Early on in his presidency, CBS News’s Lesley Stahl asked Trump why he was relentlessly attacking the media and accusing them of being liars and spreaders of fake news. He cynically replied that he wanted to discredit them in the eyes of his followers so that when they reported anything negative about him, they would not be believed. He steadily ramped up the attacks on the media at every chance he could, even referring to them as enemies of the people and scum.
On Wednesday we saw where this could lead when the mob attacked journalists and destroyed their equipment while they were covering the rampage.
Outside the Capitol, pro-Trump protesters are smashing cameras and other media equipment yelling “CNN sucks!”
One man took a wooden stick and bashed the pile of destroyed equipment.This stuff isn’t owned by CNN. They are destroying AP equipment. pic.twitter.com/NeIUUSuYaC
— Christal Hayes (@Journo_Christal) January 6, 2021
And here is video of an Associated Press reporter being attacked during the riot after being accused of belonging to the one group they hate more than the media and that is antifa. Fortunately for him, he was escorted to safety by one of the less extreme people.
My friend @johnminchillo of AP being assaulted outside the capitol yesterday. The words spewing from Trumps mouth about the press as “enemies of the state”leads directly to this. Anyone who supports or repeats his bile about the press is complicit https://t.co/RCKATf7wAo
— Lucas Jackson (@Lucas_Jackson_) January 8, 2021
Don’t forget the graffiti scrawled by the mob on a set of doors in the Capitol: “Murder The Media”
Never piss off the media. They will always have the last word.
Never piss off the media. They will always have the last word.
Can’t you see how easy it is to ignore/discredit them? Their last word isn’t worth shit.
Historians, maybe, have the last word, but -- as cartomancer often points out -- it’s usually propaganda on behalf of the winner.
Trump also telegraphed, loudly, his interest in being president for more than 2 terms. Nobody took it seriously, but the guy’s an open book. Fascists get off on being able to say shocking stuff that they actually believe -- it’s a strategy, not bloviation.
Did anyone notice that the AP reporter looked a lot like the guy with the handcuffs?
Maybe going in dressed like a police officer / terrorist is not a good strategy?