After praising a despotic dictator, Trump declares journalism is America’s ‘biggest enemy’

In an angry tweet from this Wednesday, President Trump took aim at CNN and NBC, calling them “fake news” outlets who “are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea.”

“So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN,” Trump tweeted. “They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have ‘begged’ for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!”

Trump has slandered the press before, but the only other time he’s characterized it as “the enemy” was back in 2017.

“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Trump tweeted in February of 2017.

The rhetoric is alarming. As CNN’s Brian Stelter points out, “No modern American president has publicly spoken this way about the press,” not even Richard Nixon.

Responding to Trump’s tweet, journalism professor Dan Gillmore called on reporters to stand firm in the face of Trump’s attacks.

“Dear journalists, once again: When someone declares war on you and on freedom of expression, you have two options. 1) Surrender (what many have done already by normalizing this stuff). 2) Find allies and fight like hell to protect freedom of expression for everyone, not just you,” he tweeted.

https://twitter.com/dangillmor/status/1006894635283861505

Speaking on Fox News to Sean Hannity, Trump praised Kim Jong Un as a “strong guy” and a “great negotiator”

“He’s got a very good personality, he’s funny, and he’s very, very smart,” Trump said of Kim in the interview that aired Tuesday night. “He’s a great negotiator, and he’s a very strategic kind of a guy.”

Considering that Trump gave away all kinds of concessions in exchange for undefined “security guarantees” and vague promises of “denuclearization,” Kim probably really is the great negotiator that Trump made him out to be.

Featured image via screen grab/YouTube

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.