Marcotte writes: "For liberals, and anyone with a fundamental love of our
democracy, the two months since the election have been one long anxiety
attack. Like most really bad anxiety attacks, this one has been fueled not
just by fear, but also uncertainty. We know Donald Trump is bad, but the
question is, how bad?"
Trump at his first press conference. (photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)
Sorry, Liberals: Donald Trump Really Means What He Says - and Plans to
Silence and Intimidate Dissenters
By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
15 January 17
Trump seeks to divide and conquer the media, while congressional allies like
Jason Chaffetz go after critics
For liberals,and anyone with a fundamental love of our democracy, the two
months since the election have been one long anxiety attack. Like most
really bad anxiety attacks, this one has been fueled not just by fear, but
also uncertainty. We know Donald Trump is bad, but the question is, how bad?
Was Trumps bringing-fascism-to-America act just a campaign ploy, one that
he will drop in favor of being a bog-standard Republican when he steps into
office? Or are we really looking down the barrel of an authoritarian regime
that suppresses dissent and has no regard for the norms of democracy?
Unfortunately, the past weeks events suggest Trump is going with Door #2:
Authoritarian regime that shows strong indicators of sliding into fascism.
Doubly disturbing is that there appears to be no resistance from the
Republican ranks on Capitol Hill. In fact, at least one Republican
congressman, House Oversight chair Jason Chaffetz, is taking the initiative
to instigate authoritarian crackdowns of his own.
Trumps first press conference since his election was a three-ring circus
that only helped cement his reputation as an unhinged liar, but he did make
disturbing amounts of progress on intimidating the press.
Trump took a divide-and-conquer strategy during that press conference. He
zeroed in on CNN and BuzzFeed, attacking them as fake news for printing
reports reports that are 100 percent true that a dossier implicating
Trump in Russian espionage efforts was presented by intelligence officials
to both Trump and President Obama. He then praised other outlets for not
running with the story (though some did), a rather unsubtle effort to turn
journalists against one another.
The information in the dossier is not verified, but then again, CNN and
BuzzFeed never said it was, just that it was considered credible enough to
be included in a security briefing. Not that the details really matter; its
all pretext for Trump to play an authoritarian game as old as time: single
out a victim out from the herd to attack, as a warning to other journalists
who have thoughts of publishing unflattering news stories.
These middle school bully-style tactics worked, Will Oremus at Slate
reports:
BuzzFeed was so anathematized that by pressers end, fellow journalists were
picking up their lunch trays and moving to the other side of the
cafeteria.I can understand why President-elect Trump would be upset with
BuzzFeed, said CNNs Jake Tapper, a co-author of the very story that had
just been impugned in the press conference. I would be upset about it,
too.
To put my fellow journalists on blast for a moment: You should be ashamed of
yourselves, letting this doofus whose rhetoric literally sounds like that of
a mustache-twirling comic book villain manipulate you, using the same
tactics as some schoolyard bully.
Arent journalists supposed to be skeptical, independent-minded and brave?
Stop being so goddamn gullible and cowardly. Trump wants to intimidate and
silence the media, and hes using a screamingly obvious divide-and-conquer
strategy. Quivering in your boots and hiding in the back in hopes he doesnt
pick on you next is not the behavior of an honorable Fourth Estate. Stand up
for your colleagues, even if they work for competitors.
Speaking of pants-wetting quisling hacks: Chaffetz made it clear this week
that not only is he unlikely to investigate the myriad of likely conflicts
of interest that Trump brings with him to office, he will instead lick Dear
Leaders boots, by using his power as the chair of the House Oversight
Committee to harass and intimidate critics of the Trump administration.
Chaffetz is threatening to subpoena Walter Shaub, director of the Office of
Government Ethics, because Shaub correctly described Trumps efforts to
reduce his conflicts of interest as meaningless. That opinion was issued
after Trumps lawyer Sheri Dillon gave a lengthy rundown of Trumps plan, so
any fool who was listening learned plenty enough to realize that the Trump
plan to end conflicts of interest is to talk a lot and do nothing that
actually divests him of the conflicts.
But even though Shaub heard the same lengthy description everyone else
heard, Chaffetz claimed, He seems to be acting prematurely at best,
without doing investigations or thorough looks.
We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically,
thats not what theyre doing, Chaffetz said in a statement that is so
devoid of any relationship to honesty that it once again makes you wonder if
the Republican Party is in fact a comic book-style international
supervillain organization like Hydra.
