Trump launches yet another attack on the press, threatening their freedoms
Donald Trump is tripling down on his assault against the free press.
The president recently announced on Truth Social that he would be pursuing legal action against publications that employ the long established journalistic practice of quoting anonymous sources in articles. After touting that he had “the Best Opening Month of any President in history” Trump threatened to sue “dishonest authors” and “media in general” for using “‘off the record’ quotes” in order to spread “fake” stories about his administration.
Trump went on to call his anonymous critical press “defamatory fiction” and warned that news outlets would pay a “big price” for publishing it.
This isn’t the first time…
Donald Trump has along history of defaming and delegitimizing the free press, beginning with his popularization of the now ubiquitous concept of “fake news” during his first presidential bid. He even claimed to have invented the term. Through his torrent of criticisms aimed at the press, Trump appears to be attempting to corrode trust in major news outlets that he has not personally anointed to be his mouthpiece in order to shrug off media censure.
During his 2024 bid for office, Trump eschewed major news networks to appear on more sympathetic podcasts like Joe Rogan. According to Elon Musk, Trump’s efforts paid off, and Musk claimed that Trump’s frequent podcast appearances made a “big difference” in the election results.
While Trump strategically avoided major news outlets during his presidential bid, the president has frequently gone on the offense in order to silence his media critics. Trump recently threatened to defund U.S. public media, causing outlets like PBS and NPR to be forced to tone down any critical reportage of Trump for fear of reprisal.
The president also called for CBS’ broadcasting license to be revoked after the network aired an interview with Kamala Harris, and demanded that the network hand over the unedited transcript of the full interview to the F.C.C. The bid for the transcript is part of a $20 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the network for editing the interview in a manner he deemed to be untruthful.
While Trump has taken aim against major news corporations, the president has also saved his lawfare bullets for individual journalists. In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, a regional Iowa newspaper published a poll showing that Trump’s opponent Kamala Harries was beating him in the race. In response, Trump sued the pollster who created the poll, the newspaper that published it, and the paper’s parent company on grounds that the defendants had violated a state law that prohibits false advertising in order to artificially generate a Democratic advantage.
The lawsuit came on the heels of Trump’s $15 million settlement against ABC news, which he had previously sued for defamation for saying that Trump was found civilly liable to have sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll. According to The Washington Post, Trump was indeed found civilly liable to have sexually assaulted E. Jean Caroll.
What outlet is Trump mad at this time?
It’s unclear what “anonymous source” stoked the president’s present ire exactly, but his threats come on the heels of a tirade he made against the tell-all novel All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America, calling the book a “total FAKE JOB”. Author Michael Wolff wrote that he was told by an anonymous source that Melania Trump “f***king hates” her husband, and that no one knew where she was living while Trump was campaigning for office.
Though Trump may rage against anonymous detractors, the president is reaping the results of the culture of fear that he has created. As long as Trump continues to punish those who speak out against him, his critics will attempt to protect themselves in any way they can.
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