It's really an amazing phenomenon to watch. The media is still going nuts in response to President Trump's telling the country that much of what gets printed is Fake News. Trump called the media "enemies" of America.
Today's big response came with White House Chief of Staff Priebus being questioned on a Sunday show. Priebus was told by the TV host, "you can't tell the media what to say."
The media really doesn't seem to understand either freedom of speech or freedom of the press.
1. President Trump isn't telling the media what to say. Indeed, the media is free to say whatever it wants.
2. What the media misses, however, is that President Trump is also free to say whatever he wants. He is free to point out when the media pushes Fake News. He can call out media people for pushing hatred and dishonesty rather than actually telling the American people the truth.
The reality is that the media are not afraid that Trump is telling them what to say. No, what motivates the media is that Trump is exposing many of them as liars who slant everything to help the Democrats even when they have to be dishonest to do that. Remember, people who come to the conclusion that a particular media outlet is not honest will probably stop reading or watching that outlet. The marketplace will bring down the dishonest media; it doesn't require any action by the President.
Look, the reason why there is so little faith in the honesty of the mainstream media is that we've seen them in action for many years. Americans are not idiots; they understand that they are being told lies.
Just think of what happened under Obama. President Obama tried to bar Fox News from White House briefings; he didn't just talk about them. Then Obama had the FBI conduct surveillance on Fox reporters and even accuse Washington correspondent James Rosen of criminal behavior because he reported some stories. Meanwhile, Obama also had the FBI carry out wiretaps on the Washington bureau of the AP. Those activities were a real threat to the freedom of the press. There was some reaction to Obama's actions, but not really very much. Most of the mainstream media just stayed silent about it. Certainly, the mainstream media did not attack Obama for his assault on freedom of the press.
Now compare the response to Obama with the current response to Trump. Trump hasn't done anything to threaten the media; he has only talked and blown the whistle on the media dishonesty. The media reaction is to claim that the entirety of American democracy will be destroyed by Trump's statements. So we have Obama police state actions to which there is hardly an objection and Trump's statements which the media likens to the end of the world as we know it.
As I said before, the American people are not stupid. We understand what is happening here, and it's not something of which the media could even be proud.
Today's big response came with White House Chief of Staff Priebus being questioned on a Sunday show. Priebus was told by the TV host, "you can't tell the media what to say."
The media really doesn't seem to understand either freedom of speech or freedom of the press.
1. President Trump isn't telling the media what to say. Indeed, the media is free to say whatever it wants.
2. What the media misses, however, is that President Trump is also free to say whatever he wants. He is free to point out when the media pushes Fake News. He can call out media people for pushing hatred and dishonesty rather than actually telling the American people the truth.
The reality is that the media are not afraid that Trump is telling them what to say. No, what motivates the media is that Trump is exposing many of them as liars who slant everything to help the Democrats even when they have to be dishonest to do that. Remember, people who come to the conclusion that a particular media outlet is not honest will probably stop reading or watching that outlet. The marketplace will bring down the dishonest media; it doesn't require any action by the President.
Look, the reason why there is so little faith in the honesty of the mainstream media is that we've seen them in action for many years. Americans are not idiots; they understand that they are being told lies.
Just think of what happened under Obama. President Obama tried to bar Fox News from White House briefings; he didn't just talk about them. Then Obama had the FBI conduct surveillance on Fox reporters and even accuse Washington correspondent James Rosen of criminal behavior because he reported some stories. Meanwhile, Obama also had the FBI carry out wiretaps on the Washington bureau of the AP. Those activities were a real threat to the freedom of the press. There was some reaction to Obama's actions, but not really very much. Most of the mainstream media just stayed silent about it. Certainly, the mainstream media did not attack Obama for his assault on freedom of the press.
Now compare the response to Obama with the current response to Trump. Trump hasn't done anything to threaten the media; he has only talked and blown the whistle on the media dishonesty. The media reaction is to claim that the entirety of American democracy will be destroyed by Trump's statements. So we have Obama police state actions to which there is hardly an objection and Trump's statements which the media likens to the end of the world as we know it.
As I said before, the American people are not stupid. We understand what is happening here, and it's not something of which the media could even be proud.
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