Our democracy cannot be compromised with crazy

The thing about Trump supporters that is so galling and so stunningly hypocritical is their willingness to unquestioningly take on the false and distorted Bannon/Trump worldview of the media when less than six months ago they demanded a relentless critique of Ms Clinton and president Obama for every single statement or action they made. My challenge to every devout trump supporter is to consider if they would make the same arguments and assertions if it were Ms Clinton who’d sent a young navy seal to his death on an ill considered Yemen raid while she dined with friends. What media coverage would they demand if Ms Clinton sent a close aid to the FBI to have them squash an investigation of her Russian interests. And would they accept Ms Clinton’s refusal to release her tax returns? Trump and his supporters lose all credibility given their blatant hypocrisy – in their own recorded words. That hypocrisy and irrational devotion to the monstrous Bannon presidency is what has me so frightened.

Alan R Brock

Richmond VA 6 hours ago

Trump declares the press to be the enemy of the people. As Bannon might say, the internal logic makes sense. It make sense because what Trump fears most is truth, because truth reveals him to be the ultimate “empty suit”.

There are various truths just waiting to be exposed, hanging over Trump’s head like a sword of Damocles: his limited wealth, his indebtedness to nefarious interests, his intention to use the office of president for corrupt purposes, his shocking lack of ability outside of branding and hucksterism.

It must be a tortured existence for Mr. Trump, craving the attention of the press while fearing the press will expose him. That actually gives me some comfort as this nightmare continues to play out.

R

Kansas 6 hours ago

Some believe that Democrats must compromise with Trump so you win back seats in Congress. That only makes sense if Trump has a plan for something that half way makes sense, such as a reasonable infrastructure plan. But, if he goes on being Bannon’s puppet and denies that in a post-industrial economy you don’t make jobs by simply deporting people and lowering taxes on the rich, the Dems cannot compromise. As Trump looks to raise military spending, which may create jobs, the next step is to create a war, to create more military spending. True insanity. You can’t compromise with crazy.

TVCritic

California 6 hours ago

The only reason that Trump could survive in business is that truth is often seen as a barrier not a virtue in business transactions. Applying that ethos to government is problematic.

Even worse Bannon seems to be stuck in history about 200 years ago, when an enterprising frontiersman could go West and settle the land – after clearing out the natives – with no need for government. There are no such jobs now. The economy is built on big data and global markets. His deconstruction of the administrative state will leave the small business man powerless against the global corporate competitors who can monopolize supplies, cheap labor, advance production technologies, and global distribution schemes. The result will be utter devastation of the United States’ economy in the face of better trained work forces from Asia, Europe and even the lesser developed countries, backed by state infrastructures to dominate the market.

That Donald Trump is president. I am unable to wrap my rational mind around that. That Donald Trump is an absurdly stupid person is obvious. That I am very afraid of what Donald Trump can do without any adult supervision is quite scary to me. Bannon amplifies all of my concerns that lunatic’s have escaped the asylum and now have their fingers poised over the nuclear launch codes.

Mr. Blow on the purveying of a conspiracy theory by Trump’s handlers:

“As far-fetched as this may sound to any reasonable person, one must always remember that Trump isn’t a reasonable person or even a particularly smart one, which makes him the perfect vessel for Bannon’s pseudo-intellectual vanities.’

What is left out here, is Trump’s admirers and supporters are not reasonable persons. They approve of a man (and I use the word lightly) who has a record of swindling contractors, using bankruptcy to get out of paying mortgages on his highly leveraged properties, who can not get a loan from an American bank, who brags about abusing women, and more, and yet they like the way he operates, I do not see how they can be regarded as reasonable people.

Those conspiracy theories and more do sound reasonable to his minions: we seem to be infected with them. They like his emotional incontinence, his braggadocio, his unattainable promises. The only thing that will cure them is being at the bottom when none of his promises can be found working.

