Donald Trump it at war, but not in the traditional sense. This is the first president in the country’s 242 years that has ever called the First Amendment “fake news!” He has a particular grudge against CNN.
This raised its ugly head just before the president held photo opportunity with the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. CNN‘s White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, told his coworker, Wolf Blitzer, that Trump pointed at him:
‘As I tried to ask whether he wanted more people to come in just from white or caucasian countries, he said “out.” He said, out, as in get out of the Oval Office.’
Acosta said that White House staffers shouted down his questions as soon as Trump pointed at him. The correspondent then said that the reporters proceeded to the Roosevelt Room. The two nations’ leaders made remarks there.
After the remarks, the reporter tried to ask Trump questions. White House deputy press secretary, Hogan Gidley confronted him, and Acosta said:
‘(Gidley) got right up in my face… and started shouting so loudly that it was impossible for the president to hear our questions. It was that kind of a display. It reminded me of something you might see in less democratic countries.’
Trump has been at war with the media since early in his presidential campaign, and it has continued escalating. This tweet sums up his opinion of the press:
‘Why Isn’t the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up – FAKE!’
For some reason, the 45th president of the United States was fine with asking the legislative branch to investigate the Fourth Estate. He is of the opinion that anything the press writes about him that he does not like is “Fake News!” The country’s founders saw the importance of a free press. After all, they placed it in the First Amendment.
The president does not appear to understand that congressional committees are currently investigating real fake news as part of the Russian’s interference into our nation’s presidential elections. It seems he does not believe in a free press and its role in a democracy.
‘It’s his latest ramping-up of an ongoing effort to destroy the credibility of the media in the eyes of a not-insignificant number of people in the country. Which is bad enough. What makes it worse is that Trump knows the media isn’t fake…‘No president has been so aware of what the media is saying about him at any given minute as Trump. He is saying and doing these things not because he really believes it but because he knows it works for his base.’
‘I have enjoyed working with all of you. That does not, of course, mean that I’ve enjoyed every story that you have filed, but that’s the point of this relationship. You’re not supposed to be sycophants, you’re supposed to be skeptics, you’re supposed to ask me tough questions.‘You’re not supposed to be complimentary, but you’re supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power and make sure that we are accountable to the people who sent us here, and you have done that.’
‘I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. We need an independent media to hold power to account. Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive, and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power.’
https://youtu.be/rKhETfVQShs
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