The creeping authoritarianism of Trump's attacks on the free press - By Ruth Marcus
By Ruth Marcus Columnist June 29 at 2:22 PM
“Some of the Fake News Media likes to say that I am not totally engaged in healthcare,” President Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “Wrong, I know the subject well & want victory for U.S.”
Fine, Mr. President, there’s an easy way to prove your asserted knowledge: Have a news conference. Answer questions that aren’t softballs tossed by your friends at Fox News.
In the age of Trump, some of the president’s deviations from democratic and political norms slap you in the face. Attacks on federal judges for decisions that don’t go his way. Attacks on news organizations for articles that portray him in a bad light. Misstatement piled on misstatement. Nepotism run amok. Transparency abandoned, from disclosure of tax returns to release of White House visitor records.
But other shifts, equally audacious and equally troubling, take a more subtle form. They unfold slowly until, perhaps too late, the change becomes blindingly apparent. So it is with Trump’s dealings with the media, and the effective disappearance of public accountability. Authoritarianism does not announce itself. It creeps up on you.
The president has had a single formal news conference — in February, 168 days after his previous such encounter with the media. At this point in their presidencies, Barack Obama had held seven; George W. Bush three; Bill Clinton seven; George H.W. Bush 15.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-creeping-authoritarianism-of-trumps-attacks-on-the-free-press/2017/06/29/81e92ca6-5cea-11e7-9fc6-c7ef4bc58d13_story.html
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