When Donald Trump was talking to the news back in January about Michael Flynn's Russian links, he would not talk about the national security advisor's stepping down, instead – worryingly – focusing on the manner in which information had been leaked to the journalists in the room.
In this way, Trump – ever the master communicator/manipulator and truth distorter – tried to make the issue one of media libel laws, not about the integrity of his own administration.
“The first thing I thought of when I heard about it is, how does the press get this information that’s classified?
How do they do it?" The President then talked about the 'illegal process' of the press and how they 'should be ashamed of themselves.'
Yes, that's right. The President has just fired one of his top people for allegedly being in contact with #Russia, and yet he instead decides to go after the press.
Dictators usually start their tenures by trying to scrap the press and control the messages getting out. This is the sort of approach that Hitler took in the 1930's, with a #Nazi Party-owned publishing house that drove out competition through various means of propaganda and control. There was even a #Propaganda Ministry that managed and executed all such operations. We need to be sure that the #press remains free.
