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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Late Night Open Thread: Repubs Ginning Up Their War on the First Amendment

Late Night Open Thread: Repubs Ginning Up Their War on the First Amendment

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I feel like I should add “again”…

Conservative radio hosts mock a physical assault on a reporter. A GOP governor blasts a reporter on Twitter as “a sick man.” The president accuses the media of being an “enemy of the people.”

This is not run-of-the-mill Republican criticism of the press anymore. It is now a deliberate strategy to help GOP candidates win elections fueled by public hatred of reporters…

A party that traditionally has had a fraught relationship with the media has become outright hostile, led by a president who picks more fights with journalists than any GOP leader since Richard Nixon.

But interviews with Republican strategists and party leaders across the country reveal that what started as genuine anger at allegedly unfair coverage — or an effort to deflect criticism — is now an integral part of next year’s congressional campaigns.

The hope, say these officials, is to convince Trump die-hards that these mid-term races are as much a referendum on the media as they are on President Trump. That means embracing conflict with local and national journalists, taking them on to show Republicans voters that they, just like the president, are battling a biased press corps out to destroy them…

The strategy still has limits. Motivating core Republican support is an important part of the campaign, but many of them also need to persuade middle-of-the-road voters to pull the lever.

Karen Handel, the Republican running against Jon Ossoff in Georgia, for example, has avoided antagonizing the media in a very close race in a suburban district that narrowly voted for Trump in November…

That’s the point: Demonizing the press was an excellent weapon for Richard Nixon, who was desperate to hide his own crimes and those of his minions, because his ‘Southern strategy’ could agitate a whole bloc of dissatisfied Democratic racists into switching parties. But the voters who were going to be swayed by such appeals to their basest instincts have been voting Repub for forty years now — there’s no juice left in that lemon.

Also, it’s pretty clear that the Trump Crime Cartel is now as desperate as Nixon was in 1972, and they’ve only had a few months to sink that low.

WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW, AND WHY IS THE GOP TRYING TO KEEP US FROM FINDING OUT ABOUT IT?

Reader Interactions

79Comments

  1. 1.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    Hitler’s NSDAP and the lugenpresse.

    Trump’s GOP and the Liberal Fake Media

    So many parallels

  2. 2.

    efgoldman

    Two can play that game.
    Imagine if someone, say, threw a bucket of “menstrual blood” on old Rushbo…..
    If he didn’t stroke out on the spot, he’d squeal like a first-grade girl.
    And he’s certainly not the only one.

  4. 4.

    Chet Murthy

    @Quinerly: I wonder if it’s racism (of a sort) to wish upon members of one’s own tribe, the maximum of karmic retribution,for moral iniquities like this?

    The hotels in Cleveland will be developed in partnership with Chawla Hotels (proprietors are Indian-Americans). Makes me livid just thinking about it. But then, there’s that FCC commish, and the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (or whatever). And then that highly-placed WH lawyer. Ugh. Makes me livid. Notwithstanding, I -so- want Uday&Qusay to rob these two hoteliers *blind*. Just rob ’em *blind*. Lay down with hyenas, get up with every transmissible tropical disease known to man, and some not-yet-discovered.

  8. 8.

    M. Bouffant

    That video from Jesse Ventura’s Off The Grid w/ Larry King is very irritating; it starts, plays for a few secs., then starts again, yada. And I’m damn sure the content is equally irritating & objectionable.

    Pls., nuke it from orbit. Thank you

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @M. Bouffant: Alain is working on it. Not right this specific moment, I’m sure he’s asleep by now. But in general he’s working on a fix.

  11. 11.

    Suzanne

    @Quinerly: After this national nightmare comes to an end (it will, right? RIGHT?!) will the Trump hotels ever make another dime in the luxury market? They’re so vulgar. Moving to the trailer park is the only way to make money.

  13. 13.

    efgoldman

    @Suzanne:

    it will, right? RIGHT?!

