He issued a threat of retribution against Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post. Retribution, as defined, includes some form of severe punishment.
We know that many U.S. presidents have had contentious relationships with the media and have lashed out and struck back at its members when they felt that the media went over the top in reporting. But which of them ever went so far as to declare a war against the entire profession? This kind of behavior and use of venomous language against the media is unprecedented in modern U.S. history. Presidents should be above that; he's not.
Let's talk about this media's faults and shortcomings to determine why its approval ratings, currently about 32%, are so very low. Yes, there are those who make unproven accusations against Mr. Trump and his administration, as well as others who practice ways to put a negative spin on various situations.
What I see as less than objective, meaningful journalism can be found in these two examples: first let's take the highly important issue involving the ongoing GOP debate on repealing Obamacare. What we see on many shows is the old worn out discussions in which there are three or four chosen participants on one side of the host and the same number on the other.
Typically, those on one side totally support the GOP plan and those on the other say that it will be a disaster. Nothing is ever resolved and we continue to see one show after another that tells us nothing of significance. The shows' managements should initiate discussions involving highly qualified experts in various segments of the healthcare field that would explore this issue in depth and exchange ideas to try to come up with a really effective system for the American people.
The very same thing should be done on any number of important issues that need to be resolved such as plans to reform the tax code, immigration reform, the creation of jobs, or a program to rebuild the nation's infrastructure. But this media continues to present these long winded, boring discussions instead of in-depth ones; and this is one of the main reasons why the American people are fed up with much of this kind of shallow, so-called journalism.
After going over this media's many shortcomings let's also give credit where credit is due. Over the years, from the Watergate scandal to the Vietnam War, to many other important events, the media has done an excellent job in exposing government actions that were entirely unjustifiable. Many government officials and politicians who have done illegal or immoral things have been exposed and have been run out of the government.
There are various elements of the media that are zealous watchdogs over what this government does. Some have paid a high price for refusing to back down from intimidation. They have been threatened with severe punishment if they continued to monitor and report on situations where the government was out of order. So let's not totally condemn the media and call it all bad or incompetent when that is not the case.
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