OPINION:
On Jan. 21, 2017, his second day in office, then-President Donald Trump created a firestorm by referring to the liberal mainstream media as “among the most dishonest human beings on earth.” On Feb. 17, he posted, “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
In case anyone thinks the former president has softened his position since then, we have this post from him on Aug. 13:
“I spent 2 1/2 hours last night talking to Elon [Musk], a fantastic guy, getting all-time record Views/hits, and all the Fake News wants to report is that the servers crashed (because of the tremendous volume!), and the show opened a little late. What they should be reporting was the incredible number of people that were listening. I absolutely HATE the Fake News Media. So bad for our Country!”
To repeat Mr. Trump’s core message from that post: “I absolutely HATE the Fake News Media.” He should, but not for the reasons you might think.
In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to a friend. It stated in part, “The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
In theory and spirit, Jefferson was correct. But in the last several decades of the nation he helped to create, he could not be more wrong. I say that as one who two years ago wrote a book seeking to defend Jefferson and other Founding Fathers from cancellation from the far left.
Jefferson began that letter by declaring: “The people are the only censors of their governors. … The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro’ the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people.”
Unfortunately, Jefferson got his wish. In the last six decades, the far left has gained majority control of what I call “the five major megaphones” of our nation and penetrated “the whole mass of the people.” Those megaphones are the media, academia, entertainment, science and medicine. Of those five, the liberal media are the largest censors of the “information” Americans need to make informed decisions. Worse than that, it is the liberal media that regularly creates and spreads “misinformation.”
They do so for two reasons, the first being to damage Mr. Trump in any way possible, and second, out of unethical and unprofessional allegiance to the Democratic Party and of late, Vice President Kamala Harris.
If anything, Mr. Trump underestimated how corrupt and dangerous many liberal media outlets have become. While many may believe that Mr. Trump “hates” the mainstream media because they have repeatedly attacked him and his family, they would be wrong. The former president understands that it’s much worse than that. It is for that reason that he labeled them “the Enemy of the American People.”
Because, as Mr. Trump knows and has pointed out for years, these far-left reporters and editors have purposefully and continually ignored the collapse of our southern border while covering up the Biden-Harris failure regarding the tens of millions of immigrants as well as the potentially thousands of terrorists and gang members and tons of fentanyl that have crossed that border illegally.
They have ignored the destruction of our inner-city schools while covering for corrupt teachers unions and inept Democratic politicians.
They have ignored the violent crime plaguing our streets while coddling criminals, increasing inflation, undermining the domestic energy industry and pushing a multitrillion-dollar green energy platform that will bankrupt out nation.
They have also turned their backs on Israel while giving aid and comfort to its and our enemies, refused to give the full story of what is happening in Ukraine as that war threatens to trigger a nuclear missile strike and turned their backs on free speech.
Mr. Trump understands the media are working in concert to weaken the national and economic security of our nation as well as our safety. This has nothing to do with the personal attacks on Mr. Trump launched daily by the liberal media and everything to do with the survival of the American people and our nation.
The failures, omissions and cover-ups listed above make the continuation of the United States unsustainable. The liberal mainstream media have poured a highly corrosive acid into our nation that is weakening it by the day. It will collapse if not reversed.
Mr. Trump was correct to label the liberal mainstream media the enemy of the American people. Were Jefferson alive today, I believe he would reverse himself and join Mr. Trump in that observation.
• Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book “The 56: Liberty Lessons From Those Who Risked All to Sign the Declaration of Independence.”
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