Trump continues down his neo-socialist path by trying to muzzle and intimidate the media.
Exhibit one.
His Department of “Justice” has issued subpoenas to New York Times reporters and relatives over the new Air Force One reporting. I presume this stemmed from the report that Trump was forced to change planes and had to use the old Air Force One due to security fears. Recall that the new Air Force One was gifted to him by Qatar. The president was flying from the NATO meeting in Turkey and changed planes in England to the old Air Force One. The president said he did so because he wanted to leave the plane in England so that the troops could see it. Trump posted: “To honor our brave men and women of the military, we are sending the brand new, and truly spectacular, Air Force One to Mildenhall air force base, in the United Kingdom, to give them a chance to tour the aircraft.”
But the New York Times reported that the change in planes occurred because of security concerns regarding the new plane. The old Air Force One is equipped with a system that can blind incoming anti-aircraft missiles, along with “chaff” defenses that could be deployed to mislead a missile. Apparently, the new place has some security deficiencies. Of course, the White House denied this. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, told The New York Times: “The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff.
Well if all this is the case, then why did the president sic his Department of “Justice” on the New York Times reporters. Again, this is another example of “how do you tell the president is lying?” The “Justice” Department said it was investigating illegal leaks, adding: “Reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.” Naturally, the Times will yell that this is a lie and is trying to put a chilling effect on reporting. So David McCraw, the Times’s lawyer, called the summons a “brazen act” and “nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs”. “Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used.”
In this instance, the Times is correct and Trump is taking a page out of repressive regimes around the world in an attempt to muzzle the press. When I saw the story of changing planes, I did not think it was a big deal. Just go put the security measures on the new plane and be done with it. But the president obviously thought differently. Someone needs to remind him that this is the United States, not Russia or China.
Exhibit two.
Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr has threatened to pull the broadcast licenses of ABC and NBC because they did not air the president’s speech on election security. Frankly this is outrageous and smacks of another attempt to intimidate the media into bending to the president’s will. Carr said “Broadcasters must operate in the public interest and they will lose their licenses if they do not.” Trump had said earlier that the failure to broadcast the speech “should mean a revocation of their licenses.” So Carr is dutifully just following his boss’s orders – he likes his job. Carr had also earlier threatened ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s show (it was taken off the air) and has now questioned the status of the View. CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show just days after he had criticized the network’s settlement of a lawsuit filed by Trump over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris.
As one observer said “What we’re seeing is an unprecedented attempt to silence disfavored speech by the government.” Trump’s approach to the media has drawn comparisons to former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who made hostility toward the press central to his political brand, borrowing Trump’s phrase “fake news” to describe critical outlets.
Seriously, there is no way that the FCC will revoke the licenses of ABC and NBC. Actually, I think ABC and NBC did the public a service by providing alternative programming to the president’s speech. Nonetheless, this president has established a record of intimidating the media and seeking to bend them to his will. Where is the outrage? Can you imagine the hue and cry from the right if Biden or some democrat threatened to muzzle Fox News?
haroldblackphd.com 