about awful, criminal, paranoid presidents with berserk rage boners for the popular Democratic presidents who preceded them. As White House counsel under President Nixon, he was deeply involved in the Watergate coverup. Eventually he flipped on the president, cooperating with investigators and pleading guilty to a single felony count.
So if things seem a tad Watergate-y to you these days, imagine how Dean feels. He’s seen this movie before. Hell, he’s helped make this movie before. And now he’s saying to White House staffers, “Whatever you do, don’t be me”:
John Dean
✔
@JohnWDean
Memo To Trump’s White House Staff: FYI. Very few people who worked at Nixon’s White House later included that fact on their resumes. It doesn’t do much for a career to be on the wrong side of history, nor to have worked for the worst president in American history.
12:19 AM – Aug 17, 2018
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Subject: Sign the petition! US Senate: Tell your Senators, “Vote NO on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee”
I signed a petition on Action Network telling US Senate to Tell your Senators, “Vote NO on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee”.
Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Now the basic rights and liberties of women, workers, communities of color, and the LGBTQ community are dangerously at risk — and Trump’s own corruption is at risk of being swept under the rug by a Supreme Court majority he wants to hand-pick. That’s why we NEED to fight. Sign the petition to your Senators now and demand that they fight to stop Trump’s SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Click here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-your-senators-vote-no-on-trumps-supreme-court-nominee-2?source=email&