He is the carnival barker, and they are the dupes attending his freak show. There probably is a good percentage that can survive his economic agenda, but I will have no sympathy for those that do not.

I see the suit, I see the hair,
but otherwise it’s all hot air.
Though Trump, at first, seemed just a clown,
it’s clear he’ll drag the US down
with bluff, deception, spin and lies,
as truth, corrupted, quickly dies.

But underneath that big-man talk
there’s just a feeble little squawk,
a parrot in a gilded cage,
an ego overcome with rage,
so desperate to earn acclaim
he’d sell his soul to buy some fame.

On the from page of this paper is an article wondering if Trump knows the history of the phrase “enemy of the people”. How could he not? He is using phrases that haven’t been heard much in civil society since Nazi Germany and the Stalinist regime.
All this talk of “enemies’ is not how you bring a country together. All this banning of legitimate news organizations simply solidifies the administration’s stance in opposition to those who want to keep the public informed outside the propaganda machine that Bannon perfected in his previous vehicle, Breitbart news, and is now brought to the public through Sean Spicer, now that KellyAnne has been sidelined.. talk about “nasty women” and “bad hombres”.. that is our current administration.

When GWB took office I wasn’t happy, especially because of the Supreme Court intervention. I wanted the other guy to win, but GWB for the most part, worked within American norms. After his 2nd inauguration, he said, “I have political capital and I intend to spend it” and he did – well within the norms of American democracy.
When Obama came in, he had a vision for American, and he worked toward that vision, again, well within political norms, even as the opposition went crazy with conspiracy theories and Trump’s insane birther business (an echo of his prior “wolf pack” attack on 5 innocent youths here in NY) all efforts to de-legimitmize the sitting President – who handily won the electoral and popular vote.

What we have now is abnormal.

I brew my coffee and settle in. The computer boots up. The sun rises, providing a target of contemplation before the pixels ignite and screen draws me in. I sip my coffee and read about the latest stupid thing that Donald Trump has said or done.
It’s a daily routine.
There is another routine that isn’t mine, but his. It’s called preemptive delegitimization and it is not nearly as attractive as the sunrise, but like Trump’s tactics, it’s predictable. If my eyes scan to the east, I will see salmon hues cutting through the bare trees. If I look to my computers screen, I see Donald urging us not to believe anyone who has the goods on him.
He is preparing. He knows that indictments are coming. He knows his children were sucked into the loop, privy to the collusion. Trump included them, because after all these years, he is still trying to prove himself to them. Daddy knows a guy who knows a guy. Manafort’s “James Bond” stuff was fun to join in on, when the campaign lurched along and this all just seemed like a branding exercise. But, now, as the investigations roll on and the news organizations are processing information, awaiting final confirmation about the treasonous fraud that Tweets from the East Wing.
Remember, it’s not just Donald and Manafort and Stone and the other buffoons who are caught up in this, but his children, as well.
The morning is coming when I turn on my computer and read about indictments, distracted from the sunrise by a more stunning view.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,…”

You are not going to get away with lying to us, We, the People, Trump.

Keep on digging that hole. Keep on pretending that the people who oppose you are paid protestors. Keep on pretending that you had a huuuuge victory in November. Keep on pretending that you are creating jobs. Keep on pretending that you have no Russian connections. Keep on pretending that you have any idea about governing. Keep on pretending that you’re a hard worker and won’t take anytime off.

You are not going to get away with lying to us, We, the People, Trump.

The magic number for the Donald Trump/Stephen Bannon administration is 45 as in 45% “approve of the way the news media has covered President Trump?”

That’s the rough figure that stays pretty much constant, Mr. Blow, as it did that disastrous night of November 8. If 45% were halved, perhaps we could see our way clear to a horizon with a better tomorrow. But with almost half of the electorate in lockstep with the new president, those who fear for our country have much work to do.

