Posted on 08/05/2018 11:11:18 AM PDT by Drango
"Enemy of the people" is an incendiary phrase. It's been uttered by some of history's most vicious thugs — Robespierre, Goebbels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao — to vilify their opponents ... who were often murdered.
President Trump must know that history by now when he calls the press "the enemy of the people." As he must also know the anti-Semitic and racist history of the America First slogan, by which the president describes many of his policies.
But Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, pointedly declined the chance this week to say, as Ivanka Tump did, "I do not feel that the media is the enemy of the people."
We should be careful about calling President Trump's attacks on the press unprecedented. Abraham Lincoln shut down newspapers during the Civil War. President Wilson signed the Espionage Act that made it illegal to print, "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States," which would put many Americans behind bars today for a tweet.
Richard Nixon had journalists on his enemies list. President Obama's Justice Department used Wilson's old Espionage Act to prosecute government whistleblowers.
But in this age of trolling, public profanity, and angry, frothing crowds who harass reporters at rallies and sputter coarse slogans, there is something menacing about a president of the United States who cheers on mobs and brands a free press, "the enemy of the people."
I am not starry-eyed about the news business — and it is a business. A lot of us got into journalism with a high-minded ambition to inform the American public. But I think a lot of us make it a living because it's gratifying and fun to try to find and tell stories, see history in the face, ask sharp, critical questions of people in power, and tell the stories of people who feel overlooked.
A free press is the fresh air you need to keep a democracy breathing.
But journalism, as this president, who became a media celebrity because of the New York tabloids should know, can be a contact sport. Civility and professionalism are welcome. But reporting is the profession of All The President's Men, not Mary Poppins. Its purpose is to find flaws, raise doubts, discover secrets and air differences.
If the president had called reporters nosy, cranky, contentious, or smart-alecky, many reporters would have laughed and agreed. But calling them — us — enemies of the people is the kind of curse made by tyrants.
Yesterday NPR suggested Trump was a dictator. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3676572/posts
He does not call the Press the enemy of the people.
It’s a false premise, a lie.
The press is no more, they are propaganda organs for the left. That includes NPR.
The real press can be numbered on one hand, including Fox News.
The Enemy of the People is very apt and accurate.
IMHO, ANY media source is potentially phony until it can be corroborated. Preferably extensively.
The evilstream misleadia **are** the enemy, not just of the American people, but of the human race.
Attacking all conservatives and promoting liberals is also a menacing move. Telling people that the news is fake, is just exercising your freedom of speech and your intelligence.
Irrelevant. Opinion is not Sarah’s job.
The first step to fixing a problem is identifying it. President Trump is trying to help these fake news morons.
It’s like they can’t even talks about Trump calling them fake news without lying about it.
If Simon’s case were remotely true he’d be looking for a job right now. Spare us the histrionics, please.
If it wants a One Party Rule Communist Dictatorship than, YES
CNN perpetrated a fraud on the Democrat voters in 2016 by providing Hillary Clinton the town hall questions in advance, they favored Hillary over Bernie in the primary and they rigged the event.
Why doesn’t Trump just call to defund NPR? Thereby giving them something to whine about.
He said the fake news press was the enemy of the people and it absolutely is true. The article points out that some enemies of past tyrants were murdered. Hmmmmm.
This is a DEEP STATE MEDIA ATTACK on a duly-elected president AND ALL AMERICANS WHO VOTED FOR HIM. AND WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THE MEDIA IS FAIR AND ACCURATE? HELL NO!!!!
One catches the most “flak” when directly over the “target”.
These propaganda arms of DS are truly the enemy of the American People.
Truth hurts....too bad.
A free press is one thing, but it also bears responsibility to deliver an accurate account. CNN, and it’s ilk, are light-years from that.
The liar - media has been menacing civil society for many decades with their lies, distortions, ommissions and lies.
The Enemy of the People is very apt and accurate.
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It certainly is accurate.
When news and information and events are censored and distorted in such a way that people do not get accurate information which enables them to make rational, informed decisions, it is detrimental to their well being.
Liberal elitists have no capacity for self-criticism.
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