The real irony here is that Chaffetz is supposed to be heading a committee
that roots out corruption in government. Rather than lift a finger to
investigate Trumps business interests or his purported links to Russian
espionage or his involvement in the scam Trump University or the bribery
scandal involving former Florida attorney general and soon-to-be White House
employee Pam Bondi, Chaffetz is using his power to intimidate a public
official for offering a reasonable comment based on publicly available
evidence that Chaffetz himself is free to look at, if he had a moments
interest in actually rooting out government corruption.
Trump isnt even in office yet, and already he and his supporters in
Congress are making moves to silence dissent through intimidation. Any hope
that he was simply going to be a terrible president who still leaves our
democracy mostly intact, like George W. Bush, is flying out the window.
As the last institution standing that has any real power to resist Trumps
authoritarian agenda, the media must not give in to these scare tactics.
Journalists need to stand up for each other and for anyone, including
federal officials, who uses their right to express dissent or criticism of
the Trump administration. Its a cliché, but one that matters now: Stand
together or we fall separately.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Trump at his first press conference. (photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/14/sorry-liberals-donald-trump-really-means-wha
t-he-says-and-plans-to-silence-and-intimidate-dissenters/http://www.salon.co
m/2017/01/14/sorry-liberals-donald-trump-really-means-what-he-says-and-plans
-to-silence-and-intimidate-dissenters/
Sorry, Liberals: Donald Trump Really Means What He Says - and Plans to
Silence and Intimidate Dissenters
By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
15 January 17
Trump seeks to divide and conquer the media, while congressional allies like
Jason Chaffetz go after critics
or liberals,and anyone with a fundamental love of our democracy, the two
months since the election have been one long anxiety attack. Like most
really bad anxiety attacks, this one has been fueled not just by fear, but
also uncertainty. We know Donald Trump is bad, but the question is, how bad?
Was Trumps bringing-fascism-to-America act just a campaign ploy, one that
he will drop in favor of being a bog-standard Republican when he steps into
office? Or are we really looking down the barrel of an authoritarian regime
that suppresses dissent and has no regard for the norms of democracy?
Unfortunately, the past weeks events suggest Trump is going with Door #2:
Authoritarian regime that shows strong indicators of sliding into fascism.
Doubly disturbing is that there appears to be no resistance from the
Republican ranks on Capitol Hill. In fact, at least one Republican
congressman, House Oversight chair Jason Chaffetz, is taking the initiative
to instigate authoritarian crackdowns of his own.
Trumps first press conference since his election was a three-ring circus
that only helped cement his reputation as an unhinged liar, but he did make
disturbing amounts of progress on intimidating the press.
Trump took a divide-and-conquer strategy during that press conference. He
zeroed in on CNN and BuzzFeed, attacking them as fake news for printing
reports reports that are 100 percent true that a dossier implicating
Trump in Russian espionage efforts was presented by intelligence officials
to both Trump and President Obama. He then praised other outlets for not
running with the story (though some did), a rather unsubtle effort to turn
journalists against one another.
The information in the dossier is not verified, but then again, CNN and
BuzzFeed never said it was, just that it was considered credible enough to
be included in a security briefing. Not that the details really matter; its
all pretext for Trump to play an authoritarian game as old as time: single
out a victim out from the herd to attack, as a warning to other journalists
who have thoughts of publishing unflattering news stories.
These middle school bully-style tactics worked, Will Oremus at Slate
reports:
BuzzFeed was so anathematized that by pressers end, fellow journalists were
picking up their lunch trays and moving to the other side of the
cafeteria.I can understand why President-elect Trump would be upset with
BuzzFeed, said CNNs Jake Tapper, a co-author of the very story that had
just been impugned in the press conference. I would be upset about it,
too.
To put my fellow journalists on blast for a moment: You should be ashamed of
yourselves, letting this doofus whose rhetoric literally sounds like that of
a mustache-twirling comic book villain manipulate you, using the same
tactics as some schoolyard bully.
Arent journalists supposed to be skeptical, independent-minded and brave?
Stop being so goddamn gullible and cowardly. Trump wants to intimidate and
silence the media, and hes using a screamingly obvious divide-and-conquer
strategy. Quivering in your boots and hiding in the back in hopes he doesnt
pick on you next is not the behavior of an honorable Fourth Estate. Stand up
for your colleagues, even if they work for competitors.
