It’s been going on for more than two years now. Donald Trump repeatedly refers to the media in Stalinist terms as the “enemy of the people.” He knows when he does this that he is putting people’s lives at risk. He simply doesn’t care. Because his objective is to utterly demolish the credibility of the free press so that people won’t believe their accurate reports of his criminal activities.

The consequences of Trump’s smears have already been seen in attacks on the staff of the Capital Gazette in Maryland. It’s been seen in the mail bombs sent to multiple people in the media. The press reporting at Trump events are subject to physical assaults. And still Trump persists in inflaming these hostilities with reckless and ignorant messages to his Deplorables:

The Press has never been more dishonest than it is today. Stories are written that have absolutely no basis in fact. The writers don’t even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control. Sadly, I kept many of them in business. In six years, they all go BUST!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019

The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019

These Twitter outbursts are typically devoid of any substance. Trump has never proved a single one of his allegations of “fake news.” He just lashes out mindlessly, as if he were having a psychotic reaction to an overdose of PCP. But these mental spasms are not just fear-triggered hate mongering. They are dangerous signals to his deranged base of cult worshiping crackpots. And they are almost certain to incite more violence. That’s a concern that the publisher of the New York Times expressed in his response to these Trump tweets:

“In demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light, President Trump is retreating from a distinctly American principle. […] As I have repeatedly told President Trump face to face, there are mounting signs that this incendiary rhetoric is encouraging threats and violence against journalists at home and abroad.”

In addition to Trump’s bloodlust, he is also revealing a noxious yearning for thousands of Americans in the media to lose their jobs. His undisguised pleasure at the notion that all news enterprises will “go BUST” is typical of his disregard for the American people and their families. It is unprecedented for a president to take a position advocating for the loss of thousands of American jobs. But that is precisely the position Trump is taking.

Even worse, Trump’s desire to see thousands of people become unemployed would simultaneously deprive the entire country of any sources of news. At least sources that are credible and independent. We would be left with only the state sanctioned media (i.e. Fox News) that Trump would exempt from his tyrannical suppression the press. This should trouble every citizen.

The lengths that Trump goes to to harm the media spreads throughout Trump World. It is vicious and hateful and exacerbates division. Which is exactly what Trump intends. And you end up with the sort of nauseating discourse exhibited in the grotesque video clip below from the ultra-rightist TruNews. This would be all that’s left if Trump got his way.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Congrats to my friends at @mmfa for joining the group of people who should be waterboarded https://t.co/a1u6dLUfE7 pic.twitter.com/GpgdNPXOof

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 19, 2019