Donald Trump’s first impulse after watching a genuinely transformational 60 Minutes interview of President Biden is to attack — that’s a given. Trump, however, isn’t just attacking the President or CBS’s 60 Minutes, he’s attacking the First Amendment.
It is a stunning moment of clarity in all things political.
Trump’s entire statement is a primal scream. Of note is that he has, for a second time, revealed his authoritarian impulses, one which has led to many — let’s hope a majority of Americans — seeing Joe Biden and his campaign as the only thing standing between democracy and Trumpian fascism.
At a most basic level, Trump believes the government has a duty to control criticism — of him — and his possible next “administration.”
The multiply-indicted former president rejects the First Amendment guarantee of a free press. He has proposed, for a second time now, that networks that allow such criticism should have their license to the airwaves “examined.”
Trump practically screamed on Truth Social (contents of his post presented here broken into paragraphs for readability):
“The show 60 Minutes should be ashamed of themselves.”
“They just interviewed Crooked Joe Biden, and led him along like a lost child. Each question contained the answer, and was so weakly and apologetically asked that it was a JOKE which should be considered a campaign contribution to the Democrat Party.
“Why should CBS get free public airwaves for this highly partisan ‘show,’ which never apologized to me for the mistakes they made on the “Laptop from Hell?”
Many of us are still wondering if the laptop produced anything real. More importantly, Trump states that CBS is functioning as a contribution to the Democratic campaign, before wondering if they should be allowed “free airwaves.”
That’s dangerous shit.
“They are protecting Biden even though he is the most corrupt and incompetent President in the history of the United States. The Carter Administration looks absolutely brilliant by comparison. The only thing the Biden Regime does well is go after Crooked Joe’s political opponent, ME, but even that will fail. The Middle East, Ukraine, Inflation, Bad Economy, the Open Border, Horrendous Afghanistan Embarrassment, Gas Prices, our great Autoworker Death March, & so much more, make Crooked Joe a total disaster for our once great USA. MAGA!”
A free press allows for a news organization to protect (subjectively) one party, but in this case, Democrats had reason to be angry. (This is often an indication that the network went straight down the middle.)
Contrary to Trump’s summation, it’s not like 60 Minutes tried to be neutral and crowned Biden. In some ways, they were very unfair in going at what is supposedly Biden’s weakness:
https://twitter.com/lizlviz/status/1713743095547002973
Whether right or wrong about mentioning Biden’s age and fatigue, we do not abandon a free press. We look at whether the press got it right or wrong.
Biden supporters believe some of it is very wrong.
Trump believes it was a Democratic campaign contribution and a license to the airwaves should be “reviewed.”
No Democrat is suggesting that a ridiculous comment should lead to circumventing the First Amendment.
That is what makes Trump so dangerous as an authoritarian and/or fascist – whichever word you prefer. I prefer “fascist.”
The situation is made that much more dangerous because this is the second time and a second network that Trump has threatened a public media company over the right to access public airwaves.
Way back in 2020, Trump demanded that NBC fire Chuck Todd for some minor offense against him. Much more recently, Trump attacked Comcast, the owner of NBC, and questioned whether the network should have a license to public airwaves, as The Hill reported:
“Former President Trump is coming under intense criticism for a social media post late Sunday in which he threatened to investigate Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, NBC News and MSNBC, over the outlet’s coverage of him should he be elected president again.”
Trump stated:
“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,”
This is fascism 101: control all negative coverage by the press. All the great dictators do it.
Trump knows what he wants, and he knows what he plans to do if he ever gains power again. It is just one perspective into what Trump calls “The Final Battle” — the election in 2024, couched in military terms for a reason.
It is what makes Trump so damned dangerous and why he must never have power again.
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on “X” @JasonMiciak.
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.
