Image credit: Corey Grandy, DeviartArt.

I must not tell lies.

Dolores was right.

We all joke about it, but it’s real. With the White House — not Trump, although he is certainly one of the culprits — banning CNN, the NYT, the Los Angeles Times, and Politico from a White House press conference, the United States is rapidly heading towards becoming a fascist state. We all know what happens when a state tries to control its media; with this news, it would seem the executive branch has launched a full scale attack on journalism.

Trump has been espousing the apparent, err, realities of ‘fake news’ since his election in early November, and, similar to Hitler with his ‘lying media,’ that is only just being to manifest itself. Sooner rather than later, we will have only publications who visibly and vocally support the White House, Trump, and his administration — I’m loathe to say regime, at least for now — with others being banned and shut out. What was that line from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? “I must not tell lies,” says Dolores Umbridge to Harry, using her ‘special quill’. It feels apt right about… now.

It’s time for the media to boycott the White House, and to not play Trump’s game. If the media does, it will fall right into Donald’s hands, like a talented child with a lump of clay, moulding it as he sees fit.

Personal note: been busy with dissertation so content on here will be limited. But I thought this news was too important to pass up. So here I am.