Trump saying the media is an 'enemy of the people" makes no sense (because it really refers to the State), but he’ll continue to do it especially as he’s now witness tampering without the benefit of media like Twitter.
#KeepHopeHicksAlive.
His stand-up schtick in a high school gym should be even more crazed this evening in Ohio since he chose last night before bedtime to attack a son of Akron to draw attention away from #TrumpRussia while also attacking the media.
Trump lies about a mistaken endorsement he tweeted — claims media made it up:
Donald Trump just outright lied to the people of central Ohio...says news media made up the fact he said he supported Steve Stivers… IT WAS TRUMP HIMSELF WHO TWEETED TO VOTE FOR STIVERS
Much of his tweet agitation this past week was due to the NY Times report that the Mueller investigation was continuing to look at his obstruction of justice, and that there was a greater amount of WH evidence held by the Special Counsel.
Perhaps it explains Hope Hicks’s traveling with Trump tonight - will they get “executive time” together en route.
*Date:* August 4, 2018 at 4:45:42 PM EDT
*Subject:**Travel pool #1*
Good afternoon from Central New Jersey, where a soggy morning has given way to a pleasant, sunny day. The pool joined up with President Trump at Morristown Municipal, where Marine One landed at 439 pm, completing the first leg of presidents journey to suburban Columbus, Ohio, for this evenings rally. White House (and also the president himself, via a tweet) reports Trump was wheels up from Bedminster at 428 pm.
Trump emerged from the helo at 444 pm in a dark suit and red tie. Thumbs up to the pool. Took no questions. He boarded (mini) Air Force One a few seconds later.
Hope Hicks was spotted by other members of the pool inside the airport about an hour before our departure (your pooler was in the van at this point) and was later seen boarding AF1. Pool also saw Sarah Sanders boarding ahead of the presidents arrival.
Ask Mark Corallo.Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Ms. Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting — “will never get out.” slate.com/...
Air Force One touched down at John Glenn Columbus International Airport at 6:01 p.m. There was no gaggle during the 66-minute flight, but Sarah Sanders popped back into the press cabin for a few minutes to exchange pleasantries. Also spotted boarding AF1 in New Jersey were Stephen Miller and Johnny DeStefano.
President Trump walked down the staircase at 6:13 p.m. and was greeted first by Troy Balderson. The two shook hands and spent a few seconds together before Trump went over to meet with supporters gathered on the tarmac for about four minutes.
Good job, the president could be heard telling the crowd as he shook hands, signed a few autographs and posed for pictures.
Hicks was also seen leaving AF1.
Trump’s dissonant rhetoric spews now at a higher rate because his criminality is becoming less deniable. Hence the insistence on demonizing a free press as producing “fake news”.
The case for a free press rests not only on classical liberal principles but also on hard data. Cross-country studies show strong and consistent associations between unfettered media, vibrant democracies and limited corruption. China, which has a tightly controlled media and perhaps the world’s most sophisticated censorship scheme, thinks it has proven that prosperity can be achieved without a free press. In less extreme fashion, Singapore shares similar authoritarian attitudes. Politicians everywhere do not much like to be criticised. To a worrying number of them, this Singapore model—or Beijing model, depending on preference—can prove more attractive than the Western approach of putting up with a pesky press. In normal times, America would denounce the jailing of journalists and muzzling of newspapers. But given Mr Trump’s predilections, the position of global free-press champion is vacant.
2. The modern origins of the phrase are from the French Revolution's "reign of terror," when people were beheaded en masse. But it resurged during the Nazi era, when Hitler referred to the "lying press" and called Jews "the enemy of the people." But, it keeps getting worse...
3. It's a Soviet phrase too, something Lenin started and Stalin continued. For Stalin, labeling someone an "enemy of the people," meant internment at a forced labor camp and sometimes death. The term was *too extreme* for Nikita Khrushchev, who denounced it *in the 1950s.*
4. Mao used the phrase regularly too to label anyone who opposed his rule as an "enemy of the people." The consequences of that label were also dire and often led to death. Mao was a murderous dictator who killed nearly 40 million people.
5. In modern times, other dictators have used the phrase too. Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez labeled critical media outlets as "enemies of the homeland," in the same vein. Are you beginning to see a pattern in what type of regime calls its critics the "enemy of the people?"
6. The phrase has also been deployed against the press in places as diverse as Myanmar (when it was ruled purely by a military junta) and Zimbabwe (when it was ruled by longtime dictator Robert Mugabe).
7. There is a reason that the phrase "enemy of the people" has been almost exclusively deployed by murderous dictators. To use it to describe the free press, which is a pillar of every democracy, is particularly sinister. Trump is borrowing a phrase from the worst of the worst.
8. Calling the press "the enemy of the people" has consequences foreign and domestic. Many journalists in other countries have been jailed for being "fake news" since Trump began using that term. Journalists in authoritarian regimes are sometimes killed. The victims will increase
9. In my field research, I've interviewed several authoritarian leaders who admit that they do *what they can get away with* when it comes to destroying the press. The White House used to be the deterrent, threatening consequences to regimes that harassed or attacked journalists.
10. If anyone believes Trump would pick up the phone and call a foreign dictator who jails or tortures a "fake news" journalist, then you are nuts. He doesn't care. If anything, he has an affinity for ruthless rulers like Putin/Duterte/Erdogan *because* they abuse the press.
11. Calling the press "the enemy of the people" also encourages violence against journalists in the US. Keep in mind that he has also called the free press "a stain on America," and "scum." People listen to him. And a lot of crazy people with guns listen to him too.
12. Trump endorsed a candidate even after he (Greg Gianforte) physically assaulted a reporter and lied about it. Trump has also tweeted images of him beating up a likeness of CNN. A plot to shoot up "fake news" CNN was foiled, thankfully. But the threat is very real and ongoing.
13. Trump's anti-press rhetoric puts him in a category with Stalin, Mao, Mugabe, Hitler & Chavez. This isn't partisan. Democracy can't survive without a free press. Authoritarianism requires the press to be crushed or cowed. Trump's rhetoric is disgusting, dangerous, and must end
