Trump, the Media and the Rest of Us

A large number of the media, the political left and a few weakling Republicans really have their drawers in a wad over Trump calling out the media. Needless to say, none of them spoke up when Obama did it on several occasions.

It seems they believe that for Trump to criticize them, such would violate their First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. Let us take a look at the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.^[1]

 The first thing that should stand out upon reading this is that Trump is not Congress, and is not "abridging" the freedom of the press. He is merely being very highly critical of the media, something other presidents have done throughout our history.

Another thing that should stand out is that to prevent an individual from criticizing the media, or anyone else, would certainly abridge that person's rights to freedom of speech.

So everyone needs to relax. The First Amendment is not threatened by President Trump.

We should turn our attention to why Trump is critical of the media. There are so many instances of dishonest and mistake stories in the media, that there is no space for it. The Federalist ran a story about sixteen of the false stories some time ago. One can find it here.

There are many more. The latest is the false story about Trump telling about a terror attack in Sweden that did not occur. All o f the media ran with it, although it was clear from the beginning that he just flat did not say what they reported. It did fit the anti-Trump, pro-leftwing narrative, so they pushed it as long as they could. Once the truth came out, the story was already around for long enough that it could not really be taken back. A simple reading of his speech would have made clear instantly that he was not speaking of a terror attack, but of the situation in Sweden where they have lost control of the Muslim immigrants.

A few days earlier the AP ran with a story about an unsigned memo that had been leaked from DHS. It was written by some staff member and was not adopted. AP's headlines ran alleging Trump was sending 100,000 National Guard troops to round up illegal aliens. The memo in question did not  put a number on the troops  at all, but AP invented the number. Looks like 'fake news" to anyone.

In addition, AP apparently forgot that it was OK with them when Obama sent Guard troops to the border a few years ago.

What is made clear is that the media bitterly opposes Donald Trump, and will say or do anything to embarrass him or take him down. That latter is their object. One has to read all of the news with that in mind.

The question remains: "What should Trump do about it?"

There are not many options, and really only one that can be used without infringing upon the First Amendment. That is to simply attack the media back, which is exactly what he is doing.

In the past, wimpy Republicans, afraid of the media and wanting to pander to them, would have said nothing. John McCain comes to mind. He let the media destroy his vice-presidential nominee without ever really standing up to them. He also wouldn't let her defend herself. Now, in his cowardly way, he is highly critical of Trump for fighting back.

Right now, it appears that Trump is holding his own by attacking the media for their bias and dishonesty. He needs to continue. If he doesn't, all that will be before the public is what the media fabricates, invents or misconstrues. He would shortly be finished.

That would eventually leave us with the government the media wants: a leftist, progressive, socialist government that they can inordinately influence. That would be a sad day for the United States of American.

The Boy Who Cried "Wolf!"

Over 2000 years ago, Aesop wrote a fable about a boy, who tasked with guarding some sheep, continually alarmed the citizens by crying "wolf!" when there was no wolf. After a time of this falsity, the townspeople came to disregard the boy's cries. Then the wolf really did come, nobody believed it, and the wolf ate the sheep.

Most of us heard some version of this when growing up. It is pertinent now because much the same is occurring with our media.

The First Amendment protects freedom of the press because it was believed, correctly, at the time that a free and independent press was necessary to help guard our freedoms from those in government who would infringe upon them.

Ever since Donald Trump got the Republican nomination, the mainstream media has done everything it could to discredit and destroy him.

They have exaggerated, lied, invented stories, and falsely reported other stories. There has been a constant drumbeat of this from the entire spectrum of the media. If anything could be reported that would harm Trump or his supporters it has been done.

They even invented the term "fake news" to discredit sites which favored Trump. This apparently has backfired to some extent.

One can expect this to continue as long as Trump is President..

The Federalist recently ran a story about "16 Fake News Stories Reporter Have Run Since Trump Was Elected." This story only touches upon the tip of the iceberg.

Over the years, the media has remained free, but not independent. It is almost entirely owned or controlled by left wing establishment elites who almost exclusively support the Democratic Party. The result has been a lot of fake news, and failure to cover news that might be favorable to Trump.

