- The definition of fascism is: fas·cism / ˈfaSHˌizəm/
noun: fascism; noun: Fascism; plural noun: Fascisms
An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
synonyms: authoritarianism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, despotism, autocracy;
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Nazism, rightism;
Nationalism, xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism;
Jingoism, isolationism;
Neofascism, neo-Nazism
“A film depicting the rise of fascism in the 1930s”
(In general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.
- The definition of dictatorship is: dic·ta·tor·ship / dikˈtādərˌSHip,ˈdiktādərˌSHip/
noun: dictatorship; government by a dictator. “forty years of dictatorship”
synonyms: absolute rule, undemocratic rule, despotism, tyranny, autocracy, autarchy, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, fascism;
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oppression, repression
“growing up in the shadow of dictatorship”
a country governed by a dictator.
Antonyms (a word opposite in meaning to another (e.g., bad and good).): democracy
- Trump is a cross between Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon (because he was a crook and because the Watergate scandal is similar to currant day occurrences), Ronald Reagan (because he was a populist and a reverse Robin Hood; there were millions more poor people during his 8 years in office than there were before he got into office and because the Iran–Contra scandal is similar to currant day occurrences), the “Segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. And segregation forever.” guy, Governor George Wallace, (because he was a racist with a similar message who incited violence at his campaign rallies although Trump is not a segregationist he is xenophobic) and Hitler (because he was a fascist dictator who was elected at first too). Trump embodies the combination of the worst qualities of the worst leaders.
- One of Trump’s people said and I quote “The Powers of the President are very substantial and Will Not Be Questioned”, that’s a fascist dictator, Trump is a fascist dictator, also known as autocracy, he thinks he can do and get away with anything he feels like because he is the President whether it’s legal or not. And Trump has some of his family working for him, that’s what fascist dictators normally do, despite the fact that there are nepotism laws. Trump gets around the nepotism laws by not having them take salaries. But I’m sure that they will more than make up for that with huge profits in one thing or another.
- Trump is a racist and an anti Semite even though he lied and said he didn’t know anything about white supremacist. He was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke. And let’s not forget that he’s a misogynistic sexist also. Trump even fired the first woman and second African American White House chief usher, Angella Reid, with no reason given. Now why do you think Trump did that? But not to worry Trump replaced her with a man, Timothy Harleth. The new White House chief usher had been working as the director of rooms at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. before becoming the chief usher. The chief usher runs the executive mansion, overseeing its staff and all major events at the residence and working closely with the first family. I’m guessing that he is not African American.
The head of one of the world’s biggest drug companies quit a presidential business panel as a result, saying he was taking a stand against intolerance and extremism. Critics slammed Trump for waiting too long to address the bloodshed, as well as for initially saying that “many sides” were involved, instead of singling out the white supremacists widely seen as sparking the melee. Several senators from his own Republican party had harsh words for him.
Some 48 hours into the biggest domestic challenge of his young presidency, Trump tried to correct course. “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,” the president said in a statement to reporters at the White House on Monday (August 14th 2017). “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence,” he said.
A 20-year-old man said to have harbored Nazi sympathies was facing charges he plowed his car into protesters opposing the white nationalists, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 people. The accused, James Fields, was denied bail at a court hearing on Monday (August 14th 2017).
Trump said anyone who engaged in criminal behavior at the rally would face justice, the Republican president said. “I wish that he would have said those same words on Saturday,” responded Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia on MSNBC. “I’m disappointed it took him a couple of days.” As the chorus of outrage over Virginia grew louder on Sunday, Trump stayed silent on the matter while at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
On All In with Chris Hayes ‘Nazis are bad’ should be the easiest gimme in American politics, says Asawin Suebsaeng, politics reporter for the Daily Beast.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow looks at the deadly racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in the context of other instances of white supremacist violence in the modern era, as well as what makes the weekend’s tragic events unique.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Mayor Michael Signer of Charlottesville, Virginia, talks with Rachel Maddow about how his city is dealing with the tragic consequences of white supremacist violence, and how he hopes his community can move forward.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow shares a look at some of the anti-hate, anti-nazi protests and rallies that took place around American in reaction to the tragic white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Carol Anderson, chair of African-American studies at Emory University, talks with Rachel Maddow about how the affliction of white supremacy in American culture is like a drug addiction that ultimately hurts everyone.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Lawrence O’Donnell argues that no matter what President Donald Trump said, he will always be the white supremacists’ favorite candidate. This time the movement claimed the life of Heather Heyer.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell The events in Charlottesville, VA, this weekend left the nation wondering: How could this happen in 2017? Isabel Wilkerson, author of “The Warmth of Other Suns,” joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss the racist undercurrent that’s been with the U.S. since its birth.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell In an exclusive interview, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore joins Lawrence O’Donnell to react to this weekend’s violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and the murder of Heather Heyer. He doubles down on his commitment to resisting Trump.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Trump’s response to the violence Charlottesville received widespread condemnation except for leaders of the alt-right and white supremacist groups. Our panel reacts to the latest.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Critics say Trump’s response to Charlottesville was too little, too late. Presidential historian & author Jon Meacham and Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page react.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams After his initial response blaming violence and hatred in Charlottesville ‘on many sides,’ Trump’s stronger condemnation still has some in his party saying it’s too little, too late.
