The Politics of Intimidation - Donald Trump is trying to discredit the media to get what he wants.

By Kenneth T. Walsh | Contributor
July 1, 2016, at 6:00 a.m.

Donald Trump is lashing out at the media again, trying to discredit his journalistic antagonists and undermine their attacks on his credibility. He is also expanding his communication team by hiring two veteran media strategists. Jason Miller will be his senior communications adviser and Michael Abboud will take charge of rapid response and "daily messaging." These staff changes don't signal a change in Trump's bash-the-media approach but instead likely represent an effort to improve his spin and bypass or outmaneuver the mainstream media in more effective ways.

This is more than a media issue. It's actually reflective of a larger reality about Trump – his belief in the politics of intimidation. He has used intimidation throughout his career as a real-estate developer and dealmaker, attempting to bully and bulldoze his opposition in order to get his way. His attempts to elbow the media are part of that pattern.

Trump and his aides recently banned reporters from Politico and the Guardian from his press conference and tour of a golf resort he owns in Scotland. Trump representatives said that these news organizations are biased against the Republican presidential candidate. But he has done this before. Among the organizations that he has blacklisted in the past – by refusing them admittance to Trump events – have been Buzzfeed, the Des Moines Register, The Washington Post and Univision.

A recent poll by CNN/ORC found that nearly three-quarters of Americans disapprove of Trump's refusal to grant press credentials to news outlets he says are unfair. Seventy-one percent of voters including 53 percent of Republicans, 70 percent of independents and 87 percent of Democrats describe Trump's decision to deny credentials as "inappropriate."

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