In case you’ve been in a coma and hadn’t noticed, freedom of the press is under attack in Trump’s America. Perhaps you don’t fully trust your eyes and ears anymore in the gaslit landscape of funhouse mirrors, ‘fake news’ and nonstop outright lies — so don’t take my word for it, consider the view of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, who echoed these thoughts in Geneva last Wednesday. when he also noted that freedom of the press is “under attack from the president” www.washingtonpost.com/.… Or Paul Waldman at the Washington Post who said the same thing at the end of May www.washingtonpost.com/… or Kenneth T. Walsh at US News and World Report who highlighted Trump’s war on the media in Nov. 2016 www.usnews.com/... and noted the escalation of that war on February 27th — less than a month into the Trump administration. On the 22nd of February Aaron Blake at the Washington Post thought Trump was losing his war on the media. www.washingtonpost.com/… but more than 6 months later, like Afghanistan, I see no end in sight. Trump’s war on the media is still being waged each and every day.
I must note that Trump’s assault is not limited to just freedom of the press — but encompasses every provision of the First Amendment. Trump is not just at war with the media — he’s at war with the constitution.
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the U.S. Constitution was adopted on December 15, 1791. First among the ten constitutional amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights, the 1st Amendment ensures the free exercise of religion, prohibits the establishment of a state religion, protects our freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to peaceable assembly as well as the right of citizens to petition the government to redress grievances. en.wikipedia.org/...
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The words of the 1st Amendment were written by James Madison (1751-1836), the fourth POTUS, although the rights it seeks to protect – separation of church and state, free exercise of religion, and the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government to redress grievances – were issues of particular concern to Madison’s friend and mentor, Thomas Jefferson and it is Jefferson who ultimately convinced Madison of the need to amend the constitution. ccwww.firstamendmentcenter.org/...
Although the president has sworn an oath to protect and defend the constitution - his words and actions indicate that he does not believe his oath extends to the Bill of Rights, especially the 1st Amendment.
Even before he assumed office, Trump had the 1st Amendment under constant siege. Since then freedom of assembly has been questioned by his response to the Women’s March and and his characterization of the Charlottesville anti-fascist counter protesters. Clearly he questions the rights of citizens to peaceably and legally gather to voice opposition to his awful public policies and plans. Freedom of religion has been tested by his repeated attempts to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., while the establishment clause has been tested by attempts for a Christians first preference in immigration policy. Our freedom of speech and privacy (protected by the 4th Amendment) is clearly threatened by a government that continues to secretly collect information about our browsing history and the things we write in emails and in posts like this one.
The worst and most egregious assault on the 1st Amendment has not been silent or hidden. Trump’s war on the press has been a full frontal assault in living color — fire and fury, — body slam them to the ground www.washingtonpost.com/… or run them over with that unstoppable Trump Train. www.nytimes.com/…
Trump’s most consistent stance on any issue has been his persistent effort to undermine his critics in the press/media by tagging them as ‘fake news’ and ‘bad people’ who ‘do not love our country’ —
During the campaign, Trump called reporters —
the “lowest form of humanity”
On Feb. 17th, he singled out ‘Fake News Media’ at the New York Times, CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN as "the enemy of the American people "www.washingtonpost.com/...
and ”A great danger to our country”
No wonder Trump refused to attend the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 29, he can dish it out but can’t take the heat.
Because he didn’t like the way they covered a story, Trump banned the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, and Politico, from a White House press briefing
Presumably whatever the media report (about him) should not be trusted or believed (unless of course it’s good/positive).
“The press is so dishonest and so unfair,”
Reporters “are not good people,”
they are the “most dishonest human beings on earth”
“scum”
Pointing at a specific reporter, Trump once publicly commented, “You’re a sleaze.” www.realclearpolitics.com/...
After Charlottesville he once again called journalists “truly dishonest people.”
”Fake News” has been the most frequent invective hurled at the media. And about that — Trump’s version of ‘Fake News’ is in need of some push back — so forgive me while I digress a bit about Fake News.
Trump has single handedly attempted to redefine the meaning of Fake News. At first I thought he just didn’t understand the concept — and maybe that was true at one time. Now he’s in the world of alternate reality. By repeatedly restating his unique cockeyed view of what Fake News actually is, Trump may eventually succeed in changing public understanding of the concept. Contrary to Trump, Fake News is not mainstream media that simply disagrees with the president, fails to sufficiently adore him or writes unflatteringly about him.