The president tried to brush past questions about the alt-right, a term embraced by a segment of Trump’s base, and quickly tried to turn attention to the other side. “What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?” Trump asked. “What about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.”
It was a fierce reversal that unwound much of the damage control Trump’s aides had pushed in recent days. Trump’s initial remarks — the president on Saturday condemned displays of bigotry, hatred and violence that occurred “on many sides” — were widely criticized for seeming to equate violence from white supremacists with counter-protesters.
It wasn’t until Monday (August 14th 2017) that Trump issued a new statement, declaring racism “evil” and forcefully condemning hate groups by name. But on Tuesday (August 15th 2017) he rejected that revision and doubled down on his initial approach. Trump cast himself as a cautious, fact-focused president, insisting that despite his history of celebrating vicious attacks or jumping the gun by offering speculation before law enforcement confirmed the facts, he was simply reserving judgment until the full story unfolded. “Before I make a statement, I need the facts. So I don’t wanna rush into a statement,” Trump explained. “So making the statement when I made it was excellent.”
Trump described the “alt-left” as a “very, very violent” group that charged at protesters without a permit to even assemble in Charlottesville. He reiterated that he condemned hate groups but argued that not everyone was a white supremacist or neo-Nazi. And there were “very fine people on both sides,” he added. “Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee,” Trump said. “So this week it’s Robert E. Lee. I notice that Stonewall Jackson’s coming down. I wonder: Is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, ‘Where does it stop?'”
Trump said he wouldn’t change a thing about his approach. “There was no way of making a correct statement that early. I had to see the facts, unlike a lot of reporters,” he said. “I didn’t know David Duke was there. I wanted to see the facts.”
Okay, so Trump flipped then he flopped then he flipped back again. Basically Trump showed his racism. Then someone wrote a speech for Trump to read with the correct words and everybody said well it’s 2 days late but at least he finally said it, but Trump could only stick with the good speech for 1 day and no more. Then Trump went right back to not only showing his racism but doubling down on that. And if you were surprised by any of this then you have not been paying attention.
On All In with Chris Hayes According to Reverend Traci Blackmon, who protested the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, the president was lying when he defended the behavior of the alt right marchers and blamed “both sides” for the violence.
On All In with Chris Hayes Since the violent protests in Charlottesville, lawmakers across the south are ramping up efforts to get rid of Confederate monuments in their cities. Reverend Dr. William Barber and Representative Stacey Abrams weigh in.
On All In with Chris Hayes In the wake of Donald Trump’s comments about Charlottesville, Joy Reid asks historian Jon Meacham: has he done permanent damage to the office of the presidency?
On The Rachel Maddow Show Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian, talks with Rachel Maddow about how far afield Donald Trump is from the American president’s function as a role model of responsible, moral leadership.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Congresswoman Karen Bass, part of the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump’s coddling of racist extremists emboldens white supremacist actions in the future.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Donald Trump went off script with the media, blaming “both sides” for Charlottesville – shocking his staff and drawing bipartisan criticism (except from white supremacists, who praised his remarks). Eugene Robinson and Yamiche Alcindor join Lawrence O’Donnell.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Trump’s media availability drew intense criticism from the right. Former GOP Representative David Jolly says today may be the start of a primary movement to replace Trump. He joins Lawrence O’Donnell and Jarvis DeBerry to discuss Trump’s long pattern of bigoted behavior.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Donald Trump is defending efforts to preserve confederate statues like the one of General Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville. Lawrence O’Donnell looks back at the legacy of the man who was indicted for treason and led the Confederate Army.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Shocking his staff & the nation, Trump again blamed ‘both sides’ for Charlottesville violence eliciting praise from white supremacists. Michael Steele, Ashley Parker, & Robert Costa join.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams During his inflammatory remarks on Charlottesville, Trump said not all those at the demonstrations were white supremacists. Jon Meacham & Steve Schmidt react to Trump’s comments.