    One way or another. Nobody lives forever, especially 70 year old out of shape men with a lousy diet, terrible habits, and the highest pressure job in the world, especially one he’s been failing and flailing at since day zero.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: I am just increasingly convinced that something truly epic is going to happen to end it all. Maybe that’s my mind trying to impose a narrative structure on real events that don’t warrant it. It just doesn’t feel like he’s going to serve a term and then stand for re-election and lose and then go home, or win and then serve another term and then go home. I just have this sense that things are not going to happen the typical way and that it’s going to be must-see TV. Bigger ratings than The Apprentice ever had.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: His wound on D-Day, if I’m recalling correctly, included losing part of a finger. Which is why you almost never see a clean shot of his right hand in Star Trek. His military service is also why he’s the only Star Trek actor that ever held his phaser as if it was an M1911. The actor that played Lt. Leslie was his hand double for certain close up scenes.

  20. 20.

    efgoldman

    @Suzanne:

    I am just increasingly convinced that something truly epic is going to happen

    I’ve said right along, he’s leaving the WH strapped to a gurney. Dead or alive, who can say.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Suzanne: Mueller has a very broad authorization for his investigation. This is part of the reason the President appears to have gotten more manic. Given the breadth of Mueller’s authorization and his reputation for thoroughness, there is no telling what he’ll turn up. And, if as many of us have been speculating for months, that this is all ultimately about the President chasing money to keep his business afloat, regardless of whether that money was clean, then there’s plenty potential worries here.

  24. 24.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Confused over the type of fried food to eat…

    Scots don’t do Schnitzel, I take it.
    I’m reading a police/detective series, by Stuart McBride, set in Aberdeen. At first, the editor/publisher tried to translate them to American, then they gave up and left all the dialog, accents, and descriptions as is. I had to look up a lot of things, especially food and drink, on line at first.

  26. 26.

    Amir Khalid

    @Suzanne:
    I don’t know how the Trump hotels are still around even now. All I ever hear about them is that there are better-run and more tastefully decorated luxury hotels, where a room can be had for the same money or less, in the same cities.

  28. 28.

    efgoldman

    @Amir Khalid: .

    All I ever hear about them is that there are better-run and more tastefully decorated luxury hotels, where a room can be had for the same money or less

    Hey Amir; always glad to see you.
    Not only that, but thousands of people/organizations who have a choice are purposely avoiding them. I gather they’re being supported now by people, businesses and governments who use registration to effectively bribe the Grift family.

  29. 29.

    John Weiss

    @Ruckus: Well, Ruckus think about the founding of our country. Our aristocracy were slavers. Things aren’t so great now, but consider the difference.

  30. 30.

    Aleta

    @Quinerly: Flags in front, hats and shirts for sale, donations solicited, branded water, wine and food, ad space sold, meeting rooms for rent to local groups, pressure to join the Organization, ‘unprecedented investment opportunities’

  31. 31.

    jl

    ” WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW, AND WHY IS THE GOP TRYING TO KEEP US FROM FINDING OUT ABOUT IT? ”
    Nope, sorry, AL, I don’t like that one. Too reminiscent of previous presidential crime sprees. We need new slogans.
    I’m still holding out for
    ‘What didn’t the president and GOP know, and why not, how fucking stupid are they anyway?’

  33. 33.

    Aleta

    From their website:

    U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran today issued the following statement on the London terror attack:

    “The United States Conference of Mayors stands today united with Mayor Sadiq Khan of London and the people of London.

    “We send condolences to family and loved ones of those dead and injured.

    “We send praise and absolute respect for the police officers who responded with 8 minutes to kill all three of the London Bridge terrorist murderers.

    “The Mayors of the USA who haven’t had a terrorist attack know full well that in today’s age of terrorist actions, domestic and international, an attack could happen in their city.

    “And the Mayors of the USA whose cities have been hit with an attack of hate and murder have an even more personal feeling for London Mayor Khan. We commend him for his statement today.

    “He has risen above this crisis of death and destruction, as mayors continue to do, to alleviate fear, to bring comfort to his people of London and to give support to the first responders who continue to protect, defend and provide emergency care to his people of London.
    …

  34. 34.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: That is a quasi non-affirmation affirmation. I watch for those in the news from now on, See whether politicians are using them. Seems like they should. Put a little variety in and quasi semi-demi-hemi-lying they do.

