As part of his unhinged wannabe dictator Twitter spree on Tuesday night, Donald Trump announced a new front in his war on the First Amendment, the press, and facts in general.
Does he envision an Apprentice-style fully produced television show for the “announcing” of these “awards,” or will it be more spittle-flecked Twitter spew? And gosh, who can guess how this is going to go? Do you think maybe he’ll assail the New York Times and CNN? Like he does pretty much every day when he’s just talking and not “announcing” “awards”? And … hmmm, if he has any praise to hand out to a cable news network, which one do you think it will be?
If the replies to his tweet are anything to go by, Trump’s fans will eagerly lap it up as expert trolling of humorless liberals and a corrupt media, but in the real world, the big question is whether this is more about Trump’s narcissism and pathological need for attention, or more about his anti-democratic war on the free press. To be clear, it’s about both those things. The only question is which was dominant when he Twitter-spewed.