Fake News is a class of fictitious story written to deceive and manipulate its readers —en.wikipedia.org/... Designed to be believable — fake news works when readers unquestioningly accept it, forward the propaganda or misinformation and in the process of sharing it with friends and family who trust the source, give that story legitimacy. Even if you later learn that a story is false — parts of it still linger in the subconscious — something like the ‘Don’t Think About A White Bear’ problem — called Ironic process theory — even if you try to consciously forget a story that you believe but later learn is false — most people cannot actively un-remember it en.wikipedia.org/… So like advertising, fake news works.
In the last election, influential social media users susceptible to fake news were identified and targeted so they could be fed political stories to spread. Many of them first got the following Dr. Pepper message on Facebook
If you forwarded apolitical fake news like this bogus ‘Coke buys Dr. Pepper — plans to stop production’ story — I suspect you were then targeted with a stream of political fake news during the lead up to the election.
This is real Fake News that might have been used in Trump’s political campaign. Trump didn’t need expensive TV ads and knew he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any of his supporters — because Cambridge Analytica had the marketing data from the spread of real Fake News stories to prove it.
OK, back to Trump’s assault on the constitution.
At a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on Aug. 22nd, Trump spent more than 10 minutes denouncing the media’s treatment of him, complete with indictments of specific journalists and their outlets. www.cnn.com/...
“It’s time to expose the crooked media deceptions,”
In that rally, Mr. Trump accused the news media of
“trying to take away our history and our heritage,”
Simply Unbelieveable.
When visiting Hurricane Harvey — he couldn’t resist getting a dig in at the media — implying once again that they were cowards in the face of the storm, despite days of coverage vividly illustrating the very opposite.
Trump’s war on freedom of the press is unprecedented behavior by a sitting president. Silent Calvin Coolidge who ascended to the presidency in 1923, following the death of Warren G. Harding and was then reelected in 1924, was a do nothing/say nothing president. That approach to the job led us headlong into the Great Depression. Cooledge hid behind silence and humor. Always wary of the press — Coolidge generally refused to grant interviews, would not allow the press to directly quote him or his press secretary, and often refused to answer reporters questions. Although Coolidge held 520 press conferences — they were private affairs held in his office in which he responded to written questions that were submitted in advance. Coolidge only responded to the questions he liked — and then in the briefest possible way. If he didn’t have anything to say in response to reporter’s written questions — he would say — ‘I have no questions today’ — and dismiss the press.
By contrast, Trump just doesn’t do press conferences. He’s had one. President Trump is a ‘know nothing’ at war with anyone and everyone who just might know things he doesn’t — which is true of nearly every member of the press and a significant percentage of the rest of the human race.
I cannot imagine what the blowback would be from the Right if a similar assault were made on the Second or Fourth Amendment, by a Democrat president. So, where oh where is the right’s defense of the constitution and the 1st Amendment? When a Democrat sat behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office they were all too eager to restrict his power and compel him to honor the oath of office (to their satisfaction). So where are all the pundits who loudly sport the importance of ‘original intent’ when it is time to select judges? — James Madison’s intentions in the 1st Amendment are unambiguous. Trump is clearly not just failing to honoring his oath to protect and defend the constitution’s 1st Amendment, he is actively defying it.
What is unclear (at least to me) is why conservative legal scholars, religious leaders and especially the conservative media have remained stoically silent while this president has gone to war against the 1st Amendment.
Trump’s war on the press and the 1st Amendment is clearly in violation of his oath of office
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
So, you might ask, what are the penalties for a president who violates this oath?
None apparently.
The problem is that the president and other government officials are bound solely by their conscience, with no statutory mandate or penalties if they fail to live up to their oaths.
Seems like a loophole that needs to be closed — the sooner the better.
The actions of this administration are those of a group of ideological activists who have not one iota of respect for protocol, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights nor the sanctity of the vote.
That August 1, 2010 quote from Red State blogger Michael Dugas on presidential accountability pretty much sums up my views 7 years down the road — with the shoe on the other foot, so to speak www.redstate.com/...
Why Oh Why don’t we have common cause on this issue. Where are all those self-righteous Red State defenders of the constitution now that Trump is flaunting his defiance of the oath of office?
For that matter, where are the defenders of the 1st Amendment on this side. We should all be mad as hell and screaming from the rooftops that we’re not going to take it anymore. Yeah, I get outrage fatigue — the difficulty of fighting on so many different fronts all at once — but this is an issue we should be fighting non-stop, full throttle, pedal to the metal, everyday until Trump stops.
Clearly we’ve got serious work to do to try and keep this administration in check — and very little leverage. I don’t have a solution.
A grievance petition to Congress might be a place to start — this president’s failure to protect and defend the constitution’s 1st Amendment demands a response. He shows no sign of relenting on his own, maybe the people and the Congress can start to rein him in, but I won’t hold my breath.
The 2018 mid-term elections can’t get here soon enough.
“A Republic — if we can keep it.” Benjamin Franklin, 1789