On All In with Chris Hayes After Trump’s defense of white nationalists, two officials who left the administration weigh the moral stakes for those who remain.
On All In with Chris Hayes The Republican Party is responsible for Donald Trump, says Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, but doesn’t know how to possess or disown him.
On All In with Chris Hayes Donald Trump said some of them are ‘very fine people.’ So who exactly are the participants in the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville?
On All In with Chris Hayes Frederick Douglass, who according to Donald Trump is being ‘recognized more and more,’ wrote an essay re-published by The Atlantic today on how to deal with ‘A Treacherous President who Stood in the Way.’
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow shares a new report from The New York Times that Donald Trump’s lawyer forwarded an e-mail arguing no difference between Robert E. Lee and George Washington.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow notes that contrary to expectations and the indications of a lot of sternly worded condemnations, no members of the Trump team actually resigned in the wake of his comments on the racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Congress can do more than the bare minimum of tweeting condemnation of racism to address the actual problem with legislation.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks with Rachel Maddow about how best to anticipation and counter the political ambitions of racist groups emboldened by succor from Donald Trump.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Mayor William Bell of Birmingham, Alabama talks with Rachel Maddow about his decision to cover up the city’s Confederate Memorial and the legal pushback from the state for doing so.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Donald Trump has divided the country in his mind Lawrence O’Donnell argues, between those who voted for him, and those who didn’t. Now, he’s continuing to divide the country and even the people who once supported Trump are starting to call it quits.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Two of the president’s business councils were in tatters following his latest remarks on Charlottesville. The business community has had enough with Trump, but have his supporters? Christina Greer, Rashad Robinson, and David Cay Johnston join Lawrence O’Donnell.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Republican Governor John Kasich called Trump’s response to Charlottesville “pathetic” but congressional Republicans are struggling to criticize the president. Former Republican and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George Will joins Lawrence O’Donnell.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Trump’s business councils are no more after CEOs jumped ship and his staff is reportedly on edge after his latest Charlottesville comments. Our panel reacts.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump’s lawyer John Dowd forwarded to journalists, government officials & friends an email with language likening Robert E. Lee to George Washington.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams In a new editorial taking on Trump for his latest Charlottesville comments, the USA Today Editorial Board said Republicans should join Democrats in Congress to censure Trump.
On All In with Chris Hayes CEOs and lawmakers have broken with Trump over his Charlottesville response, but this isn’t the first time he’s stoked racial divisions.
On All In with Chris Hayes ‘What did you think you were getting’ with Donald Trump, asks Charlie Sykes of Trump supporters in the wake of the president’s comments about Charlottesville.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow rounds up some of the military-related stories in the news, including the U.S. service chiefs speaking out in condemnation of racism and hate, and notes that in the U.S. military it is illegal to be a nazi scumbag.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Veteran journalist and former LBJ press secretary Bill Moyers compares the Trump presidency to the Johnson administration. He tells Lawrence O’Donnell why Trump’s reaction to the removal of Confederate statues demonstrates the president’s consistent inconsistency.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams As Trump lashes out against two key senators in his party, two other GOP senators question his stability, competence, & moral authority. Eli Stokols, Katy Tur, & Jason Johnson react.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Using both Nazi & white supremacist imagery, The New Yorker, The Economist, and TIME are using their latest covers to call out Trump on Charlottesville. Rick Stengel & Gillian Tett react.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams NBC News Presidential Historian and author Michael Beschloss discusses Trump’s controversial and inflammatory reaction to the violence in Charlottesville.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Mitt Romney said Donald Trump’s words caused “racists to rejoice” as another one of Donald Trump’s advisory boards saw mass resignations over his Charlottesville rhetoric. Jon Fasman of The Economist and former Bush senior aide Peter Wehner join Ali Velshi.
On All In with Chris Hayes The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities quit en masse on Friday – but Trump insisted he was the one doing the dumping.
On All In with Chris Hayes Presidential arts committee members resigned en masse because “we don’t want to be complicit,” said former committee member Kal Penn.
On All In with Chris Hayes Thing 1/Thing 2: Icahn claims he is leaving with Trump’s blessing , but the timing is notable as organizations and business leaders cut ties with the Trump administration in droves this week following the president’s defense of white supremacists.
