It appears that Trump has, unsurprisingly, ignored anyone that has warned him his attacks against the press are dangerous, churlish, and comparable to those of many authoritarians of the past and the present. Republican Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake have recently been very vocal about the unprecedented and unwarranted assaults against the media, but really, all government officials and politicians of all parties should be forcefully denouncing this behavior, regardless of whether or not they intend to run for office again.
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Donald Trump doesn't have to like the coverage of his actions and statements on CNN or MSNBC or in The Washington Post or The New York Times. He can rail against them if he wants to. What we can't allow him to do is to try twisting a fact he doesn't like into a lie. If he said something that was offensive or impolitic or just plain dumb, and it reaches a journalist's ear and gets reported, he can't just cover his ears and pretend it never happened and anyone who says it did is a liar. If a scientific fact clearly counters a policy his administration favors, he's free to continue pushing that policy, but not to deny or ignore the fact. Maybe he could get away with that while running a business, but not while running the country in the name of the American people.
We can't normalize this behavior of accusing the media of spreading "fake news" while he and his press secretary and others in the White House (and the Senate, and the House) are intentionally obfuscating or outright lying to us. If anyone deserves a "Fake News Award," it's Fibbin' Donnie.
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Donald Trump doesn't have to like the coverage of his actions and statements on CNN or MSNBC or in The Washington Post or The New York Times. He can rail against them if he wants to. What we can't allow him to do is to try twisting a fact he doesn't like into a lie. If he said something that was offensive or impolitic or just plain dumb, and it reaches a journalist's ear and gets reported, he can't just cover his ears and pretend it never happened and anyone who says it did is a liar. If a scientific fact clearly counters a policy his administration favors, he's free to continue pushing that policy, but not to deny or ignore the fact. Maybe he could get away with that while running a business, but not while running the country in the name of the American people.
We can't normalize this behavior of accusing the media of spreading "fake news" while he and his press secretary and others in the White House (and the Senate, and the House) are intentionally obfuscating or outright lying to us. If anyone deserves a "Fake News Award," it's Fibbin' Donnie.
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