{"id":44582,"date":"2020-03-28T16:23:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T23:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44582"},"modified":"2020-03-28T16:52:09","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T23:52:09","slug":"dear-leader-trump-proposes-forcing-the-press-to-reveal-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44582","title":{"rendered":"Dear Leader Trump Proposes &#8216;Forcing&#8217; the Press to Reveal Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Apparently Donald Trump isn&#8217;t satisfied with having utterly bungled the nation&#8217;s response the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Now he is moving on to advocate breaching the Constitution&#8217;s First Amendment right to a free press. That&#8217;s the same press that Trump routinely refers to in Stalinist terms as <em>&#8220;the enemy of the people.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-constitution.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump, Constitution\" width=\"550\" height=\"296\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42072\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NewsCorpse\/posts\/3418809874800450\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><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 regularly scheduled Saturday Morning Tweetstorm, Trump was consumed by a fit of anxiety and animosity aimed at the media. It&#8217;s hard to know for certain what triggered this outburst, but it&#8217;s safe to say that it was probably something he saw on Fox News. The result was this Twitter tantrum that lashes out at some vague disturbance of Trump&#8217;s already unsettled psyche:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So much of the Lamestream Media is writing and broadcasting stories with facts that are made up and knowingly wrong. They are doing it by quoting unnamed sources that simply do not exist. These are very dangerous &amp; corrupt people, who will do anything to win. NAME YOUR SOURCES!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1243873875047448576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s typical of Trump to baselessly accuse the press of making up sources and stories. It&#8217;s equally typical that he never provides any documentation of his allegations, and he often doesn&#8217;t even cite the story he&#8217;s babbling about, as is the case this time. His charges are not simply venting. He specifically insists that the journalists (whom he declines to name) have deliberately invented fictional sources whose accounts are not merely untrue, they are <em>&#8220;knowingly&#8221;<\/em> non-existent. This is Trump&#8217;s way of defending himself from whatever criticism might happen to be floating around. It&#8217;s a defense that relies on the wispiest of innuendo because Trump can&#8217;t defend himself on substance.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s fair to say that whatever Trump is whining about is actually true. And since the facts would affirm that, he resorts to a blanket condemnation of the media in its entirety. He&#8217;s like a murderer setting an entire apartment building on fire to keep people from finding the body in #407.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s ironic that Trump is also complaining that the media is <em>&#8220;dangerous and corrupt&#8221;<\/em> and would <em>&#8220;do anything to win.&#8221;<\/em>  That&#8217;s a darn good description of Trump himself. And anyone who has observed him for any length of time knows that projection is a key weapon in his arsenal of character assassination. But he wasn&#8217;t through bashing the press:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8230;.very often FAKE NEWS. Lamestream Media should be forced to reveal sources, very much as they did in the long ago past. If they did that, the media would be trusted again, and Fake News would largely be a thing of the past!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1243904684257091585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s problem with sources goes back many years. Never mind that unidentified sources are a valid staple of professional journalism. Trump&#8217;s White House communications staff even <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2019\/12\/07\/media\/white-house-unnamed-sources\/index.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">uses them regularly<\/a><\/strong> during <em>&#8220;background briefings&#8221;<\/em> where reporters are only permitted to attribute these official statements to <em>&#8220;senior administration officials.&#8221;<\/em> What&#8217;s more, as a private businessman Trump was known for acting as his own PR agent, using false names like <em>&#8220;John Barron&#8221;<\/em> to plant false stories in gossip columns to convince people that he was a rich playboy. And Trump is no stranger to exploiting the press for his own personal benefit, as he is doing by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44505\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">hijacking the Coronavirus Task Force briefings<\/a><\/strong> and turning them into Trump 2020 campaign events.<\/p>\n<p>However, the worst part of this tweetfest was Trump&#8217;s suggestion that the media <em>&#8220;should be forced to reveal sources.&#8221;<\/em> That is a wholly unconstitutional abuse of power. The First Amendment clearly states the prohibition against <em>&#8220;abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.&#8221;<\/em> That includes any attempt by the government to dictate to journalists how to source their reporting. The ability of the press to gather information from people with inside knowledge is essential to a functioning democracy. And often those people need confidentiality in order to come forward without fear of reprisal. Especially while Trump is in the White House. He is already <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44555\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses<\/a><\/strong> of TV stations that air ads critical of him.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Trump&#8217;s claim that forced disclosure of sources was something that happened <em>&#8220;in the long ago past&#8221;<\/em> is downright delusional. Unless he&#8217;s talking about the past practices of the sort of tyrants and czars that he so admires (Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, etc.). In which case, it&#8217;s no wonder that he yearns for the power to emulate his heroes. That is just so Trumpian. But it isn&#8217;t American. And any effort to go forward with what he&#8217;s proposing in these tweets needs to be fervently resisted by congress, the press, and all of the American people.