Susan Wright on the Right
This is one of those points I have continuously attempted to impress upon my readers, especially the MAGA hive mind, but I’ve also had the doubters blow it off as nothing to be concerned about.
I think those who think that way are wrong.
You can quibble over the minor details (“Nothing has happened yet, therefore…”), but the time to sound the warning is not after the town has been raided and burned to the ground. You kind of want to get in front of those things.
The same is to be said for President Trump’s authoritarian drive to shut down the media in the United States.
Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying in 1804:
“No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”
The emphasis there is mine.
It’s almost as if he saw Trump coming.
The man who sits in the Oval Office began his Sunday morning by launching another attack on the free press, and it was psychotic.
The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018
This is someone who has become unmoored from the shores of reality.
This is someone who is under pressure and his lack of core principles and morals is causing him to react in the only way someone so loathsome can: He’s attempting to whip up his MAGA cult to action.
Of that, there is no doubt in my mind.
Chris Wallace, the host of “Fox News Sunday” took the question of President Trump’s troubling tweet to John Bolton, national security adviser.
Wallace read the tweet back to Bolton, then asked, “What wars have we started?”
Bolton, as it is with all those who’ve joined the MAGA cult, attempted to downplay his boss’ caustic message, opting to mention the long history of press bias.
He’s not entirely wrong. The press is made up of people. These people often have a hard time separating their personal feelings from their work. It happens on both sides of the political aisle.
It sucks, and the proper response is to recognize it for what it is, speak out against it, change the channel or refuse to buy the newspaper.
Wallace responded that reporters are rightfully called out when they publish inaccurate information, but added that Trump’s latest attacks on the media are “taking it to a completely different level.”
“That’s the president’s view, based on the attacks the media has made,” Bolton responded, citing past administrations that have clashed with the media.
“I think this kind of adversarial relationship is typical,” he added.
Adversarial, but show me another administration that actually conjured up images of war and deemed the press “enemy of the people.”
For that matter, show me another administration that had a cult following of rabid, unhinged followers, and a president who openly names himself as a victim to these “enemies,” placing the onus for protecting him on his followers.
CNN’s Brian Stelter addressed the madness earlier Sunday, by playing a clip of a caller by the name of “Don,” who called into C-SPAN.
“Don” was upset. In particular, “Don” was upset with Stelter and his CNN colleague, Don Lemon. He had a problem with Stelter and Lemon calling all Trump supporters “racists.”
Stelter says that has never happened. They’ve never accused all Trump supporters of racism.
He went on to say that others in the media have received far worse than what the caller was threatening against he and Lemon.
“They don’t even know these Americans out here and they are calling us racists because we voted for Trump?” Don said in the call on Friday. “Come on. Give me a break. They started the war. I see them, I’m going to shoot them.”
It sounds like “Don” might be receiving orders from his general.
It’s not just CNN.
Stelter also aired a clip of MSNBC’s Katy Tur saying that she and a couple of her female colleagues had received emails saying, “I hope you get raped and killed.”
“And in case you want to argue that this has nothing to do with the president, the most recent note I got ended with ‘MAGA,’ ” Tur said, referring to the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
Because they equate being violent, frothing, mad dogs to making American great again.
Trump has weaponized the dregs of his supporters. He’s desperate. He’s attempting to create chaos, in order to save his own skin.
This does not end well.
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