Donald Trump is engaging in a dangerous game that threatens the very fabric of our representative democracy.
He now is planning to hand out a “Fake News Award” to media outlets he says are putting out phony news stories.
This is where the president threatens the core of our system of government.
He refuses to accept the role of a free and unrestricted media in this society of ours. Preceding presidents have accepted that the media do their job by keeping public officials accountable. Their acceptance comes from politicians of both political parties. Republicans and Democrats who have served as president have known what Trump willingly ignores, which is that the media are part of our nation’s fabric.
Trump, though, keeps yapping and yammering about “fake news.” Even some of his contemporary politicians have implored him to cease the fake news mantra.
That won’t stop him. Nothing stops the president from popping off. Nothing seems to sink in.
Meanwhile, he threatens one of the tenets of a free society, which is that the media play a role in keeping politicians’ honest.
The president has become the bully in chief.
Unbecoming.