Speaking of pants-wetting quisling hacks: Chaffetz made it clear this week
that not only is he unlikely to investigate the myriad of likely conflicts
of interest that Trump brings with him to office, he will instead lick Dear
Leaders boots, by using his power as the chair of the House Oversight
Committee to harass and intimidate critics of the Trump administration.
Chaffetz is threatening to subpoena Walter Shaub, director of the Office of
Government Ethics, because Shaub correctly described Trumps efforts to
reduce his conflicts of interest as meaningless. That opinion was issued
after Trumps lawyer Sheri Dillon gave a lengthy rundown of Trumps plan, so
any fool who was listening learned plenty enough to realize that the Trump
plan to end conflicts of interest is to talk a lot and do nothing that
actually divests him of the conflicts.
But even though Shaub heard the same lengthy description everyone else
heard, Chaffetz claimed, He seems to be acting prematurely at best,
without doing investigations or thorough looks.
We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically,
thats not what theyre doing, Chaffetz said in a statement that is so
devoid of any relationship to honesty that it once again makes you wonder if
the Republican Party is in fact a comic book-style international
supervillain organization like Hydra.
The real irony here is that Chaffetz is supposed to be heading a committee
that roots out corruption in government. Rather than lift a finger to
investigate Trumps business interests or his purported links to Russian
espionage or his involvement in the scam Trump University or the bribery
scandal involving former Florida attorney general and soon-to-be White House
employee Pam Bondi, Chaffetz is using his power to intimidate a public
official for offering a reasonable comment based on publicly available
evidence that Chaffetz himself is free to look at, if he had a moments
interest in actually rooting out government corruption.
Trump isnt even in office yet, and already he and his supporters in
Congress are making moves to silence dissent through intimidation. Any hope
that he was simply going to be a terrible president who still leaves our
democracy mostly intact, like George W. Bush, is flying out the window.
As the last institution standing that has any real power to resist Trumps
authoritarian agenda, the media must not give in to these scare tactics.
Journalists need to stand up for each other and for anyone, including
federal officials, who uses their right to express dissent or criticism of
the Trump administration. Its a cliché, but one that matters now: Stand
together or we fall separately.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
Marcotte writes: "For liberals, and anyone with a fundamental love of our
democracy, the two months since the election have been one long anxiety
attack. Like most really bad anxiety attacks, this one has been fueled not
just by fear, but also uncertainty. We know Donald Trump is bad, but the
question is, how bad?"
Trump at his first press conference. (photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)
Sorry, Liberals: Donald Trump Really Means What He Says - and Plans to
Silence and Intimidate Dissenters
By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
15 January 17
Trump seeks to divide and conquer the media, while congressional allies like
Jason Chaffetz go after critics
or liberals,and anyone with a fundamental love of our democracy, the two
months since the election have been one long anxiety attack. Like most
really bad anxiety attacks, this one has been fueled not just by fear, but
also uncertainty. We know Donald Trump is bad, but the question is, how bad?
Was Trumps bringing-fascism-to-America act just a campaign ploy, one that
he will drop in favor of being a bog-standard Republican when he steps into
office? Or are we really looking down the barrel of an authoritarian regime
that suppresses dissent and has no regard for the norms of democracy?
Unfortunately, the past weeks events suggest Trump is going with Door #2:
Authoritarian regime that shows strong indicators of sliding into fascism.
Doubly disturbing is that there appears to be no resistance from the
Republican ranks on Capitol Hill. In fact, at least one Republican
congressman, House Oversight chair Jason Chaffetz, is taking the initiative
to instigate authoritarian crackdowns of his own.
Trumps first press conference since his election was a three-ring circus
that only helped cement his reputation as an unhinged liar, but he did make
disturbing amounts of progress on intimidating the press.
Trump took a divide-and-conquer strategy during that press conference. He
zeroed in on CNN and BuzzFeed, attacking them as fake news for printing
reports reports that are 100 percent true that a dossier implicating
Trump in Russian espionage efforts was presented by intelligence officials
to both Trump and President Obama. He then praised other outlets for not
running with the story (though some did), a rather unsubtle effort to turn
journalists against one another.
The information in the dossier is not verified, but then again, CNN and
BuzzFeed never said it was, just that it was considered credible enough to
be included in a security briefing. Not that the details really matter; its
all pretext for Trump to play an authoritarian game as old as time: single
out a victim out from the herd to attack, as a warning to other journalists
who have thoughts of publishing unflattering news stories.
