Trump's Agenda: Erase Everything About Barack Obama, Then Others, Then Wing It

Trump Team or Kangaroo Court

Next on Chopping Block

May Be Approved (Again)

Policy Poster for W/H

FACT: The Trump crew (lead by The Donald himself) hate the media and immigrants from south of the U.S. (and pretty much elsewhere) even more so now as he makes final plans to “build the wall.” Seems in the early days so far that they have already adopted the Latin American Handbook for Dictators. Cite these two recent events:

WASHINGTON (NY TIMES)  — President Donald Trump used his first full day in office on Saturday (January 21^st) to unleash a remarkably bitter attack on the news media, falsely accusing journalists of both (1) inventing a rift between him and intelligence agencies and (2) deliberately understating the size of his inauguration crowd.

In a visit to the CIA (past CIA stories here) was intended to showcase his support for the intelligence community he previously had ignored by his own repeated public statements criticizing the intelligence community – a group at one time he compared to Nazis just over a week ago.

[…there] he also called journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” and he said “that up to 1.5 million people had attended his inauguration,” a claim that photographs disproved.

Later, at the White House, he dispatched Sean Spicer, the (new) press secretary, to the briefing room in the West Wing, where Spicer scolded reporters and made a series of false statements.

Spicer said news organizations had deliberately misstated the size of the crowd at Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Friday in an attempt to sow divisions at a time when Mr. Trump was trying to unify the country, warning that the new administration would hold them to account.

Now what I wanted to post today ties in the above and believe it or not this article from 2003. See if you agree with it or not, in part or not. Either way, it makes for a good analysis:

“The manual for the perfect Latin American dictator has always had a full chapter of media censorship. Silencing the press is a crucial first step towards eliminating freedom of expression and democracy. “It used to be easier to determine where censorship was imposed. The caudillos, or dictators, so prevalent for much of the 20th century, did it openly.

“Now many of their successors, some elected in fraudulent elections and others who have maneuvered laws to remain in power indefinitely, do so with laws that promote the media to censor themselves or face jail or multi-million dollar fines.

“The new way of censoring the press was perfected by the Cuban Revolution in its early days. Newspapers, radio and television stations were expropriated by the government, and soon all the media was controlled by the Castro dictatorship.

“Censorship in Cuba was not a Castro invention, however. Strong men in power before the revolution imposed it when times were bad and lifted it when times improved. That is no more. Cuba has not had a free press for over 50 years, and all those who try to use the digital revolution to get their views hears are closely monitored, beaten up or jailed.

“According to the Inter-American Press Association, Cuba is the worst offender; but other countries, particularly those who belong to ALBA (an acronym for Bolivian Alliance for the Americas in Spanish) also censor the media. The oppression comes in different forms, but the goal is the same – prevent the media from seriously criticizing the government. The six major ALBA nations – Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina – are the worst offenders after Cuba. Each writes laws to limit the press. These laws are tailor-made, said Julio Muñoz, IAPA's Executive Director.”

Story continues at the article link.

My analysis: Let’s face it, many people contend and numerous historical events prove that squashing the media, or making them smaller, irrelevant, or petty is the first step to dictatorship. But, it can’t happen in the United States some say – ha!  Better take a closer look and pay attention.

Anyway, I thought the timing of all we have seen just in these few early days of this new administration makes it a worthy topic to monitor tied to the Latin American angle.

As they say: “Time will tell,” or better yet, as Pope Francis said recently about the Trump administration in three words: “Wait and see.” I totally agree.

Thanks for coming by.