The people are no longer fooled. A poll by Emerson College recently found that 49% of those polled viewed Trump as truthful, while 53% find the media untruthful. Last September, the Gallup Organization reported: "Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low." The poll found that only 32% of Americans trust the media "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly." This was the lowest in Gallup's history, and probably explains why the media effort to defeat Trump failed.

The knowledge of the corrupt media by the public leaves us in much the same quandary as the townspeople in Aesop's Fable. There is no longer any trust.

So who is going to help guard our freedoms now?

Donald Trump was elected while violating all of the old political rules in terms of tactics and strategy. He came out of the blue with a message that resonated with a lot of people in the great center (politically and geographically) of the country and won the Electoral Vote, though not the popular vote.

Many of his proposed policies are controversial

In addition, Trump may be a successful businessman, but he has absolutely no experience in governing. Running a government is far different that running a business. It is as much about leading as demanding, and Mr. Trump is unproven to say the least.

He will certainly make mistakes.

Unfortunately, there is nobody believable to call him on it. The Democrats, of course, are rabidly partisan. And with the constant crying of "wolf" by the media, there is no one left to guard the sheep.

The Mad, Lame, Duck

About ten years ago, Barack Hussein Obama was looking like a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president. For those who were interested, there was a wealth of information available about him, if one were to look carefully.

His hometown newspaper ran a series on him in 2007 which were very revealing, yet kept the data of his prior years concealed, as Obama had continually fought to do ever since.

We have not seen his real birth certificate, though he released a fake one. We know very little about his schooling since he has religiously kept those records secret as well

There was, however, plenty of information available to anyone who really looked that told enough about him to raise grave questions about his suitability. Most of what he did as president could have been predicted. For reference, see the series in the Chicago Tribune here. Unlike in 2007, most of it is now behind a paywall, but it is there.

In addition, there were his books, rumored to have been ghostwritten by Weather Underground's Bill Ayers. What was there has been pretty predictive as well.

Then there was his membership in the church of Black liberation preacher and America hater Jeremiah Wright. Any person that heard or saw Wright's "God Damn America" sermon should have seen what Obama was part of, and where he would go.

Most voters didn't read about him, or did not care, so we ended up with him as our president for eight years.

Now, looking back on those eight years, we can see how his past has predicted his presidency. He was born to a black Muslim communist African from Kenya and a white mother who was the daughter and granddaughter of communists. He spent his early years in Indonesia with his mother and an Indonesian Muslim named Soetero. He attended Muslim schools where he prayed to Allah four times a day. Approaching his teens, he went back to Hawaii to be cared for by his communist grandparents, and be mentored by a known communist. He went to college first in California, then to Columbia and on to Harvard Law School. Records from those years have been scrupulously hidden.

His presidency has been about a fundamental transformation of America, and he has pulled out all of the stops to get it done.

The America we have all known and loved had learned through long years that a strong America was necessary to peace. Obama apologized to the world for the strong America, and set out to make it weak. And he has succeeded. He has turned our military into a hollow shell, and has them engaging in social experimentation to the detriment of readiness.

He has offended our friends, and bowed and apologized to our enemies.

He left a political and military vacuum when his red line in Syria meant nothing, and paved the way for Russian and Iran to fill the vacuum.

He has enabled Iran to get nuclear weapons, and provided them the money to finance that, and terrorism, around the world. He has allowed Iran to become a regional power and a formidable enemy.

Essentially, he is leaving the United States a much weaker nation than it was when he took office. There cn be no argument that this was deliberate.

Since the election of Donald Trump, Obama has engaged in multiple acts to try to make certain that American remains weakened.

Probably the worst thing he has done is stab America's friend Israel in the back. For decades, the United States had a commitment to veto UN resolutions affecting Israel. Jimmy Carter made a commitment as part of the Oslo Accords that Israel relied upon in making concessions to the Palestinians. Every president since has honored that until December, when Obama not only failed to veto the resolution that made Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem "occupied" (and therefore Palestinian) territory, his administration actually orchestrated it all.

The worst part is there will likely be more to come. There is strong evidence that another resolution will be rushed through before Trump takes office that would recognize the Palestinian state and give them a seat in the UN.

This is shameful to the extreme. It is also something that one would expect from a man that was raised a Muslim, who in his book said he would side with the Muslims, and who was mentored by communists.

Anybody who wanted to do the research could have seen all of this coming. What will his last fifteen days reveal? We will see him continue to do as much damage as he can.