{"id":35818,"date":"2017-10-05T14:03:51","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T21:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=35818"},"modified":"2017-10-05T14:05:26","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T21:05:26","slug":"wannabe-dictator-trump-proposes-unconstitutional-senate-investigation-of-the-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=35818","title":{"rendered":"Wannabe Dictator Trump Proposes Unconstitutional Senate Investigation of the Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the first things that aspiring tyrants do after assuming power is to suppress and\/or control the media. That&#8217;s a difficult task in a country that has explicitly protected a free press in its Constitution. But that isn&#8217;t stopping Donald Trump from trying anyway.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tyrant.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator\" width=\"550\" height=\"296\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35821\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsCorpse\/posts\/1893463400668446\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Facebook\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Advs\/fb-share-tn.jpg\" width=\"274\" height=\"20\" class=\"aligncenter\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In his latest Twitter tantrum, Trump has taken another step toward the monarchy that he so fervently desires to lead. He has escalated his relentless (<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=35812\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">and unsuccessful<\/a><\/strong>) smear campaign against what he refers to as <em>&#8220;fake&#8221;<\/em> news, but is actually any news that isn&#8217;t fawning adulation. On Thursday morning he tweeted this disturbingly fascist proposition:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why Isn&#39;t the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/915894251967385600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 5, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are several easy answers to Trump&#8217;s frightful question. To begin with, <em>&#8220;so much of our news&#8221;<\/em> is not fake. Trump doesn&#8217;t bother to offer any proof of his allegation because he doesn&#8217;t have any. The media may get things wrong from time to time, but <em>&#8220;made up&#8221;<\/em> news is rare and dealt with harshly. Unlike what happens when Trump himself makes things up. He refuses to issue corrections or apologies and, more often than not, repeats the lies after he already knows they are lies. The Washington Post has <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/politics\/trump-claims-database\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">documented<\/a><\/strong> more than 1,100 false or misleading claims since his inauguration. That&#8217;s almost five lies per day.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, what Trump is suggesting is blatantly unconstitutional. He is directing another independent government body to investigate the independent media. The Constitution prohibits Congress from <em>&#8220;abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.&#8221;<\/em> A White House sponsored Senate investigation based on news content is an unambiguous breach of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason the Senate Intelligence Committee isn&#8217;t looking into fake news is that it&#8217;s the Intelligence Committee. It has no jurisdiction in that area. Trump&#8217;s proposal is a clear effort to deflect the Committee, and the nation, from an entirely different investigation. Already under way is the probe into Trump&#8217;s electoral collusion with Russia and related financial corruption. Trump&#8217;s obviously afraid of what they&#8217;ll discover and is anxious to divert attention away from it.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason Senate Intel isn&#8217;t looking into fake news is that it would likely turn up more evidence of fakery by Fox News than by any other media organization. The Republicans in charge of the Committee are aware of this and thus reluctant to pursue it. Fox News has been found to have lied far more often than any of their peers. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/punditfact\/tv\/fox\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PolitiFact scored<\/a><\/strong> their coverage as <em>&#8220;Mostly False, False&#8221;<\/em> or <em>&#8220;Pants on Fire&#8221;<\/em> sixty percent of the time. That compares to forty-one percent for MSNBC, and only twenty-seven percent for CNN. So Trump&#8217;s favorite network would suffer the most damage from such an investigation were it constitutionally permitted.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><strong>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00QSSMOES\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=9325&#038;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;tag=newscorpsecom-20&#038;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS\" target=\"_blank\">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a><br \/>\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s obsession with portraying the media as fake is driven by fear. He&#8217;s afraid of reports that correctly describe his ignorance and incompetence. He&#8217;s afraid of being caught in bed with the Russians (literally and figuratively). He desperately wants to change the subject and poison the minds of news consumers. And he&#8217;s willing to subvert the Constitution in order to assuage his fears and achieve his goals. That&#8217;s what dictators do. And Trump has been behaving like a manic tyrant throughout his brief residence in the White House. And for most of his adult life for that matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the first things that aspiring tyrants do after assuming power is to suppress and\/or control the media. That&#8217;s a difficult task in a country that has explicitly protected a free press in its Constitution. But that isn&#8217;t stopping Donald Trump from trying anyway. In his latest Twitter tantrum, Trump has taken another step [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,684,1200,8],"tags":[554,33,95,908,1211,1163],"class_list":["post-35818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-media-bias","category-politics","category-propaganda","tag-donald-trump","tag-fox-news","tag-media","tag-politifact","tag-russia","tag-twitter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tyrant.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-9jI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41667,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=41667","url_meta":{"origin":35818,"position":0},"title":"WEIRD: Trump &#8216;Liked&#8217; Some Wonderfully Anti-Trump Tweets on His Twitter Page","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/3\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This is too strange not to mention. While Trump is posting rancid tirades, infantile insults, and flagrant lies on Twitter, he (or perhaps a rogue aide) is also \"Liking\" some very obvious anti-Trump tweets (see pix below). The appearance of these liked tweets is, to say the least, peculiar. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-toilet-golden-tweeting.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-toilet-golden-tweeting.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-toilet-golden-tweeting.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44808,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44808","url_meta":{"origin":35818,"position":1},"title":"Happy Easter from Donald Trump During a Pandemic","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/12\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On this holy day for America's Christian faithful, Donald Trump has spent the day demonstrating just how important the holiday is to him. As usual, Trump was manning his Twitter machine and blasting out a flurry of frantic tweets that mainly expressed his rage and hostility and ignorance. It's hardly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Twitter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-twitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-twitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-baby-twitter.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51698,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=51698","url_meta":{"origin":35818,"position":2},"title":"Trump Orders His Cult To &#8216;Drop Off of Twitter&#8217; and Calls For It To Be Outlawed","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/4\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The brazenly anti-American and anti-democratic compulsions of Donald Trump continue to be exhibited with each new public pronouncement he issues. His aspirations for authoritarianism, and his affinity for brutal dictators, was recently affirmed with his \"endorsement\" of Hungary's fascistic Viktor Orb\u00e1n. 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