Donald Trump incites violence. He did so when he began a birther campaign that explicitly targeted black Americans. He did so when he presented himself as someone above the law. He told people he could shoot someone in the middle of Manhattan and get away with it. It was dictatorial speech then but only a few with a sense of history warned the rest of us.

Beyond talk

Now Trump is squarely in the enterprise of inciting violence in explicit and fearful ways. Not only that as the Business article I am posting below makes clear. He has also spawned imitators while encouraging existing media to expand their efforts to spread fear and hate.

The respect we would like to show a president is not possible for this person. Here is one of the most salient reasons.

Trump literally cried fire in a crowded theater. He had a partisan crowd that applauded and chanted at his every word. It was a chilling display of dictatorial bravado. According to Ruttenberg, the president is "significantly adding to what is, without question, the worst anti-press atmosphere I’ve seen in 25 years." He adds that "reall, chilling consequences have surfaced, not just in the United States, but around the world.

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If you do not believe this, here is corroboration.

The Repression of journalists is aided and abetted by things as seemingly minor as calling reliable reports fake news and retweeting Trump's frequent, unproven attacks on media outlets.

In Phoenix video of Trump proved that he was not merely critical but inciting, pointing out journalists in the venue to an angered crowd.

Media wannabes

Trump has himself been rumored to want to create a network. So has Steve Bannon. As mainstream media are swallowed up by big corporations and cutting their staffs, we see Sinclair on the march to become yet another right ring media giant.

Ruttenberg saves perhaps the most banal and dangerous item for last. Trump has an imitator. His name is known only because he launched his Trump-like fame quest with what the NYT writer calls an outrageous price for drugs in a company he was running. Now he is spawning sites to attack specific journalists.

The US is a country where if you have a name and look presentable you can buy almost anything with borrowed money and if you go bankrupt that is just the cost of doing business.

Repressive enterprise

Donald Trump ran as a business man when people like Mitt Romney warned that he was a con artist. He has had business associations with the likes of mob-related Felix Sater. With Sater as with Russia, Trump now claims no contact.

We have a man in the White House whose heroes are dictators inciting crowds at rallies to torment journalists. Is anybody minding the store?
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