What Trump Just Did At His Press Conference Should Terrify Every American
Today, the Donald Trump Administration is holding an off-camera press gaggle during which Press Secretary Sean Spicer will give a special briefing to reporters. In an unprecedented move, the Administration has excluded reporters from major news outlets that cover the White House every day. This has never happened before. This is not normal.
Reporting from @CNN's White House team on being excluded from attending a gaggle this PM pic.twitter.com/qOVZFf6RB1
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) February 24, 2017
CNN, New York Times, Politico, Buzzfeed, and most foreign news outlets are among those banned. Alt-right fake news sources including Breitbart have been given special access to the Press Secretary that they have never had before.
This is a blatant attempt to censor the media. By only granting access to to information to sources that are willing to repeat the White House narrative Trump can silence critical press. This is a terrifying move to throttle the freedom of press guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Just this morning Trump bragged to his audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference, “And I love the First Amendment; nobody loves it better than me. Nobody. I mean, who use its [sic] more than I do?”
But when the First Amendment goes beyond protecting Trump’s right to lie and say whatever he wants without consequences, the president immediately withdraws his support. Trump’s self-centered interpretation of the Constitution is an existential threat to fundamental American freedoms.
