The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website October 13, 2017:
THE BIG IDEA: Principled conservatives are recoiling at Donald Trump’s threats against the free press. “Mr. President: Words spoken by the President of the United States matter,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said in a statement last night. “Are you … recanting … the oath you took on January 20th to preserve, protect, and defend the First Amendment?”
— NBC’s story yesterday that Trump asked his national security team about increasing the size of the nuclear arsenal 10-fold prompted more than just an angry denial:
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During a photo opportunity with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office, Trump elaborated: “It’s frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write. And people should look into it.”
He circled back to the theme again late last night:
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— This wasn’t just a one-day temper tantrum. Trump has increasingly trained his fire on the media. The president called on the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate U.S. news outlets last week, and he proposed reinstituting the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” over the weekend. (A government-mandated “fairness doctrine” is a profoundly unconservative idea, and its repeal in 1987 – championed by the Reagan administration – helped allow for the proliferation of conservative media outlets in the 1990s.) The White House press secretary also suggested last month that ESPN should fire anchor Jemele Hill for calling Trump a white supremacist.
— Much will be written about how Trump’s diatribe highlights his lack of respect for the Constitution and the institutions that make America great, including but not limited to the fourth estate, but the comments also add fresh data points to the cementing narrative that the brooding president has become increasingly isolated and angry. Feeling under siege, whether from special counsel Robert Mueller or Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the president has adopted a bunker mentality that prompts him to lash out at any perceived enemy.
Like Elvis shot up his TV, Trump is shooting the messenger because he doesn’t like stories that reflect poorly on his leadership abilities.The conservative base distrusts the mainstream media, so it’s always been politically useful for the president to use the press as a foil. But it’s created a vicious cycle. The more that gets revealed about Trump’s struggles and White House dysfunction, the angrier and more distracted he becomes.
hree stories this week offer insight into the president’s state of mind:
— “Trump’s anger over Iran deal forced aides to scramble for a compromise,” by Anne Gearan: “President Trump was livid. Why, he asked his advisers in mid-July, should he go along with what he considered the failed Obama-era policy toward Iran and prop up an international nuclear deal he saw as disastrous? He was incensed by the arguments of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others that the landmark 2015 deal, while flawed, offered stability and other benefits. He did not want to certify to Congress that the agreement remained in the vital U.S. national security interest and that Iran was meeting its obligations. He did not think either was true. ‘He threw a fit,’ said one person familiar with the meeting. ‘He was furious. Really furious. It’s clear he felt jammed.’ So White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other senior advisers came up with a plan — one aimed at accommodating Trump’s loathing of the Iran deal as ‘an embarrassment’ without killing it outright. To get Trump, in other words, to compromise.”
— Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reports the White House is in crisis as aides struggle to contain an unfocused — and increasingly irate — Trump. Comments by Corker that Trump could start World War III “brought into the open what several people close to the president have recently told me in private: that Trump is ‘unstable,’ ‘losing a step,’ and ‘unraveling,’” Sherman writes. Here are four eye-popping nuggets:
- “Even before Corker’s remarks, some West Wing advisers were worried that Trump’s behavior could cause the Cabinet to take extraordinary Constitutional measures to remove him from office.Several months ago, according to two sources with knowledge of the conversation, former chief strategist Steve Bannon told Trump that the risk to his presidency wasn’t impeachment, but the 25th Amendment — the provision by which a majority of the Cabinet can vote to remove the president. When Bannon mentioned the 25th Amendment, Trump said, ‘What’s that?’ According to a source, Bannon has told people he thinks Trump has only a 30 percent chance of making it the full term.
- “In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a president who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods . . .‘Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,’ a person close to Trump said. ‘He saw the cult of personality was broken.’
- “According to two sources familiar with the conversation, Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, ‘I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!’ (A White House official denies this.)
- “Two senior Republican officials said Chief of Staff John Kelly is miserable in his job and is remaining out of a sense of duty to keep Trump from making some sort of disastrous decision. One former official even speculated that Kelly and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have discussed what they would do in the event Trump ordered a nuclear first strike. ‘Would they tackle him?’ the person said.”
— “Trump in recent days has shown flashes of fury and left his aides … scrambling to manage his outbursts,” Robert Costa, Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker reported on Monday, based on interviews with 18 White House officials, outside advisers and other associates of the president. “One Trump confidant likened the president to a whistling teapot, saying that when he does not blow off steam, he can turn into a pressure cooker and explode. ‘I think we are in pressure cooker territory,’ said this person … (Another) Trump loyalist — noting that Corker has many more friends in the Senate than Trump does — said the rift could dash chances for a tax law overhaul or other meaningful legislation. ‘His presidency could be doomed,’ said this person…”
HOW IT’S PLAYING:
- Philip Bump: “Trump’s often compared to Putin, but his comments on the media once again evoke Erdogan.”
- Aaron Blake: “Trump’s threat to NBC’s license is the very definition of Nixonian.”
- Callum Borchers: “Trump does not value or understand how a free press works.”
- The Fix: “Trump’s ‘frankly disgusting’ comments about the media and the First Amendment, annotated.”
- NBC News: “First Amendment Advocates Push Back on Trump’s Licensing Threat.”
- CNN: “Donald Trump just issued a direct threat to the free and independent media.”
- Associated Press: “Trump Threatens NBC but Experts See No Real Risk to Licenses.”
- Washington Examiner: “Trump can challenge NBC’s broadcast license, but he’s likely to fail.”
- The Wrap: “Trump Can’t Pull NBC’s ‘License’ – But That Doesn’t Mean Stations Are Safe.”
- Reason Magazine (a leading publication in libertarian circles): “Is it a day ending in the letter ‘y’? Then yes, President Donald Trump has said something flippantly authoritarian, made a wholly empty threat, and blasted the media, all before lunch.”
- Slate: “Trump Says Media Licenses ‘Must Be Challenged’ After Reported Story Shows Him Not Knowing Anything.”
- New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Tim Morris: “Censoring a free press would be moronic.”
- Breitbart: “Defense Secretary James Mattis Disputes NBC Report Claiming Trump Wanted More Nukes.”
- The Atlantic: “The Deep Republican Roots of Trump’s Media Bashing. As the president threatens to crack down on unfriendly news outlets, many conservatives say their goal is to ‘destroy’ the mainstream media.”
- Fortune: “Kellyanne Conway Calls for ‘Full and Free Press’ After Trump Suggests Revoking NBC’s License.”
- HuffPo: “Kellyanne Conway Says She Never Uses The Term ‘Fake News.’ But She Has.”
From the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and a former Republican congressman from Florida:
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From the politics editor of the Fox News Channel:
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Finally, consider this juxtaposition:
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View the post here.