- His senior advisor, Steve Bannon (who’s also known as Trump’s brain, the manipulator-in-chief and President Bannon) basically Trumps right hand man, is a racist, a xenophobic and an anti Semite who wants to destroy the government or as Steve Bannon phrases it “the deconstruction of the administrative state” and that is just what they are doing. And let’s not forget that he’s a misogynistic sexist also.
On All In with Chris Hayes Thing 1/Thing 2: Donald Trump is facing growing calls to oust Steve Bannon – and things aren’t looking good for the White House chief strategist.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Trump is facing growing calls to fire former Breitbart boss Steve Bannon, especially after the violence in Charlottesville. Former Republican member of Congress David Jolly reacts.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams As calls continue to grow for Steve Bannon to be fired, the president seemed to distance himself from his controversial aide during his inflammatory comments on Charlottesville.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams In a new interview with Axios, Trump aide Steve Bannon called Trump’s Charlottesville remarks a ‘defining moment’ of the Trump presidency. Eugene Robinson & Jonathan Swan discuss.
Mr. Bannon’s exit, the latest in a string of high-profile West Wing shake-ups, came as Mr. Trump is under fire for saying that “both sides” were to blame for the deadly violence at a Virginia rally last week. Critics of Mr. Bannon accused the president of channeling his chief strategist when he equated white supremacists and neo-Nazis with the left-wing protesters who opposed them.
“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.”
A caustic presence in a chaotic West Wing, Mr. Bannon frequently clashed with the president’s other aides as they fought over trade, the war in Afghanistan, taxes, immigration and the role of government. In an interview this week, Mr. Bannon mocked his colleagues, including Gary D. Cohn, one of the president’s chief economic advisers, saying they were “wetting themselves” out of a fear of radically changing trade policy.
Mr. Trump had recently grown weary of Mr. Bannon, complaining to other advisers that he believed his chief strategist had been leaking information to reporters and was taking too much credit for the president’s successes. The situation had become untenable, according to advisers close to Mr. Trump who were urging the president to remove Mr. Bannon — and, in turn, people close to Mr. Bannon were urging him to step down — long before Friday.
Mr. Bannon’s removal is a victory for Mr. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general whose mission is to impose discipline on White House personnel. Yet Mr. Bannon may still prove to be a confidant for the president, offering advice and counsel from the outside, much like other former advisers who still frequently consult with Mr. Trump. Mr. Bannon, in particular, had formed a philosophical alliance with Mr. Trump and they shared an unlikely chemistry.
Despite his ideological similarities with Bannon, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller is seen as safe. He joined the campaign long before Bannon and has his own relationships with the president and other senior advisers. He has also distanced himself from Bannon in recent weeks.
Bannon — the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, a fiery, hard-right news site that has gone to war with the Republican establishment — for months was locked in a long and tortuous battle with senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and a coterie of like-minded senior aides, many with Wall Street ties.
Bannon had been expecting to be cut loose from the White House, people close to him said. One of them explained that Bannon was resigned to that fate and is determined to continue to advocate for Trump’s agenda on the outside.
On All In with Chris Hayes Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii reacts to Steve Bannon’s departure from the White House and Donald Trump’s behavior this week following his defense of white supremacists in Charlottesville.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow reviews some of Donald Trump’s weird staff picks, many of whom, it turns out, are united by a connection to Russia, but Steve Bannon, though also a weird choice, has a different explanation for how he got there.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Jane Mayer, staff writer for The New Yorker, talks with Rachel Maddow about the role of Robert Mercer in funding Donald Trump and Breitbart, and what he might do next with Steve Bannon out of the white House.
On The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Just hours after it was announced he was out of the administration, Steve Bannon gave an interview where he said the Trump presidency is “over,” and he’s already back at Breitbart. Ali Velshi discusses with Steve Schmidt, Jonathan Capeheart, and Wil Hylton.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Reports are conflicting over whether Steve Bannon was fired or resigned, but now that he’s gone and back at Breitbart, Bannon says he’s ready to ‘crush the opposition. ‘ Our panel discusses.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams In just 30 weeks in office, Trump’s White House has seen a slew of high-profile staffers cut loose. Is this proof the chaos candidate will remain the chaos president? Our panel discusses.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Saying that firing Bannon is just the president is ‘rearranging the deck chairs on the Trump Titanic,’ Hawaii Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono says Trump is the big problem at the White House.
