A lot of articles and posts in recent weeks have started with the phrase, “and so it begins.” However, it seems that the appropriate phrase should be, “it is well underway.” Today, the Trump administration boldly, without shame or excuse, suppressed the free press. It was no longer just words and passive aggressive threats. This time, there was action.
“CNN and other news outlets were blocked Friday from an off-camera White House press briefing, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs.”
This should raise alarms with more than just “media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs.” It should shock and outrage anyone who values our rights, freedoms, and way of life.
“They are the enemy of the people because they have no sources,” Trump said. “They just make them up when there are none.”
This phrasing alone is enough to raise red flags. This language, coupled with action begs for Congressional intervention and condemnation, by all parties. Let us hope that this is not given the same brush off by the House and a majority of Senate GOP members, as has been the regular practice. This is a bridge too far and, if allowed to stand without reprisal, is a free pass to the Trumpian descent into a Nationalist state. To see the progression you only need to look at Italy and Germany from 1922-1044 for road map of what lies ahead. Words, followed by actions, often as a result of manufactured “disasters,” created a pattern where heads of state were able to control the media, thereby controlling the message. When you control the message, you own the “facts.” Once we reach that point, the democratic process ceases to exist and resistance takes on a whole new, darker, more serious meaning.
The oneness rests with the Congressional GOP. By turning a blind eye to this as just another misstep, or mistaken phrasing, they bear the responsibility for the inevitable. The party that stood for equality, the party of Lincoln, could be the party that ushered out democracy and allowed our country to lose its inherent values and identity for the sake of self-preservation and fear of their base. Losing reelection is a far less serious fate than losing our freedoms. Will Republicans finally step up?
“Let us hope that this is not given the same brush off by the House and a majority of Senate GOP members…”– I applaud your optimism
“The party that stood for equality, the party of Lincoln, could be the party that ushered out democracy…”– This giant group of festering assholes don’t care about this country. They only care about the “country” in so far as it is a physical place within whose boundaries they live. They seek to remake it it, come hell or high treason, back into the abhorrent vision they feel it must represent, which is one of oppression, exclusion, and abuse.
The GOP is fine with silencing the press. Facts hurt them.
Until the “fake news” turns on the GOP establishment.
Pity not the Free Press. Remember it was the same “free” press, without whose disproportionate coverage of candidate Trump, there not have been a President Trump.
This is an exceptionally shirt-sighted reply. I do not pity the press. I often do not agree with the choices made by reporters, editors, or the corporatist overlords. None of that matters. What matters is that we, the consumers, have decided how crappy or how good a press we will have by voting with our channel selectors. The State does not get a voice in that decision. That’s what the First Amendment means, if it means anything at all with respect to the Press. I will defend the NY Times and CNN, and like Voltaire I will defend Breitbart’s right to be consciously inaccurate assholes with a website. The Press is chaotic and inconsistent–it’s intended to be and always has been. That state of the Press is our best defense against what’s happening now. I think, among other things, I will taking out a subscription to the New York Times.
I am most surprised by the collaboration and push-back by some conservative pundits at Fox News and even Glenn Beck(?!). Regardless of political slant, the seriousness of this pattern by the Trump administration has begun to unify journalists who understand gravity of these actions.
Real question is it off to court we go? Would seem to me the executive branch cannot arbitrarily ban part of the press and not run afoul of the first amendment. Dare say there’s a convoluted legal argument against it but it seems to clearly abridge the freedom of the press. As for the Republicans their passengers on the Trump train and headed to the bottom at thrilling speed, it’s a fun ride but when do they jump off? The very moment they no longer see Trump as a benefit and no longer fear his supporters. Much like Spring I believe the first signs are already there.