Welcome to our weekly “Trumptastrophe” series that serves to remind us of the destructive policies, decisions, and actions we encountered during the Trump presidency and the threats that he and others in the MAGA movement still pose – and to keep those moments clear in our memory as we fight to defeat Republican extremists during the upcoming elections.
This week’s Trumptastrophe focuses on former President Trump’s history of attacking the media for coverage that isn’t friendly towards him or his MAGA agenda – and his desire to weaponize federal agencies in order to undermine journalistic freedom and First Amendment protections for media outlets that report truthfully regarding his actions:
On August 18, 2018, newspapers across the country wrote editorials defending the freedom of the press, a response to ongoing attacks by Trump on the “fake news” – especially his characterization of the media as “the enemy of the people.”
The Des Moines Register offered this blunt message: “The true enemies of the people—and democracy—are those who try to suffocate truth by vilifying and demonizing the messenger.”
Trump’s attacks on the media continued throughout his presidency and beyond. He has regularly demonized journalists and encouraged people at his rallies to jeer at reporters covering his events. Last year he accused major media outlets of engaging in “treason.” Polling has suggested that attacks by Trump and right-wing activists and media outlets have encouraged more negative attitudes toward the news media among Republicans.
Even more troubling have been suggestions from Trump and his aides that if he returns to the White House, he will use and abuse his power to punish media outlets whose coverage he doesn’t like.
As CNN analyst Oliver Darcy noted last December, Trump has explicitly threatened to target news organizations:
“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,” Trump declared in September, adding that he believes the press “should pay a big price” for supposedly hurting the country.
More from Darcy:
The four-time indicted, twice-impeached disgraced former president, Donald Trump, who admitted Tuesday that he will govern as a “dictator” on “day one” should he win office again, is overtly vowing to weaponize government and seek retribution against the news media, showing no regard for the First Amendment protections afforded to the Fourth Estate.
The alarming rhetoric against the nation’s journalists, whom Trump has consistently and insidiously referred to as the “enemy of the people,” has also been echoed by his top allies, indicating the promises of revenge are not the rantings of a madman, but the actual intended course of action should the Republican presidential frontrunner manage to seize power again.
In a particularly disturbing conversation this week, Trump’s former top political strategist, Steve Bannon, and former National Security Council adviser, Kash Patel, openly discussed plans to target the press. Bannon, who underscored that such promises are “not just rhetoric” and that they are “absolutely dead serious” about seeking revenge against journalists, asked Patel, who would likely serve in a second Trump administration, whether he could “deliver the goods.” Patel responded affirmatively, vowing that a re-empowered Trump would indeed “come after” the press.
Advocates for a free press called out threats from the MAGA insiders:
“This kind of inflammatory rhetoric has no place in U.S. democracy,” Katherine Jacobsen, who heads U.S. affairs for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told me. “Thuggish threats to ‘come after’ members of the media in retaliation for their work covering elections is incredibly concerning, and creates a permission structure for violence against journalists.”
Trump’s threats against the media are part of a broader pattern of threatening to use government power to target his personal and political enemies, as documented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington this year.
Harassing and intimidating the free press in order to control its coverage is a repressive tactic used by authoritarians throughout the years and across the globe. Hungary’s strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban is described by Reporters Without Borders as “a predator of press freedom” who has systematically undermined media pluralism and independence. In spite of that, or because of that, Orban is greatly admired and praised by MAGA leaders. The Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts has cited Orban’s Hungary as “the model for conservative statecraft.”
Trump’s threats—and MAGA leaders’ admiration for anti-freedom authoritarians—highlight the threat of Project 2025—the plan by the Heritage Foundation and its allies to “take the reins of government” under a new Trump administration. The plan would use executive orders and a right-wing legal theory to give the president virtually unlimited power to impose his will on the executive branch and use government power to target his opponents. That includes the Federal Communications Commission, which he could use to intimidate media and social media companies to prevent them for example, from trying to stop the spread of election related misinformation. Project 2025 also calls for eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Project 2025 was mostly written by former Trump aides, including Russ Vought, who was also in charge of the RNC Platform dictated by the Trump campaign, and who was recently caught on camera talking about how supportive Trump is of his efforts.
As Right Wing Watch noted this week, Trump’s efforts to distance himself from Project 2025’s unpopular agenda and authoritarian plans are dishonest and literally unbelievable. He praised Heritage when it was starting up the project, saying “they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.”
We’ve been warned.
These are just some of the reasons we need YOU in this fight. So, find your favorite way to unwind after reading through this week’s recap, and then make a plan for how you will fight back this week, this month, this election cycle.
