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Mr. President: We aren't enemies of the people. We're a check on government.
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Nineteen months ago, Donald Trump swore an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. One protection in its First Amendment is the stated guarantee of a press free from government dictates, and an implied responsibility for journalists to be a check on that governments enormous powers.
Rather than defending or at least respecting that guarantee and that responsibility, Trump has escalated from criticism to incitement: At public appearances he demonizes the reporters who cover his speeches and his crowds. He routinely insists that journalists intentionally craft false reports. As he put it in a July speech to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. Just remember what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening.
Americas news media the reporting that journalists promulgate and the decisions they make arent beyond fallibility or reproach; every day journalists get some things right and other things wrong. Tension between presidents and reporters is a staple of most administrations: Journalists rightly objected when President Barack Obamas Department of Justice, determined to halt leaks, spied on reporters and repeatedly invoked the Espionage Act against their sources.
But Trumps rants pose a much different, more dangerous threat. He is toying with the power of the presidency in order to provoke one part of the American public against another. At some point such verbal assault encourages ideological extremists to take action. It threatens journalists personal safety. And it undercuts that responsibility for a press thats supposedly free of government control to act as a watchdog on public officials.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-trump-press-journalists-20180813-story.html
Nineteen months ago, Donald Trump swore an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. One protection in its First Amendment is the stated guarantee of a press free from government dictates, and an implied responsibility for journalists to be a check on that governments enormous powers.
Rather than defending or at least respecting that guarantee and that responsibility, Trump has escalated from criticism to incitement: At public appearances he demonizes the reporters who cover his speeches and his crowds. He routinely insists that journalists intentionally craft false reports. As he put it in a July speech to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. Just remember what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening.
Americas news media the reporting that journalists promulgate and the decisions they make arent beyond fallibility or reproach; every day journalists get some things right and other things wrong. Tension between presidents and reporters is a staple of most administrations: Journalists rightly objected when President Barack Obamas Department of Justice, determined to halt leaks, spied on reporters and repeatedly invoked the Espionage Act against their sources.
But Trumps rants pose a much different, more dangerous threat. He is toying with the power of the presidency in order to provoke one part of the American public against another. At some point such verbal assault encourages ideological extremists to take action. It threatens journalists personal safety. And it undercuts that responsibility for a press thats supposedly free of government control to act as a watchdog on public officials.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-trump-press-journalists-20180813-story.html
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Mr. President: We aren't enemies of the people. We're a check on government. (Original Post)
Arkansas Granny
Aug 2018
OP
"We are the PROTECTORS of the people against enemies who work in secrecy and darkness"
lagomorph777
Aug 2018
#1
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)1. "We are the PROTECTORS of the people against enemies who work in secrecy and darkness"
Such as you, Donald.
That would have been a much stronger way to make the point.
ROB-ROX
(767 posts)2. CORRUPT PEOPLE DO CORRUPT THINGS
This person is pure EVIL which means he does anything and everything ILLEGAL. THIS PERSON AND HIS SELECT GROUP OF SWAMP people will soon be in prison. When he is granted a pardon his GOP voters will vote BLUE...............