Trump’s Death Sentence
White House Oedipus condemns himself
“A few days ago, I called the fake news ‘the enemy of the people,’ and they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources. They just make them up when there are none.”
This quote from from Trump’s Friday CPAC speech can be considered his epitaph. The challenge he has posed here is unmistakable and irresistible. The “no sources” at some stage, most likely in the not too distant future, will become x number of sources who will be testifying before a committee or simply doing more whistle blowing.
NYT and CNN in particular will do all in their power to thoroughly legitimate their stories and cultivate existing and nascent relationships in the field.
I don’t think Trump even contemplated the implications of his statement or of barring six major news outlets from a briefing with Spicer. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-bars-news-organizations_us_58b08a76e4b0a8a9b78213ae http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-media-makes-up-sources-235345
Trump does not know that it is impossible to completely contain information. This ignorance may be what will sink him.
“. . . the fake news doesn’t tell the truth. Doesn’t tell the truth. I say it doesn’t represent the people. It never will represent the people. And we’re gonna do something about it, because we have to go out and we have to speak our minds, and we have to be honest.” (from Trump’s CPAC speech, 2017, quoted in Politico)
And the above declarations by Trump deepen the challenge. This statement’s highly manipulative language will do more to embolden the press to promote rigorous interpretation of Trump’s actions and further investigation. For here Trump is calling on the electorate, the consumers of media, to oppose the media and to believe instead . . . guess who?
