Trump's Anti-Democratic War on Facts and Free Speech
Freedom of information, speech and the press are essential for a functioning democracy – but to Trump, they're a threat
By Bridgette Dunlap
9 hours ago
As hundreds of thousands of protesters shut down the streets of Washington, D.C., the day after Donald Trump's inauguration, and millions more marched all over the country and the world, America's new president sent his press secretary to attack the White House press corps and claim Trump's inauguration crowd was the "biggest ever." This strange and obvious lie was taken by some commentators to be a warning aimed at the press – a defiant statement that Trump intends to propagate his preferred reality and vilify reporters who contradict it.
That may be true, but what Trump proudly calls his "running war with the media" obscures an even more fundamental threat to U.S. democracy: He's trying to silence and erase citizens who don't support his message and policies by claiming he alone speaks for "real" Americans and can tell us who qualifies as such. Attacking the press is a more palatable way to go after his real target: "We the People."
Trump told the country what he thinks of dissenters in a snide tweet in response to Saturday's massive protests, saying he "was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?" Well, they did, as evidenced by the marchers chanting, "We are the popular vote!" past the White House. Regardless, the implication in Trump's tweet is that once you've been outvoted, you should shut up. Needless to say, that is not how democracy works.
Trump repeatedly claimed in his inauguration speech that he speaks for and will govern for "the people." He referred to his oath of office as an "oath of allegiance to all Americans." In fact, the oath he took isn't one of allegiance to "the people" – he took an oath to uphold the Constitution. "The people" disagree about lots of things; the document structures how the country navigates those disagreements, and restricts what those in the majority can do to those in the minority. But Trump has made it clear he plans to justify whatever he wants to do as the will of "the people" while portraying anyone who disagrees with him as too crooked and corrupt to be among them.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-anti-democratic-war-on-facts-and-free-speech-w462960
