Red alert: The First Amendment is in danger

Monday, Jun 5, 2017 07:26 PM EST

Of all the incredible statements issuing from the fantasy factory that is the imagination of Donald Trump, the one he recently made in a speech to graduates of the Coast Guard academy, that “no politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or so unfairly” sets an unenviable record for brazen ignorance plus a toxic mix of self-aggrandizement and self-pity. In his eyes, the most villainous persecutors are the mainstream “fake news” organizations that dare to oppose his actions and expose his lies.

So, having already banned nosy reporters from news corporations that he doesn’t like, branded their employers as enemies of the nation and expressed a wish to departed FBI Director James Comey that those in the White House who leak his secrets should be jailed, why should there be any doubt that he would, if he could, clap behind bars reporters whom, in his own cockeyed vision, he saw as hostile? His fingers itch to sign an order or even better a law that would give him that power. Could he possibly extract such legislation from Congress?

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Do I exaggerate? Read the chilling report of the April 30 interview between Jon Karl of ABC News and Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus, who said the president might “change libel laws” so he could sue publishers. When Karl suggested that this might require amending the Constitution, Priebus replied, “I think it’s something that we’ve looked at, and how that gets executed or whether that goes anywhere is a different story.”

This is reality. A lying president aspiring to become a tinpot dictator is making his move. It’s time to be afraid, but not too afraid to be prepared.

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http://www.salon.com/2017/06/05/red-alert-the-first-amendment-is-in-danger_partner/