Trump's War With the Media

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was a smart guy. Trump, not so much. Trump spent his first weekend as leader of what used to be called the "Free World" pitching the most easily provable and most completely unnecessary lie in history.

That Obama's inaugural crowd was much bigger than Trump's is a notable but not very important fact. In a normal world, partisans like me would play it up for a few days but most people would see it and let it quietly pass into history.

Not Trump. Saturday, he went to the CIA to deliver a bizarre speech attacking the news media which I'm sure left the assembled spies attending thinking, "who the fuck cares?"

Also on Saturday, Trump sent his spokeslackey out to angrily berate reporters for not calling it the bestest inauguration ever. He proceeded to make a series of ludicrous statement that were all petty fabrications.


Today, Kellyanne Conway went on Meet The Press to declare that "alternative facts" are better than true facts.

Napoleon knew better than to go to war with the press. He cultivated them. Trump has opened hostilities with journalists who are part of a 200 year history of an aggressively adversarial press. This first round definitely goes to the media.