William H. McRaven, a retired four-star admiral and former Navy SEAL, defended journalists this week, calling President Trump’s denunciation of the media as “the enemy of the American people” the “greatest threat to democracy” he’s seen in his lifetime.
—Washington Post, ‘Greatest threat to democracy’: Commander of bin Laden raid slams Trump’s anti-media sentiment
Amen to that. But Stephen Bannon disagrees.
Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s reclusive chief strategist and the intellectual force behind his nationalist agenda, said Thursday that the new administration is locked in an unending battle against the media and other globalist forces to “deconstruct” an outdated system of governance.
In his first public speaking appearance since Trump took office, Bannon made his comments alongside White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at a gathering of conservative activists.
….
“They’re going to continue to fight,” Bannon said of the media, which he repeatedly described as “the opposition party,” and other forces he sees as standing in the president’s way. “If you think they are giving you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken.”
Atop Trump’s agenda, Bannon said, was the “deconstruction of the administrative state” — meaning a system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president and his advisers believe stymie economic growth and infringe upon one’s sovereignty.
….
Bannon and Priebus advanced the administration’s war against the media in a joint appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where they were interviewed on stage by Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the gathering. Last week, Trump tweeted an extraordinary condemnation of the media, calling news organizations “the enemy of the American People.”
….
Bannon picked up that theme Thursday in his remarks at CPAC: “They’re corporatist, globalist media that are adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like Donald Trump has.
—-The Washington Post, Bannon: Trump administration is in unending battle for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’
If you are interested, here is a video of Bannon and Priebus at the conference.
sorry no comment – but must say, since I stopped listening a lot to the radio, and for some less of news online – there has been less of this American politicking surfacing (well at least to me) like the fanfare is slowing…
In the past I didn’t pay much attention to politics, but this is different. I’m curious to see how it all plays out,
i hope we’re not seeing the birth of a dictatorship right under our very noses.
it all seems to fit.
perhaps that’s what he means when he speaks of it all working for him like a well oiled wheel so far! (nobody else sees it that way that i know of!)
and i imagine some ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’ might well be needed. but the blanket overall meaning of it when said by bannon and trump is rather uncomfortable.
and i only wish our cathy could be right about it slowing down HERE as well.
here it will be going on forever!!!
he said well oiled machine. not wheel. I never get ‘sayings’ right the first time! NEVER. it’s very weird. but true. a personal phenomenon.
going to bed now. one can take just so much POTUS in one day. LOL.
Trump’s authoritarian streak, of course, is the concern. What are the forces opposing that and will they be enough? That’s why he’s attacking the press so much, and not letting the New York Times and others attend the press briefing yesterday. I’m more curious than upset right now, so I will write about it from time to time.
The first thing a potential dictator needs is a compliant media that will say what he wants them to say and give him guaranteed support. Which is why Trump is going all-out to bring the media into line. I only hope they’re strong enough to resist him and keep on criticising him regardless.
Another reason for attacking the media is because some of his supporters love him doing that. Before the election he learned that they responded as well to his attacks on the media as they did his attacks on Clinton and the political elites.
The British national anthem may need to be shipped to the USA to end with “The USA!”
😀