<\/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\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a><br \/>\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apparently Donald Trump isn&#8217;t satisfied with having utterly bungled the nation&#8217;s response the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Now he is moving on to advocate breaching the Constitution&#8217;s First Amendment right to a free press. That&#8217;s the same press that Trump routinely refers to in Stalinist terms as &#8220;the enemy of the people.&#8221; In his regularly scheduled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42072,"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":[56,14,1,8],"tags":[1377,554,1135],"class_list":["post-44582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-censorship","category-free-press","category-general","category-propaganda","tag-constitution","tag-donald-trump","tag-free-press"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-constitution.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-bB4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66683,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=66683","url_meta":{"origin":44582,"position":0},"title":"Lawrence O&#8217;Donnell Calls Out the &#8216;Stupidest White House Press Corps (and President)&#8217; In History","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/9\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The devolution of the White House press corps has been one of the most profoundly disturbing and dangerous aspects of the Era of Donald Trump. And it couldn't come at a worse time. As Trump pursues his mission to undermine American principles and rule as an autocratic tyrant, much of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Free Press&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump TV Set","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tv-set.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tv-set.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-tv-set.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":32880,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=32880","url_meta":{"origin":44582,"position":1},"title":"Journalists&#8217; Org BLASTS Trump As &#8216;An Unprecedented Threat\u2019 To Press Freedom","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/13\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The United States has never seen the likes of Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign. He has spent the last year and a half engaged solely in puerile insults and personal attacks. His victims have included women, minorities, veterans, and anyone he deemed less than reverential. However, the media has borne much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-time.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-time.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-time.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35401,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=35401","url_meta":{"origin":44582,"position":2},"title":"Donald Trump&#8217;s Dementia Kicked in Bigly in This Bizarre Exchange with CNN (VIDEO)","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/14\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Friday Donald Trump promised that he would be holding \"a pretty big press conference\" on Monday. Since then there was a violent march of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, a murdered counter-protester, and a tin-ear statement by a president who is too cowardly to upset his racist supporters. Monday\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-backlash-cnn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-backlash-cnn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-backlash-cnn.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35873,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=35873","url_meta":{"origin":44582,"position":3},"title":"What Wannabe Dictator Trump Just called Freedom of the Press is &#8216;Disgusting&#8217;","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/11\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was first for a reason. It incorporates some of the most cherished and essential principles to maintaining America's experiment in democracy. Among them is the explicit protection of freedom of the press. The Constitution doesn't say anything about liking it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Free Press&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-time.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-time.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-time.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37706,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=37706","url_meta":{"origin":44582,"position":4},"title":"Thanks to Donald Trump the U.S. Falls to 45th Place in the World Press Freedom Index","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/25\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"There is no question that Donald Trump is a bitter enemy of of press freedom and the Constitution's First Amendment. He has relentlessly maligned the media in an attempt to persuade his followers that he is the only source of truthful information about the government and his administration. It's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Censorship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=56"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump Censorship","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-censorship.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-censorship.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-censorship.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44571,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=44571","url_meta":{"origin":44582,"position":5},"title":"Trump-Fluffers at Fox News Make Excuses for His Hijacking the Coronavirus Briefings","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/27\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has exhibited an unprecedented hostility toward the media and the very concept of a free press as enshrined in the Constitution. He repeatedly refers to it in Stalinist terms as \"the enemy of the people.\" Trump is currently suing several news organizations and has recently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Free Press&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump, Fox News, White House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-whitehouse-foxnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-whitehouse-foxnews.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-whitehouse-foxnews.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44582"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44587,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44582\/revisions\/44587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}