When I hear the nonsense that this semi-literate president dribbles down his shirt-front, suit coat and tie, to the apparent delight of 45% of America, well then, we’ve got a long way to go if we want to reclaim that which was once ours: a working democracy. One has only to recall the soaring eloquence of President Obama to feel the open wound of this current administration. Its incoherence and inarticulate groping is matched only by its mindless pandering to those whose votes graced him with the prestige of an office he was never measured and vetted to call his own.

Too many Americans, Mr. Blow, are now held hostage to “fake news,” but it has been there, in plain sight, since Rush Limbaugh came to prominence in the late 1980’s and Fox News’s rightward rush (pardon the pun) helped turn the 2000 election to the Supreme Court, who rubber-stamped Cheney as president. Oh, sorry, I meant W. Same thing, yes?

An indifferent citizenry allowed itself to be played by the extreme right to our lasting shame.

It isn’t the media of which our Liar-in-Chief is most afraid. It is the TRUTH about what happened in last year’s election. Finding it won’t be easy. It took about 50 years before the TRUTH about Richard Nixon’s interference with peace talks to end the Vietnam War came to light. Let’s hope the TRUTH comes out much more quickly about the treasonous acts of those who conspired with the Russians to interfere in our presidential election.

Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician who spoke truth to power. Before we understood what germs even were, he correctly recommended hand washing to reduce mortality from childbed fever. The establishment physicians of the time railed against this heretical idea as they often went from the autopsy suite to the delivery suite. For his trouble, Semmelweis was consigned to an insane asylum and died at 47 after beatings caused injuries which became infected.

Bannon, Priebus, Trump and the rest of the Republicans can rail against the “lyin’ press” and “fake news” day and night but Truth abides. You can no more Make America Great Again by declaring it to be true than you can make me thin again by declaring the Law of Gravity to be false.

“..one must always remember that Trump isn’t a reasonable person or even a particularly smart one, which makes him the perfect vessel for Bannon’s pseudo-intellectual vanities.”
Great line that, Mr. Blow, that perfectly sums up this surreal farce masquerading as a presidency.

Trump spends more time making the press his enemy than he does coherently explaining his intended policies to the American people. When a man, of such undignified character without integrity or honor, has been elected President, no wonder it’s “news”. Then, he continually obsesses in repeating his negative defensive crybaby statements.

And then you hear what Charlotte McCourt, the Girl Scout, and her mission of selling cookies, recently said: “If you’re not honest what are you?”.

Sometimes life can be easily forthright.

The only agencies kept out of Spicer’s press gaggle were the news agencies that were reporting on Trump’s Russian connections. The threat that Trump perceives is the threat of the real story of Russia and Trump’s collusion to win the election coming out. Trump’s War on the media is in effect just a war on the Russia scandal and Trump is trying to insulate his supporters for when the truth eventually all comes out. There is one story that every media organization needs to be working on right now and it is Russia and Trump.

There are no greater enemies of the people than trump himself and his puppet-master, bannon.

It is very clear. This ‘attack’ on the media is intended to completely divert attention away from:

1. Trump’s heinous conflicts of interests
2. Trump and cabinet’s treasonous collusions with foreign enemies
3. Trump’s illegal tax evasion
4. Trump’s unethical professional behavior and sordid personal past
5. Trump administration clear intent to further enrich the wealthy while appeasing the middle class and poor with shameful rhetoric.

The administration plays to the under-educated and fearful populace’s xenophobic fears while all the time laughing their way to the bank.

Media– continue to press hard! And press even harder! No fear! Continue to expose the hypocrisy and lies!!

We need to see the taxes.

Just the birther and trump U incidents alone make groper don an open and shut, well documented liar.
How on earth ANYBODY could accept ANYTHING this guy says is beyond me. It takes a moron to support this so-called president.