- And his pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, a long time racist that Coretta Scott King wrote a letter against being a judge 30 years ago was sworn in. And let’s not forget that he’s a misogynistic sexist also. And Sessions’ pick for Solicitor general, the attorney that actually goes to court for the government, is a long time segregationist. Other than being a segregationist I know little about him but he’s probably a misogynistic sexist like the rest. Trump once said that Black people have no education, no jobs, no housing, and that every time they leave out their doors (which I don’t know where they are leaving from because if they have no housing then that means they are all homeless so he must mean every time they get up from sleeping on the street) they are all shot at like they are in war zones.
- At his rallies Trump encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his non-supporters, which were mostly African American, and it didn’t seem to matter whether they were male or female, to the point that he once even said that he would pay the legal fees. The only other Presidential candidate to encourage his supporters to commit violence against his non-supporters, which is inciting violence, was Governor George Wallace in his 1968 Presidential campaign, part of what Wallace said in his hateful rhetoric was “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” which would tell you a little bit about him if you don’t remember him. And certainly none of the other Presidential candidates encouraged any violence at their campaign rallies the year that Trump ran for President other than Trump. But no one not even Wallace has ever gone so far as to offer to pay their legal fees before.
- Any time he does something that people don’t like and they complain about it then he blames any and everybody else but himself, he doesn’t take responsibility for anything like a child, he just lies about it and tries to either blame Obama for it even though Obama had nothing to do with it or blame the Democrats or blame the courts (the courts) or blame the media and claim it’s a lie, which it’s not or claim it’s fake news, which it’s not, it’s just Trump lying again. Everybody is lying but Trump and he says it’s “unfair”. Trump even creates his own fake news, for example, a Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs, it’s fake. Sometimes he tries to distract people with something else other than what people are paying attention to, kind of like hey look at the shiny thing over here while he has his people brake into your car and steal all your stuff. On The Rachel Maddow Show Rachel Maddow explains that because Donald Trump does not own or value the presidency, the harm his offensive behavior does to the office and the U.S. generally for political gain is not something he cares about. He only likes the media if one of them asks him nice and easy questions that he likes otherwise he hates them because they expose the truth so he tries to blame them for any and everything he can think of and he calls them “the enemy of the people”, Nixon said “the press is the enemy” and that’s what most fascist dictators say about the media.
And then he tries to use the media to spread propaganda about people he does not like such as immigrants (that’s something Hitler did in the past and other fascist dictators have done and will continue to do). But Nixon was behind closed doors with his crap, Trump is just out in the open with his crap because he’s not smart enough to be behind closed doors with it. Fascist dictators always hate the media because they expose the truth, Hitler hated the media and Putin hates the media, Putin dismantled the media in his country. Trump is on step 1; one of the 1st things that fascist dictators do is try to delegitimize the media one way or another because fascist dictators only want the public to know what the fascist dictator wants the public to know but not the truth, never the truth. That’s why some countries run by fascist dictators have a state run media so the fascist dictators can easily control what the public knows because the fascist dictator is telling the state run media what to say and if they say anything different than what the fascist dictator wants, like the truth, then they end up either in jail or with a bullet in their head, like in Russia and North Korea. Hopefully Trump will not be able to get that far in the US. But after Trump has gotten as far as he has I never say never.
- August 4th 2017 as reported in The New York Times: Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Friday that the Justice Department is pursuing about three times as many leak investigations as were open at the end of the Obama era, a significant devotion of resources to hunt down disclosures that have plagued the Trump administration.Mr. Sessions vowed that the Justice Department would not hesitate to bring criminal charges against people who had leaked classified information. He also announced that the F.B.I. had created a new counterintelligence unit to specialize in such cases. “I strongly agree with the president and condemn in the strongest terms the staggering number of leaks undermining the ability of our government to protect this country,” he said. The announcement by Mr. Sessions comes 10 days after President Trump publicly accused his attorney general of being “very weak” on pursuing these investigations.Mr. Sessions also said he had opened a review of Justice Department rules governing when investigators may issue subpoenas related to the news media and leak investigations. “We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” he said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity.”
The news conference came against the backdrop of repeated pressure by Mr. Trump, in public and in private, for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to search harder for people inside the government who have been telling reporters what was happening behind closed doors.
The Trump administration has been bedeviled by leaks large and small that have brought to light information ranging from White House infighting and the president’s rancorous phone conversations with foreign leaders to what surveillance showed about contacts by Mr. Trump’s associates with Russia — and even what Mr. Trump said to Russian visitors in the Oval Office about his firing of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director.
