Trump Strategist Steve Bannon Says Media Should Keep Its Mouth Shut

[DemocratSinceBirth]

WASHINGTON — Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s chief White House strategist, laced into the American press during an interview on Wednesday evening, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by an election outcome few anticipated, and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration.

“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call.

“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”

The scathing assessment — delivered by one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted and influential advisers, in the first days of his presidency — comes at a moment of high tension between the news media and the administration, with skirmishes over the size of Mr. Trump’s inaugural crowd and the president’s false claims that millions of illegal votes by undocumented immigrants swayed the popular vote against him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/business/media/stephen-bannon-trump-news-media.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

[forgotmylogin]

1. Because the media is so good at not being media.

How would he have reacted to an administration suggesting his little rag of a website "keep its mouth shut"?

[Chipper Chat]

2. The media should NOT keep its mouth shut!

The media should, instead, OPEN IT MORE and start telling the American Public the truth about these nutjobs.

[gratuitous]

3. As if most of the popular media needed to be told

Oh, for the days of Media Whores Online, the site that set out to bring the media to its knees, but found they were already there.

Now, how long will it be before the White House is denying that Bannon said any such thing, and shame on the media for reporting what Bannon wanted them to quote? I look forward to some good old sophistry from NPR about how what Bannon said shouldn't really be categorized as a threat, because there's no way to divine the intent behind what he said.

I suspect there will be a suitable expression of being appalled from many media outlets, followed by prone obeisances to the administration.