  36. 36.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @efgoldman:
    I have been assured, by no less an authority than Saxo Grammaticus himself, that effeminate German food ruined 2nd century Denmark.

    I was ready for Saxo’s misogyny. His deep and virulent hatred of cooking surprised me.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: easy, schnitzel for a main, fried mars bars for dessert

    french fries with every course

    ETA:

    @M. Bouffant: @Suzanne: I am hoping for a whimper rather than a bang when he does go.

    So’s Melania

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    @John Weiss:
    Well of course there has been progress, I’m just saying that in a lot of aspects we haven’t come as far as a lot of people would like to believe. Hell some still argue about if we should have health care. IOW should we just die, or use some of that progress to actually make this a better world. It’s actually pretty sad that we are still getting arguments about vaccinations that can effectively end some pretty damn serious illnesses. Or that an ER is an effective answer to healthcare. And from a lot of supposedly educated people.
    So I’m going to stand by my original statement, as a species, we really haven’t evolved all that much.

  39. 39.

    M. Bouffant

    Deprived of his “social finger”.

    And the Wiki sez it was friendly fire:

    Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren Gun by a nervous Canadian sentry: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.[citation needed] His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal during his career as an actor.

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @M. Bouffant: It’s been a recurring issue. I’ve had problems with it and spoken with him about it directly, which is how I know he’s working on it. So no worries.

  42. 42.

    Aleta

    Jesus Christ @JesusOfNaz316
    All of you who haven’t skimmed money from pediatric cancer hospitals can cast the first stone.

  46. 46.

    Morzer

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/07/james-clapper-says-watergate-pales-in-comparison-with-trump-and-russia-scandal

    The former US director of national intelligence James Clapper says events in Washington now are more serious than the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, and that it is imperative investigators get to the bottom of the Trump administration’s links with the Putin regime.

    Clapper used a speech to Australia’s National Press Club on Wednesday to launch a critique of the US president, Donald Trump, describing his decision to cultivate Russia and share intelligence with the Putin regime as “very problematic”. He described Trump’s firing of the FBI chief Jim Comey as “egregious and inexcusable”.

    The former intelligence director was asked how current events compared to Watergate and he said the behaviour under scrutiny now was more serious. “I think you compare the two, that Watergate pales, really, in my view, compared to what we’re confronting now.”

  47. 47.

    Morzer

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/06/06/sessions_reportedly_offered_to_resign_amidst_growing_discord_with_trump.html

    To add a dollop of crazy onto a White House already spinning out of control, the relationship between President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has apparently deteriorated over the first four and half months in office to the point that Sessions reportedly offered his resignation to the president. It’s unclear how serious the offer was in context, but the fact that it was even discussed is an indicator of some turbulence between the president and one of his earliest and most vocal supporters. Trump refused the offer.

  55. 55.

    different-church-lady

    They’re not at war with the media and they’re not at war with the first amendment; they’re at war with reality itself.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Far more than a lot of the humans. And in a lot less time. But then there are lots of people working on that. We seem to have a lot of people working against humans evolving. And a lot who don’t seem to understand evolution happens with or without them, all they do is slow it down. A lot.

  57. 57.

    Morzer

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-suggested-resign-amid-rising/story?id=47875090

    As the White House braces for former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony Thursday, sources tell ABC News the relationship between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has become so tense that Sessions at one point recently even suggested he could resign.

    The friction between the two men stems from the attorney general’s abrupt decision in March to recuse himself from anything related to the Russia investigation — a decision the president only learned about minutes before Sessions announced it publicly. Multiple sources say the recusal is one of the top disappointments of his presidency so far and one the president has remained fixated on.

    Trump’s anger over the recusal has not diminished with time. Two sources close to the president say he has lashed out repeatedly at the attorney general in private meetings

  58. 58.

    Morzer

    @different-church-lady:

    When the electorate is against you, get a better electorate. When reality is against you, get a better reality. That’s the history of the GOP over the last 50 years.

