This week a journalist and US permanent resident, Jamal Khashoggi, was murdered. With this stark reminder that speaking truth to power can be extremely dangerous and the free press is incredibly important, we need to remember than not everyone acknowledges that. Here is a list of times that the president has attacked or undermined journalists or the press.
1. This Twitter thread where he called journalists “very unpatriotic”
2. This Twitter thread where he called the media “the enemy of the American people”
3. This Tweet where he said “A Stain on America”
4. And this Tweet where he wrote “Trust doesn’t matter to them”
5. There are many more tweets, but I was starting to lose faith in humanity. Here is a link to a list of them.
6. When he defended and supported Greg Gianforte, who body slammed a reporter
7. When he thought he was being sneaky and tried to gaslight all the of the US while also undermining reporters without naming them.
8. All the times in this video.
Obviously, there are people more qualified than me to write about President Trump’s attitude towards the media, including the more than 300 newspapers that published editorials about the freedom of the press in response to the current climate.
Read them. Remember that democracy and freedom cannot exist without freedom of the press. Vote.