Mr. Blow, it seems as though Stephen Bannon has been spoiling for a fight with the news media for months now, just like the president has been doing since he won the election last year. Why does there have to be a fight with the press every day? Why the threat to news organizations to keep their mouths shut? Isn’t the president supposed to govern and form an administration that will put into practice his policies and agenda that he mapped out for them people during his run for office?

Is Bannon really running the White House? The 45th may be the president in name only because he has no credible world view or political philosophy and probably relies of Bannon to explain policies and procedures to him in language that even he can understand. The 45th has the power of the office but Bannon is the engineer of this diesel that’s certainly headed for a major derailment. Bannon, Reince Priebus and the president, obviously in order of importance, routinely attack the mainstream media but never Twitter, the administration’s reliable media outlet.

When John F. Kennedy was president, he read every major newspaper in the country before breakfast, along with his daily news briefings with his advisors. No domestic or global event was too small to escape his notice and curiosity. He went out of his way to cultivate members of the Fourth Estate. His press conferences were often described as friendly and respectful, not the range wars they seem to be in the current administration.

Charles

is a trusted commenter Clifton, NJ 2 hours ago

Yes, Charles, you have it right; we readers need to forward your article across the nation, especially to Trump voters. My Republican father warned me against irrationality when I was a child. Today we have the Trump personality against which my father railed. And we have his churlish followers who buy every one of his lines, uh, tweets.

To Trump followers I’ll admonish, if Trump had real confidence in his administration he would not feel threatened by the press. But all intelligent people (right, so-called “elitists”) know that Trump lies in order to game his followers. Trump is angry when 60% of the nation doesn’t kowtow to his rants.

Well, I didn’t grow up that way. Something is broken in our presidential primary process that allows the misinformed to nominate an overwhelmingly unqualified candidate for our presidency. The GOP presidential primary saw qualified candidates like Bush, Graham, Paul, Pataki, Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, and even Perry and Christie, but the poorly educated Republican primary voter chose Trump.

A GOP primary misstep happened before in 2000. Were McCain nominated, he would have won by a landslide in that election; Democrats would have voted for him. But instead, Republicans nominated someone for whom very few Democrats voted, thus splitting the nation. Today, Trump further extends the irrational thought of the GOP voter.

We need educated voters, and we need to fix the primary system so that this current fiasco never happens again.

Virginia

Cape Cod, MA 2 hours ago

Trump is in way over his head. He’s used to controlling everyone around him and sending out petulant Tweets if some individual dares disrupt his egocentric world in which he is king and infallible. But, as president, he is finding the press and real journalism is vast and large and his being called on his lying is, for the first time in his life, bigger than he is. Trying to take down “the press” is not the same thing as attacking some individual person on Twitter.
This is a particularly toxic example of Trump’s ego being wounded, his narcissism under attack. This is one man taking on a free press and trying to discredit it over nothing more than his own sick pathologies. I’m sure he’s very confused, as well, since he is unused to being questioned and challenged, and he believes, as president, that no one should question him at all. Trump is a toxic brew of authoritarianism, narcissism, egoism, ignorance, low intellect, and just a bad personality, i.e.: being a jerk. How he got as far as he has is beyond me, and I blame those who pushed him along because it was easier than saying “no”.

John H

Texas 7 hours ago

“The fact is that Trump simply wants the truth not to be true,”

Mr. Blow, as always, you’ve eloquently hit the nail right on the head.

asian observer

Narberth, PA 3 hours ago

For all the devout Christian followers of Trump, ask yourselves, “what would Jesus do, if he was in Trump’s shoes as POTUS and during the presidential campaign?” Listen to Bannon and insult your opponents and truth seekers? Band freedom of speech and trade it for the Bannon/Trump autocracy? Belittle the handicapped, mock others of a different religious fate? Insult a war veteran and respected Senator? Grab women’s pussies, force yourself on women, and said that if you are a star you can get away with it? Please, go back to church and ask if you are truly Christian and this is what you, as Christians, had in mind when you went into the voting booth and hit the button for Trump; ask yourself “what would Jesus do?”