These middle school bully-style tactics worked, Will Oremus at Slate
reports:
BuzzFeed was so anathematized that by pressers end, fellow journalists were
picking up their lunch trays and moving to the other side of the
cafeteria.I can understand why President-elect Trump would be upset with
BuzzFeed, said CNNs Jake Tapper, a co-author of the very story that had
just been impugned in the press conference. I would be upset about it,
too.
To put my fellow journalists on blast for a moment: You should be ashamed of
yourselves, letting this doofus whose rhetoric literally sounds like that of
a mustache-twirling comic book villain manipulate you, using the same
tactics as some schoolyard bully.
Arent journalists supposed to be skeptical, independent-minded and brave?
Stop being so goddamn gullible and cowardly. Trump wants to intimidate and
silence the media, and hes using a screamingly obvious divide-and-conquer
strategy. Quivering in your boots and hiding in the back in hopes he doesnt
pick on you next is not the behavior of an honorable Fourth Estate. Stand up
for your colleagues, even if they work for competitors.
Speaking of pants-wetting quisling hacks: Chaffetz made it clear this week
that not only is he unlikely to investigate the myriad of likely conflicts
of interest that Trump brings with him to office, he will instead lick Dear
Leaders boots, by using his power as the chair of the House Oversight
Committee to harass and intimidate critics of the Trump administration.
Chaffetz is threatening to subpoena Walter Shaub, director of the Office of
Government Ethics, because Shaub correctly described Trumps efforts to
reduce his conflicts of interest as meaningless. That opinion was issued
after Trumps lawyer Sheri Dillon gave a lengthy rundown of Trumps plan, so
any fool who was listening learned plenty enough to realize that the Trump
plan to end conflicts of interest is to talk a lot and do nothing that
actually divests him of the conflicts.
But even though Shaub heard the same lengthy description everyone else
heard, Chaffetz claimed, He seems to be acting prematurely at best,
without doing investigations or thorough looks.
We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically,
thats not what theyre doing, Chaffetz said in a statement that is so
devoid of any relationship to honesty that it once again makes you wonder if
the Republican Party is in fact a comic book-style international
supervillain organization like Hydra.
The real irony here is that Chaffetz is supposed to be heading a committee
that roots out corruption in government. Rather than lift a finger to
investigate Trumps business interests or his purported links to Russian
espionage or his involvement in the scam Trump University or the bribery
scandal involving former Florida attorney general and soon-to-be White House
employee Pam Bondi, Chaffetz is using his power to intimidate a public
official for offering a reasonable comment based on publicly available
evidence that Chaffetz himself is free to look at, if he had a moments
interest in actually rooting out government corruption.
Trump isnt even in office yet, and already he and his supporters in
Congress are making moves to silence dissent through intimidation. Any hope
that he was simply going to be a terrible president who still leaves our
democracy mostly intact, like George W. Bush, is flying out the window.
As the last institution standing that has any real power to resist Trumps
authoritarian agenda, the media must not give in to these scare tactics.
Journalists need to stand up for each other and for anyone, including
federal officials, who uses their right to express dissent or criticism of
the Trump administration. Its a cliché, but one that matters now: Stand
together or we fall separately.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Trump at his first press conference. (photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/14/sorry-liberals-donald-trump-really-means-wha
t-he-says-and-plans-to-silence-and-intimidate-dissenters/http://www.salon.co
m/2017/01/14/sorry-liberals-donald-trump-really-means-what-he-says-and-plans
-to-silence-and-intimidate-dissenters/
Sorry, Liberals: Donald Trump Really Means What He Says - and Plans to
Silence and Intimidate Dissenters
By Amanda Marcotte, Salon
15 January 17
Trump seeks to divide and conquer the media, while congressional allies like
Jason Chaffetz go after critics
or liberals,and anyone with a fundamental love of our democracy, the two
months since the election have been one long anxiety attack. Like most
really bad anxiety attacks, this one has been fueled not just by fear, but
also uncertainty. We know Donald Trump is bad, but the question is, how bad?
Was Trumps bringing-fascism-to-America act just a campaign ploy, one that
he will drop in favor of being a bog-standard Republican when he steps into
office? Or are we really looking down the barrel of an authoritarian regime
that suppresses dissent and has no regard for the norms of democracy?
