Monday, July 30, 2018

In the age of Trump, the press just can't stop playing the victim

Now, it's Trump's references to the "Enemy of the people" that has driven the press corps into paroxysms of exaggerated fear.

There is no credible threat to members of the press corps today because of anything Trump has said or done.

While Trump's cabinet members are routinely heckled and threatened in public, and plenty of Trump supporters have been assaulted for having the temerity to wear a "MAGA" hat, political journalists can strut around D.C. and the rest of the country with much less risk.

Perhaps aware of these numerical realities at home, some in the press corps have taken to blaming Trump.

How can any serious person think that Trump is in any way responsible for the actions of Erdogan in Turkey, or Putin in Russia? Do they think that journalists in the era of Obama were any better off in those places?

Trump as an authoritarian who crushes free speech is a laughable inversion of reality.

The desperation of the press to see themselves as victims of Trump's imminent tyranny feels like an attempt to justify their own political maneuvering.

http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/399446-in-the-age-of-trump-the-press-just-cant-stop-playing-the-victim

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