Paul N M

Michigan 7 hours ago

Russia. Russia. Russia.

NYT Pick

Michael Collins

Texas 2 hours ago

It it is a mistake to think that Trump is not smart. He is intelllectually lazy, self absorbed and uninformed. But he is smart enough to play the media and the white electorate like a fiddle. That’s better than Hillary Clinton, the super-informed and hard working A student, could do. Trump cannot be outsmarted until his opponents acknowledge that he outwitted them to win the presidency. Sure he is an intellectually empty vessel that Brannon can fill. But he had the cleverness and ruthlessness to pick Brannon in the first place.

furnmtz

Colorado 4 hours ago

Trump has been projecting his character flaws onto others ever since he entered the race. No need to reiterate them all here. But when he keeps repeating the words “fake news,” it’s obvious that what he really means is that HE is a fake president, and he doesn’t like the press that continues reminding us of that fact.

Ben K

Miami 2 hours ago

NYT and other paid media have had a nice bump lately, as outrage against Agent Orange and his cadre of nihilist wackos have awakened the Angry Majority.

Thank you for the work you do and the hope you inspire that this nightmare will be over, with you help, eventually.

Hugh CC

Budapest 5 hours ago

Trump has no larger agenda for his assault on the media. It’s as simple as this: Many years ago, a journalist wrote a true but unflattering story about Trump and the “dishonest media” was born. And now he has a bigger megaphone than he even thought possible and he can try to make his revenge fantasies come true.

When he says the media is “the enemy of the people” he means that the media is “the enemy of Trump.” As it should be.

Teresa

MD 4 hours ago

There are so many “big” words in this article, neither Trump nor a good number of his supporters would even understand it (even with the highest level of education, I had to look up “maundering”). “The press is the light that makes the roaches scatter.” Now THAT is something EVERYONE can understand and it is spot on. But this is getting tiresome. How many witty sermons do the majority of us, a largely intellectual and anti-Trump reading audience, need? We get it. It’s the “deplorables” (not the regular Republicans who simply voted for party) and the naive who made this election possible that the press needs to reach with their message.

Konrad Gelbke

Bozeman 4 hours ago

People have forgotten the history lessons of the mid thirties that led up to the largest disaster in humankind. Let’s make sure that history does not get repeated.

RK

Long Island, NY 5 hours ago

Trump is one of the founders of “Fake News,” having kept alive for years the blatant lie that President Obama was not born in this country. You cannot get any more “fake” than that.

What Trump now calls “fake news” is not the media floating one lie after another about anything, as he did, but covering criticism of Trump or his administration or investigating credible and plausible allegations about Trump’s nefarious activities, such as his Russian connection.

When Trump’s delusional beliefs are debunked, such as the size of the crowd that attended his inauguration or his failure to win the popular vote, Trump resorts to the “fake news” allegation because it is self-serving.

Same goes for any coverage of Trump and his administration that he finds intolerable. Those are as pronounced as “fake news” as well by the foremost purveyor of lies.

Without actually saying it, Trump keeps alive the old gag, “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” http://tinyurl.com/hhs5gu6

Trump has a tenuous grasp on facts and the truth and so it more important than ever that the media relentlessly expose the truth and decry Trump’s sense of entitlement to his own “facts,” especially since the bully is in charge of the bully pulpit.

The truth shall set us free of the abomination that is Trump.

Larry Eisenberg

is a trusted commenter New York City 7 hours ago

Donald Trump is the new Prince of lying
The Truth he is averse to buying
‘Neath his feral haired coif
When the going is rough
Reality he keeps denying.

He postures like V. Mussolini
With mental resources quite teeny
And his base seems to buy
Each ill concocted lie
To the First Amendment he wants fini!