  59. 59.

    SectionH

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Sigh: 1st answer: Nothing real, and it doesn’t matter.

    Alternatively, Nothing he gave a shit about, and from Day -1460? Dartboard there, ’cause I can still do basic arithmetic in my head, it’s more likely 2921 or 2923 days, or manymany more.

    (not sent from my iPhone 7SE)

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    @Morzer:
    I think one could argue about your use of the word better. Different, sure. More bullshitty, sure. I’d guess that better in this case would be a fictional thing.

  61. 61.

    SectionH

    @Morzer: Wow. The little racist fuck had a moment of actual conscience – I doubt that, but he’s old enough to have first twigged on what would have happened 30 years ago if he hadn’t recused himself?

    Why else?

  63. 63.

    Morzer

    @SectionH:

    My guess is that Trump has worn out Sessions’ goodwill in the same way as he wears out everyone else’s goodwill – by being a boorish, arrogant, incompetent piece of lazy, bankrupt white trash who blames everyone else for his fuck-ups. It certainly wasn’t because he has any ideological differences with the 5th Attorney General of the CSA.

  64. 64.

    Amir Khalid

    @SectionH:
    Not to go a-pedanting on you, but from 21th January 2019 to 20th January 2021 is actually 1,461 days, because of 29th February 2020.

  66. 66.

    SectionH

    @Morzer: I feel like a Kremlin observer, ahhem, but yeah.

    Let me try to create a pyramid of importance (reverse Maslow?) for someone like Sessions. This is gonna be hard. Well, Country is obvsly not even there, but, let’s start.

    Him…
    uh – somewhere is family?
    The South (that’s shorthand, for some readers)

    So basically, we need a more complicated outline which includes the important details. Like, $$ come in under Him, right?

    Does the racism come under Him or The South? Or both?

    The South clearly includes all the racist bs.

    I’m defeated trying to actually put the US into it.

  67. 67.

    SectionH

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah, I thought about Leap Years, but I was going backwards, in terms of him selling out, so it would have been the 2012 one. And then added in at least one more…

    I likely still did it wrong, but oh well.

    And as far as 2020 goes, NO. I won’t even think about that.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @SectionH:
    Is simple. Most POTUS terms have one leap year out of four — the election year for the next term — so POTUSes serve for a 1,461-day term. 1800 and 1900 were century years but not leap years, so John Adams’ one term and William McKinley’s first term were both 1,460 days long.

    I know things like this because I’m medically retired and have nothing but free time.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    @SectionH:

    I think it could be that Sessions sees the shitstorm coming and thinks that a resignation for a somewhat innocuous reason might provide him a safe exit and shelter from the storm. (“Oh, we’re not looking at Sessions anymore. He resigned last year.”)

    Especially if Sessions now thinks that he’s not going to be able to push through his racist, authoritarian agenda because the whole Trump regime looks to be imploding.

  70. 70.

    Morzer

    @Steeplejack:

    If that was what Sessions wanted, he could have simply resigned for health reasons. He hasn’t which tells me he still thinks he can get something out of Trump.

  73. 73.

    SectionH

    @Amir Khalid: That’s actually cool to know, about the old Presidential terms. I know a couple of guys it’ll be fun to pull that bit of trivia on. ;->

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    Imagine if someone, say, threw a bucket of “menstrual blood” on old Rushbo…..

    They’d be killed “resisting arrest” for the crime of being a person of color attacking a white person.

  75. 75.

    TenguPhule

    @Aleta:

    All of you who haven’t skimmed money from pediatric cancer hospitals can cast the first stone.

    So, slings of death it is then.

  76. 76.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady:

    They’re not at war with the media and they’re not at war with the first amendment; they’re at war with reality itself.

    And worst of all, they appear to be winning for now.

  77. 77.

    Jim Parish

    @SectionH: For more trivia: there have been two full presidential terms which were less than four years long: Washington’s first, and FDR’s first. (The former, just because it started late, and the latter because of the passage of the 20th amendment, shifting Inauguration Day from March to January.)

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