Fascism 101
President Donald Trump Friday afternoon posted, deleted, then reposted a tweet calling the news media “FAKE” and “the enemy of the American people.” This is textbook fascism. The Trump administration, including the president, began calling the news media “the opposition part” a week or two ago, and rapidly has now transformed that attack into telling the American people purveyors of facts are their enemy.
This is downright dangerous.
Trump’s attack, in which he specifically names some of the top mainstream media outlets, including The New York Times, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, and CNN – but not Fox News – comes 24 hours before his first re-election campaign rally and little more than 24 hours after the president held a 77-minute press conference many labeled “unhinged.”
During that event, Trump repeatedly attacked the press for doing its job, and recoiled from some reporters who challenged him on basic facts, while brushing with racism and anti-Semitism.
Here is a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet, which was captured at Archive.org:
And here is the replacement tweet:
Some responses via Twitter:
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