Rita

is a trusted commenter California 2 hours ago

If the Trump/Bannon economic nationalist agenda is so inherently good for the country, why do Trump and Bannon need to manufacture facts, outright lie and bully those in Congress and the press who point out factual errors, lies and faulty assumptions? Why is there the need to manipulate people rather than to persuade?

The more vicious the personal attacks by Trump and Bannon, the less truth and logic there are to support their positions.

When the Emperor has no clothes, the Emperor will attack those who point out his nudity.

Killing the messenger doesn’t kill the message.

It is so sad that Americans would pay attention to these enemies of democracy.

JFR

Yardley 5 hours ago

“an economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has”, give me a break – Donald Trump doesn’t even understand what that phrase means. But his brain, Steve Bannon is a very dangerous person. He’s what dumb conservatives view as an intellectual and he has complete control over Donald Trump’s “brain”.

The truth is Bannon together with his acolyte Stephen Miller have simplistic religious-fanatical world views with a hierarchy that conveniently places America, Christianity, and rich, successful white people (cf. Prosperity Theology) at the very top. I’m sure that’s appealing to Trump and the rest of the conservative establishment but it’s way too close to facism, to radical nationalism, and to demagogery for me.

dairubo

MN & Taiwan 3 hours ago

The question, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way the news media has covered President Trump?” is poorly designed. First, the survey percentages do not differentiate those who disapprove of the media coverage as being too favorable from those who disapprove of the coverage as being too unfavorable.

Second, what about someone like me who strongly disapproved of the coverage that in total helped Trump win the nomination and helped Trump win the electoral college and become President, but who approves the present increased scrutiny of all the Trump fur cups (thank you Martin Rowson) and continuing assaults on democracy. Many people must feel this way. How are we expected to answer the poorly written survey?

The Quinnipiac University surveys have a long history of such flaws, but so do all the others (and Quinnipiac is better than most of the offenders). Public opinion and sample surveys of same are a poor foundation for policy.

Steve Bolger

New York City 4 hours ago

Trump is a fake human being. He deserves only to be shunned.

B Sharp

Cincinnati 2 hours ago

Charles never in my life that I ever thought this would happen meaning Trump`s Presidency and the new term “alternate facts”, which means spread the LIES and call it the Truth.
What these people are going to teach their children and grandchildren ?

Congratulations to Mr. Blow and other writers and reporters who toil day and night to bring the Truth to us the readers.

Also as I understand the subscription has gone up in multiples and I am one who will always be the supporter to Truthful Reporting !

Jeff Manning

Harvard, MA 4 hours ago

Extremely well written piece, and right on point.

buttercup

cedar key 4 hours ago

Mr Blow. president trump lashes out with”mindless twaddle” because he is a Mindless Twaddler.

By far the most accurate description of the man coined so far. Right on, sir. You’ve had him pegged perfectly from the get go. Keep up the good work. Righteous stuff.

A. Stanton

Dallas, TX 2 hours ago

The day Trump leaves office is going to be the start of the biggest, loudest, longest, most joyous celebration that this country has ever witnessed.

Jon Creamer

Groton 4 hours ago

Everything the Republicans claim the Democrats have done (but haven’t), they have done themselves. At some point, as Trump’s supporters realize he has thrown them under the bus in terms of health care and tax cuts that benefit not them but the rich, they will come to understand that the Press is not the enemy, but that Trump is the enemy. It may take some time, but it will.

Mike Marks

Cape Cod 6 hours ago

Trump would be Emperor if he could. He would raid foreign lands and steal their assets. His infrastructure projects would be triumphal. His games would feature Muslims rather than Christians being thrown to the lions. The only truth would be that which he proclaimed and woe unto anyone who questioned it.

He despises the free press because he has no understanding or respect for what makes America great.

