President Trump has taken his battle with the mainstream news media to a new, frightening low, with his indirect encouragement of people who scream obscenities at reporters he doesn’t like.
If you haven’t heard, CNN’s Jim Acosta, a White House correspondent, was the target of obscenities and shouts of “CNN sucks” from Trump supporters at a Trump rally in Tampa on Tuesday.
It was an unsettling scene, as this photo indicates.
Acosta later wrote, “I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.”
In an interview on CNN, when asked for his reaction to the taunting he got on Tuesday, Acosta said: “It felt like we weren’t in America any more…He (Trump) is whipping these crowds up into a frenzy to the point that they really want to come after us…And, honestly, it needs to stop.”
At a White House news briefing today, Acosta gave Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders the opportunity to lessen the rising tension and say the press was not the “enemy of the people,” as Trump has alleged.
She wouldn’t do it. Instead she talked about how the press “continues to ratchet up the verbal assault against the president” and how she herself had been the victim of press attacks, including at the White House correspondents dinner, where comedian Michelle Wolf pummeled her with several low blows.
“I appreciate your passion,” she told Acosta. “I share it. I’ve addressed this question. I’ve addressed my personal feelings. I’m here to speak on behalf of the president. He’s made his comments clear.”
In other words, Trump’s assault on the mainstream media — that is, almost every outlet besides Fox News — will rage on.
Adding to the unease was the emergence at the Tampa rally of a group called QAnon, which a Huffington Post reporter has described as “every conspiracy, all at once — an orchestra tune-up of theories.”
If you’ve heard an orchestra tuning up, you get the picture.
In an opinion piece in today’s Washington Post, an editor named Molly Roberts wrote:
“QAnon isn’t your average story of all-powerful actors exercising complete control over a helpless populace. This time, the heroes are already in charge and, still, the theorists see themselves as victims. Why, even with their man in the Oval Office, do they feel embattled?”
Yet another oddity at the Tampa rally was the presence of a few black people brandishing signs that said, “Blacks for Trump.”
The leader of that group is a wacko named Maurice Symonette, who also goes by Michael Woodside and “Michael The Black Man.” Symonette is associated with a couple of websites that spew a laundry list of conspiracy theories, including one that claims to link Hillary Clinton with the Islamic State. Symonette has been arrested many times and was once charged with conspiring to commit murder. He beat the rap and has now managed to get himself situated two rows behind Trump.
Symonette, front and center, at the Trump rally Tuesday in Tampa
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Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post’s media columnist, had an insightful — and disturbing — piece on Trump’s persistent agitation of his acolytes.
She said Trump is unlikely to call off the dogs because he uses the media as a foil in hopes of undermining the reporting about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of him. His ultimate goal, she said, is to “ward off the negative effects of whatever Mueller finds.”
Sullivan concluded her column with these sentences:
“Defending press rights — and the safety of journalists — would be a sign of real patriotism, as opposed to hypocritical flag-waving.
“That’s a fantasy, of course, given how crucial this coordinated anti-media messaging is for Trump.
“Nevertheless, it would be a way for him to show that he is more than just the president of his base. And it should happen before his hands are splashed with blood.”
Those are strong words. And, yes, blood could flow. What then? Where would we be as a nation?
…So far, Sullivan’s column has drawn more than 3,100 comments — a higher number than I’ve ever seen on any story and a direct reflection of the depth of public concern.
I never envisioned things getting to this place, but it’s time for mainstream reporters covering the White House to beware and be watchful. I fear we are venturing into waves and winds a lot higher than those that sank the duck boat in Branson.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Mad Maxine Waters started all this. Where’s the outrage over her flammable statements? Talk about a wacko.
Agree that high-profile journalists (and low-profile, as witnessed by the recent newsroom shooting) need to be worried. Trump is trying to deflect. That’s painfully obvious. However, the image of journalists and corresponding hatred isn’t being helped by the likes of Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, etc. Throw in Les Moonves and it’s clear there is more stoking the hatred than just Trump’s strategic move to vilify Big Media.
I don’t agree with that at all, Ken. I think the QAnon/Blacks-for-Trump/Make-America-Great-Again crowd are just opportunistic haters, their general frustrations agitated and fueled by the Shark in Chief. He’s created a blood-in-the-water atmosphere, and his hard-core backers are responding to the scent of raw meat.
I truly wish it were not the case. We currently have a lying carpetbagger whose daddy is trying to buy him the 2nd District Conressional seat in Kansas and he may succeed because we do not have an honest broker that the people trust to tell them the truth. So everytime yet another of his character flaws is exposed, he lies about it, yells fake news and daddy runs another $100K of ads.
Bemoaning what is will not change things, what those in the press need to do is ask themselves why such allegations have hit such a responsive chord with the public. I posted the video of Sarah responding to Acosta on my FB page the other day and was stunned by those who were receptive to it. It wasn’t the political activists who responded viscerally to it, it was the everyday folks who just want someone to tell them the truth and be an honest broker and Jim Acosta does not qualify, nor does anyone at CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WAPO, ABC, C-BS, NBC or any major daily anywhere int he country.
The economy is screaming, Trump is standing up to the foreign leaders who have heretofore been taking advantage of us, minority unemployment is at near record lows and all they see from the media day in, day out is hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Trump ate two scoops of ice cream, Russia tried to influence the elections (although it is admitted that he had zero access to any ballots and any real influence is debatable). There have been over 500 incidents of Trump supporters being violently attacked with virtually zero press coverage (but they’re supposed to worry about your health and safety). And if you’re a has been who wants to give your 15 seconds of fame a shot in the arm simply threaten the president, or his family. The other day a Congressional candidate in Oregon called FLOTUS a whore and yet the only reason I know that is because I personally saw the tweet and then later saw it mentioned on FB from a conservative site.
The answer to your concerns is what it has always been, ruthless objectivity. Real journalism is worth its weight in gold, but not when it has to struggle to be recognized through mounds of hateful propaganda from the same outlet. America desperately needs honest brokers if the polarization is ever to go away, but if the media continues on its present course, violence is sure to follow.
You forgot to mention Fox News doesn’t qualify to tell them the truth either, or maybe you didn’t forget.
Trump, the man who would drain the swamp is also the man who wouldn’t show you his income tax returns (and lied about the reason why), trash-talked a veteran who was a prisoner of war for five years (while he himself dodged the draft because of temporary bone-spur complaints), and at a presidential debate had to be told what the nuclear triad was.*
Maybe violence is inevitable as you suggest, but it will not be caused by the media. I think it will ultimately be traced back to the seemingly purposeful ignorance of people who voted for, and support, a lying, dishonorable, and stupid man, as president.
*Fun aside: Think about how this man who didn’t know what the nuclear triad was is the same man who spent two hours alone with the former head of the Russian intelligence services…and, oh, more fun, we have no idea what was said and what he agreed to.