Trump’s Attacks on the Free Press; Merely ‘Tip-of-the-Iceberg’ of Coming Repression
In an address to CPAC 2017, newly elected President, Donald J. Trump doubled down on his war against a Free Press and the First Amendment.
Over the entire course of his unconventional (by every metric), highly-charged nativist presidential campaign — rife with outright bigotry, misogyny, and stoking of fear and partisan hatred — the centerpiece of his rally screeds and tweeting taunts against “the establishment” was a constant denigration of any and all news sources which dared either criticize him directly, or even merely repeat his own hateful words and speeches back to their audiences, as proof of his unfitness for office.
It was no different Friday morning, when he received the roaring adulation of a fawning Conservative Political Action Conference, at their annual gathering, held at National Harbor, Maryland:
Beset with calls by a majority of Americans, now demanding a full, impartial inquiry into what would be the biggest political scandal in American history; i.e., foreign interference in a presidential election, and possible collusion in that enterprise — by the prevailing candidate — the shrill call by Mr. Trump, and his surrogates, designed to fully undermine the confidence of the American People in a Free Press is well underway.
Meanwhile, noted historical figures like John Dean, a key player and witness to the Watergate Scandal, which brought down President Richard M. Nixon, believe that these are rather transparent attempts to thwart the inquiry — by influencing the FBI’s probe (and any other investigations),…even having intelligence operatives and congressional committee chairmen run interference with the media. It all smacks of another Republican White House ‘cover-up,’ as warned by Mr. Dean.
To be sure, the media — a few brief hours after the president’s speech — was blasted yet again by Trump, followed quickly by a specific ban on those media outlets named (and others) from even attending an invitation-only ‘Press Gaggle,’ as if to drive home both Trump’s continuing attacks, as well as the horrific points of how this attack on an otherwise ‘Free Press’ will only get worse,…as set forth by Trump’s ‘Rasputin’ and policy shot-caller, Stephen Bannon, speaking at CPAC, the day before Trump’s speech to the group.
For its part; the American media is not going to go down quietly, without a protracted fight against these sinister attempts to silence all meaningful criticism or investigations into the conduct of this minority-elected government.
What is grossly hypocritical in all of these attacks on the media, and Trump’s insistence that “Fake News” includes any and all news stories or reports that rely on confidential, unnamed sources, is that the current White House itself continues to have various surrogates give out stories, on the condition of not revealing the staffer’s name or title. Indeed, Mr. Trump, himself — who has routinely used or cited unnamed sources — even used that tactic to defame and undermine President Obama, as being an illegitimate president.
All of this comes as a tandem attack, with one on public demonstrations as well; now being labeled by Trump & Company as ‘highly-organized, well-funded, orchestrated attacks by paid demonstrators of the Far Left.’ Not to be either listened to, nor even allowed to persist; as Republican lawmakers scramble for ways to tamp down First Amendment “Free Speech” guarantees, along with Trump’s assault on “Freedom of the Press.”
WHERE ALL OF THIS LEADS: DEMONIZATION OF DISSENT AND REPRESSION OF ANYONE DEMANDING HONEST GOVERNMENT:
As the Trump Administration gets deeper and deeper into the weeds of governance, and as more and more federal governance comes under attack, with the dismantling of agency-after-agency, tasked with providing protections and services to “We the People” — I fully expect there to be draft legislation coming, which will be crafted to impact the media’s ability to even factually report the news; perhaps through new licensing regulations by the Federal Communications Commission, now with a radical new chairman, Anjit Pai; a man of Trump’s choosing, and one devoted to many of his same repressive public policies, like the end of Net Neutrality.
I also fully expect there to be more-and-more state and federal legislation, designed to criminalize all public anti-Trump demonstrations, as well as to open up court challenges relative to our libel laws, as often threatened by Trump while out on the campaign trail. Once such measures are in place,…and other efforts undertaken,…to stifle public dissent over the Internet; the new Fascist Police State — adored by the man who respects a tyrant like Vladimir Putin and proudly proclaims to be “The Law & Order President” — will be nearly complete.
The final straw, however, will come, when they have reached such absolute control as to be able to eventually eliminate free and honest democratic elections altogether, or to at least restrict them to only those they allow to vote, and only for their candidates, preordained and approved by our new Fascist overlords.
The people must never surrender to tyranny. We must continue to RESIST!
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