Not all leaks are illegal, and many of the disclosures about palace intrigue at the White House that have irritated Mr. Trump violated no law. However, the Espionage Act and several other federal laws do criminalize unauthorized disclosures about certain national security information, like surveillance secrets. Officials declined to discuss which specific leaks are under investigation or who the suspects may be.
Several advocacy groups for reporters and First Amendment issues sharply criticized the statements made during the news conference, as did Martin Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post. “Sessions talked about putting lives at risk,” Mr. Baron said. “We haven’t done that. What we’ve done is reveal the truth about what administration officials have said and done. In many instances, our factual stories have contradicted false statements they’ve made.”
Matt Purdy, a deputy managing editor of The New York Times, said: “There’s a distinction between revelations that make the government uncomfortable and revelations that put lives at risk. We have not published information that endangers lives.” The Post and The Times declined to comment about whether the government had contacted them regarding leak investigations.
In a move derided by critics as an attack on the free press, Sessions said the administration was reviewing policies on forcing journalists to reveal their sources. It is, however, difficult to prosecute members of the news media in the United States for publishing leaked information. “One of the things we are doing is reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas,” Sessions told reporters as he announced administration efforts to battle what he called a “staggering number of leaks undermining the ability of our government to protect this country.”
A media subpoena is a writ compelling a journalist to testify or produce evidence, with a penalty for failure to do so. The fact that the administration is reviewing its policy leaves open the possibility of sentencing journalists for not disclosing their sources. “Every American should be concerned about the Trump administration’s threat to step up its efforts against whistleblowers and journalists,” said Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union. “A crackdown on leaks is a crackdown on the free press and on democracy as a whole.”
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told reporters the department was just starting to review the policy on media subpoenas and could not say yet how it might be changed. But he did not rule out the possibility of threatening journalists with jail time.
When a president starts putting the media in jail, especially en masse, that is step 1 to formally and officially being under the rule of a fascist dictator. Trump is a fascist dictator, also known as autocracy. And that is the beginning of the end of the free press and of democracy.
Historically, government employees or contractors who give sensitive information to the media are much more likely to be prosecuted than the reporters who receive it. U.S. regulations give journalists special protections, barring them from law enforcement that might “reasonably impair newsgathering activities.”
Federal prosecutors must get special permission from the U.S. attorney general before issuing a subpoena to try to force a member of the news media to divulge information to authorities. New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed in 2005 for refusing to reveal a source about stories on Iraq, but she cut a deal with prosecutors before she was formally charged. In addressing the wider issue of leaks, Sessions said the Justice Department has tripled the number of investigations into unauthorized leaks of classified information and that four people have already been charged.
It is not illegal to leak information, as such, but divulging classified information is against the law. Some of the more high-profile leaks in the Trump administration have revealed White House infighting in articles that would appear not to involve divulging classified information. Sessions did not immediately give the identities of the four people charged, but said they had been accused of unlawfully disclosing classified information or concealing contacts with foreign intelligence officers.
On The 11th Hour with Brian Williams Charlie Savage and Carrie Cordero talk about the Justice Department’s plan, how it could backfire and Trump’s use of the word “leak.”
On All In with Chris Hayes Good leaks, bad leaks. Which ones are part of the resistance, which ones are a breach of national security? Dan Rather weighs in.
And on top of the general assault of the media now one has to be careful of what channels they are watching. Trump has Trump TV which is basically just propaganda or Trump’s version of state TV. August 7th 2017 as reported in The Washington Post Kayleigh McEnany, who has been plying her trade as a pro-Trump pundit on CNN for a while, jumped ship to the Trump Team over the weekend. And Sunday (August 6th 2017), she debuted a Trump TV segment that she labeled the “real news.” It is real spin, at best. And it feels a lot like real propaganda — or state TV. In her first 90-second segment, McEnany makes a number of questionable claims, most notably about the credit President Trump deserves for continued strong economic growth. In The Washington Post Aaron Blake transcribed the whole segment, with some reality checks interjected.
And Sinclair Broadcast Group is helping that effort with their own version of Trump propaganda taking over your local channels. And you would not be able to tell that Sinclair Broadcast Group has taken over your local channel because they do not brand them like Fox does.
On All In with Chris Hayes The little-known local news giant Sinclair Broadcast Group forces its stations to run right-wing commentary – and it’s poised to get even bigger.
Between Trump attacking the real media and these Trump versions of propaganda or Trump’s version of state TV these are not just assaults on the media but assaults on democracy as a whole.