Ron Epstein

NYC 1 hour ago

I guess The Press is more effective against roaches then against snakes. You need a whole new strategy to deal with Donald Trump, it’s a national emergency

Lidice cardounell

New York 4 hours ago

He lied throughout his campaign and the press allowed him to lie; his lies went unchecked, no one in the press challenged him. Hillary was not allowed to breathe, so why is the press so upset? Didn’t you see this man for what it was , a charlatan, a con man , a neo fascist?
Nothing much you can do now, is there?

Wcdessert Girl

is a trusted commenter Queens, NY 2 hours ago

I didn’t realize the main job of POTUS was to shadow box with detractors. Trump won the election. The fact that he feels it’s more important to force people to agree with him and “fight” the media (who he was happy to exploit for free coverage during the election), is telling.

Meanwhile the rest of the world is moving right along. China is now Germany’s biggest trading partner. Companies are still moving to Mexico and hiring foreign workers. And emerging markets are still emerging, while we continue to fall behind in everything, except military spending. I suppose that is fitting since apparently “fighting” every day is going to MAGA.

Sal

SCPa 4 hours ago

You have conflated two problems: one is a dysfunctional personality and the other is a manipulative sycophant. The dysfunctional personalty’s loose connection with objective reality is a function of his maladaptations, they are a part of his being, and they emanate from emotional processing; it’s not a lie if you feel it is true, at the moment that you issue the lie. (Empathy is in order, but hard to provide given the person’s emotional toxicity.) The sycophant’s lies are intentional. They are intended to effect change for ideological reasons. They lies are justified by the end to be achieved. The master becomes puppet and together, they are a dynamic duo that will be our undoing, not because of the underlying ideology of the sycophant – echoed through his hollow puppet, but because the means to those ends will fray, and have already frayed, the fabric of our balanced democratic processes.

EEE

1104 5 hours ago

I know lots of members of the press and, without fail, they are idealists who labor at finding and revealing the elusive TRUTH in an impartial way…
And I know a few real-estate developers, too. They have a very different agenda…
We need both, and then we need to decide which values are more important….
trump’s bet, which he has ‘won’ sort of, is that there are enough people who care far more about the values of the developers than the journalists. If this isn’t reversed, and soon, the degradations to our planet and our species, along with most others, will be cataclysmic.
Every God I’ve ever known promotes humility, restraint, and respect…. reason, and truth…
So, no… I will not turn against the Gods…. ever…
Not my President… ever…

Aurace Rengifo

Miami Beach 5 hours ago

The more the attacks the more exposure of weakness. Of course, there is a lot to hide. I think Trump wakes up in the middle of the night thinking that it is only a matter of time when somebody will leak his tax returns and his real financial interests in Russia; it is only a matter of time when the “public enemy of the people” will gather enough evidence that the GOP congress will have no option but to start an impeachment process.

Authoritarian regimes fight the press. Putin controls his press.

drspock

New York 4 hours ago

Trump’s war on the media will probably fail. But will it be because of his incoherent rants, or because our free press frees itself from its self imposed restraints and once again assumes its role as a voice of the people?

We can’t forget the run up the the war in Iraq when much of the media failed to challenge the shaky evidence put forward by Bush. Nor can we forget the tepid response of the press when the nation plunged itself into war only to discover beyond any doubt that we were lied to.

Even today you will not see any mainstream stories about whether the US owes Iraq restitution for the restructure of that country. Cheney makes the Sunday news rounds to repeat his lies and it goes largely unanswered.

After 16 years of war, presidential war making powers gets a mention here and there, but no serious editorial examination. Do we really want expanded war making power in Trump’s hands?

Trump has now proposed a vast expansion of the military and equally vast cuts in domestic spending. This is an opportunity for the press to redeem itself and seriously ask, why are we still at war? When will it end? Who gets to decide? Where is the nearly trillion dollars that we already spend on ‘defense’ going? Who are the war profiteers and who the they contribute to?

Theses are the questions that we the people need answers to. We won’t get them from Trump, or Bannon or Spicer. The question is will we finally get them from our free, independent, corporate press?