PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL BECOME A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

…The true President Donald Trump

Hundreds of newspapers have written editorials against the president's attacks on the American free press.

One of the nation’s greatest newspapers, the Boston Globe, finally had it with the president calling the media the “Enemy of the People”.

The Boston Globe's editorial board has headed up a coordinated effort by over 400 US newspapers to denounce the president's claim that the media "is the enemy of the American people".

All of these publications across the US published editorials on the same day rejecting Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the press.  Each newspaper involved in the campaign published their own unique editorial yesterday, Thursday, August 16^th. 

In their statement, which called on all other US newspapers to join the effort, the Boston Globe had written: "We propose to publish an editorial on August 16 on the dangers of the administration's assault on the press and ask others to commit to publishing their own [independent] editorials on the same date".

The Boston Globe is joined by the American Society of News Editors, the Press Association, the New England Newspaper and other press groups which helped raise awareness surrounding the editorial campaign. 

Marjorie Pritchard, deputy editorial page editor of the Boston Globe, told CNN the response has been "overwhelming" after the newspaper began their nationwide campaign just a few days ago. 

"We have more than 400 publications signed up, and I expect that number to grow in the coming days," she said. "We have some big newspapers, but the majority are from smaller markets, all enthusiastic about standing up to Trump's assault on journalism."

Donald Trump continues to call real news, from both American newspapers and the media, 'fake news' and the 'enemy of the American people'

In its message to publications, the Boston Globe encouraged each paper to remain independent in writing their editorials for this campaign. "The impact of Trump's assault on journalism looks different in Boise than it does in Boston," the statement continued. "Our words will differ. But at least we can agree that such attacks are alarming."

President Trump has consistently spoken out against the media during his short tenure in the White House, as well as while on his 2016 campaign trail.  He continues to call all mainstream news outlets “fake news”.  It is ironic that the network that has been referred to for years by many publications and networks as not being a valid source for real news, Fox News, is now the only network or news outlet that Trump supports.  If a news story does not approve of what the president says or does, he attacks them as being “fake news”.  Any news outlet that publishes critical stories about his presidency is always “fake news” to the president.

 Once again, the president is acting more like an insecure dictator when it comes to dealing with legitimate political opposition, and dealing with the opposition is a true requirement for a real democracy.  

This is the same for the president's removal of the security clearances of former intelligence personnel that disagree publicly with the president.  Once a government official leaves their position and they become a regular American citizen, they have the right to speak their mind, even if it is in opposition to a high ranking politician.

Trump’s attacks on the press have appeared to ramp up in recent months, in conjunction with his hiring of the former Fox News executive Bill Shine.  Shine now serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications in the White House.  As an example of Shine's management, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins was recently stopped from attending an event with the president by Mr Shine.  This was due to her questioning at an event earlier in the day. 

The president continues to undermine the press at all of his nationwide rallies, warning his supporters to avoid paying attention to the media's reporting on his administration. 

"Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news," Mr Trump said at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in July. "Just remember: what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening".  In other words, only listen to the president, don’t listen to any news that is critical of the president.

Unfortunately, too many people are believing everything the president says.  This is mostly because American citizens have never been lied to by former US presidents as Trump does today.  If the president says it, it must be true.  Not with this president.

My hope is that instead of having one day for all these American publications to write their independent editorials against the president’s assault on a free press, I hope they stick to attacking him on a regular basis.

There is a reason that a free press is so important.  It is the only industry that is listed in the US Constitution.  That’s because a free press is the foundation for maintaining a true democratic nation.

Because of President Trump, our nation is in the process of heading for a potential Constitutional Crisis.

Copyright G.Ater  2018