Unfortunately, the past weeks events suggest Trump is going with Door #2:
Authoritarian regime that shows strong indicators of sliding into fascism.
Doubly disturbing is that there appears to be no resistance from the
Republican ranks on Capitol Hill. In fact, at least one Republican
congressman, House Oversight chair Jason Chaffetz, is taking the initiative
to instigate authoritarian crackdowns of his own.
Trumps first press conference since his election was a three-ring circus
that only helped cement his reputation as an unhinged liar, but he did make
disturbing amounts of progress on intimidating the press.
Trump took a divide-and-conquer strategy during that press conference. He
zeroed in on CNN and BuzzFeed, attacking them as fake news for printing
reports reports that are 100 percent true that a dossier implicating
Trump in Russian espionage efforts was presented by intelligence officials
to both Trump and President Obama. He then praised other outlets for not
running with the story (though some did), a rather unsubtle effort to turn
journalists against one another.
The information in the dossier is not verified, but then again, CNN and
BuzzFeed never said it was, just that it was considered credible enough to
be included in a security briefing. Not that the details really matter; its
all pretext for Trump to play an authoritarian game as old as time: single
out a victim out from the herd to attack, as a warning to other journalists
who have thoughts of publishing unflattering news stories.
These middle school bully-style tactics worked, Will Oremus at Slate
reports:
BuzzFeed was so anathematized that by pressers end, fellow journalists were
picking up their lunch trays and moving to the other side of the
cafeteria.I can understand why President-elect Trump would be upset with
BuzzFeed, said CNNs Jake Tapper, a co-author of the very story that had
just been impugned in the press conference. I would be upset about it,
too.
To put my fellow journalists on blast for a moment: You should be ashamed of
yourselves, letting this doofus whose rhetoric literally sounds like that of
a mustache-twirling comic book villain manipulate you, using the same
tactics as some schoolyard bully.
Arent journalists supposed to be skeptical, independent-minded and brave?
Stop being so goddamn gullible and cowardly. Trump wants to intimidate and
silence the media, and hes using a screamingly obvious divide-and-conquer
strategy. Quivering in your boots and hiding in the back in hopes he doesnt
pick on you next is not the behavior of an honorable Fourth Estate. Stand up
for your colleagues, even if they work for competitors.
Speaking of pants-wetting quisling hacks: Chaffetz made it clear this week
that not only is he unlikely to investigate the myriad of likely conflicts
of interest that Trump brings with him to office, he will instead lick Dear
Leaders boots, by using his power as the chair of the House Oversight
Committee to harass and intimidate critics of the Trump administration.
Chaffetz is threatening to subpoena Walter Shaub, director of the Office of
Government Ethics, because Shaub correctly described Trumps efforts to
reduce his conflicts of interest as meaningless. That opinion was issued
after Trumps lawyer Sheri Dillon gave a lengthy rundown of Trumps plan, so
any fool who was listening learned plenty enough to realize that the Trump
plan to end conflicts of interest is to talk a lot and do nothing that
actually divests him of the conflicts.
But even though Shaub heard the same lengthy description everyone else
heard, Chaffetz claimed, He seems to be acting prematurely at best,
without doing investigations or thorough looks.
We need the Office of Government Ethics to act ethically. Ironically,
thats not what theyre doing, Chaffetz said in a statement that is so
devoid of any relationship to honesty that it once again makes you wonder if
the Republican Party is in fact a comic book-style international
supervillain organization like Hydra.
The real irony here is that Chaffetz is supposed to be heading a committee
that roots out corruption in government. Rather than lift a finger to
investigate Trumps business interests or his purported links to Russian
espionage or his involvement in the scam Trump University or the bribery
scandal involving former Florida attorney general and soon-to-be White House
employee Pam Bondi, Chaffetz is using his power to intimidate a public
official for offering a reasonable comment based on publicly available
evidence that Chaffetz himself is free to look at, if he had a moments
interest in actually rooting out government corruption.
Trump isnt even in office yet, and already he and his supporters in
Congress are making moves to silence dissent through intimidation. Any hope
that he was simply going to be a terrible president who still leaves our
democracy mostly intact, like George W. Bush, is flying out the window.
As the last institution standing that has any real power to resist Trumps
authoritarian agenda, the media must not give in to these scare tactics.
Journalists need to stand up for each other and for anyone, including
federal officials, who uses their right to express dissent or criticism of
the Trump administration. Its a cliché, but one that matters now: Stand
together or we fall separately.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
