I'm talking about calling the free press the enemy of the people. That kind of inflammatory rhetoric just increases the division in American society that's already alarming. If he convinces enough people, as he seems to have convinced you, that free press is an enemy of the people he'll have no trouble selling the idea that the freedom of the press is being abused and needs to be limited.
What do you think of that? If the press is the enemy of the people, what should be done about it? Wanna bet I can guess what Trump thinks should be done about it?
As for leftists and free speech, there's a lunatic fringe on both sides. If the extreme left wants to limit free speech, there's a whole list of freedoms the extreme right wants to limit. When conservatives get comfortable in power they will always try to roll back rights and freedoms that liberals fought hard to win. One example that's been in the news lately is a woman's right to safe abortion. What's next, gay marriage? Drug law reform? When liberals get power they toss out bad laws put in place by conservatives. Conservatives who brag about being for limited government while they give the government jurisdiction in the lives of citizens that no government should ever have.
The free press is an idea. This idea is either embraced or rejected by the people who are employed by our media operations.
At the time of the ratification of the Constitution, "the press" was accorded the protection against the government making laws abridging its freedom. The term "free press" does not appear in the First Amendment.
The protection of the "the press" was not important enough to be listed either first or second. It was third in line.
The first amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.[3]"
All of that said, the press at the time was a collection of lying, interest-driven, biased propagandists peddling completely one-sided narratives of events intended to inflame, not inform.
So, in practice, the press being protected today is exactly the same press that was practicing and being protected in 1789. 230 years and there's no improvement in the honesty of the "Free Press".
That's just gotta impress you! 230 years without any measurable improvement seems to me to be almost impossible, but, there it is.
Trump is not passing laws or issuing EO's to diminish or guide the actions of "The Press". his only action is to expose what they are actually doing and shining a very bright light on it.
Much in the way that "The Press" has a protected right to publish their version of what they publish, Trump has the right say what he says. His right to speak is the number two protected right in the First Amendment.
So, we have come back exactly to the point I made to which you responded. It is Leftists who are trying to end the free exchange of ideas. You wish to silence Trump.
Trump is not only encouraging the free exchange of ideas- he's participating. In passing, his participation is ongoing, constant and very effective.
The difference between Trump and "The Press" is this: Trump is a politician and is expected to present a one-sided view of the world. "The Press" is expected to present a fair and accurate view of the world.
Trump's doing exactly what he's supposed to do. "The Press", claiming to be journalists, are actually a collection of lying, interest-driven, biased propagandists peddling completely one-sided narratives of events intended to inflame, not inform.
