President Donald Trump has professed his love for Kim Jong-un and has praised Vladimir Putin as a “strong leader,” yet he has repeatedly referred to our press corps as “the enemy of the people.”
Like the autocrats he admires, President Trump has no respect for a free press, which is guaranteed to us by our First Amendment, prohibiting the government from interfering with the expression of opinion and dissemination of ideas and information.
As a card-carrying member of the press, I recently attended a dinner hosted by the Foreign Press Association, where supporters of its foundation awarded scholarships to five women journalists. A Bombay martini and an abundance of hors d'oeuvres launched the evening for me, so I put my investigative abilities to good use and went in search of our country’s “enemies.”
What I found were a group of hardworking people who don’t make a lot of money but pursue journalism because they love what they do and take great pride in reporting facts to their readers. One of the five scholarship recipients was a young woman who covers environmental and health issues. From our brief discussion, I saw that she understands the importance of truth in a story and I’m positive that as she gains more experience, she’ll also grasp the value of an open bar and an endless number of appetizers on silver trays followed by a multi-course meal with two entrees.
Her scholarship was underwritten by companies that understand the importance of a free press. Bayer, Western Union, Johnson & Johnson, and Skybridge Capital were some of the companies supporting the foundation, and Anthony Scaramucci (Skybridge) made a brief speech where he said, “I encourage you all to keep pushing.”
There is nothing wrong with being a pushy journalist, yet Donald Trump refuses to accept this, perhaps because he expects total compliance from everyone, including the press. I’m sure that when Trump ran his family business, the entire staff cowered when he issued an order or genuflected after he made a mundane proclamation, but the press doesn’t work for Donald Trump.
After a lifetime of being surrounded by sycophants, it must be infuriating for Trump to be challenged by Jim Acosta.
Journalists often refer to someone with his aggressive style as a “bulldog,” and his detractors consider him to be a grandstander, so Acosta is certainly not the paradigm for our profession. Acosta is always the loudest dog in the pack, so Trump purposely chose to make an example of him by revoking his hard pass, but it didn’t work.
Ironically, after a week of lecturing the press on proper decorum, yesterday Trump referred to Congressman Adam Schiff as “Schitt.” As he often does, Trump once again let his childish behavior prove that he is the enemy of anyone who offers dissenting opinions that disagree with his intractable beliefs.
Rob Taub has enjoyed an eclectic career in film, television, radio, and journalism. He has interviewed everyone from pop stars to presidents and he has written more than 250 articles for People Magazine, FoxNews.com, SI/Cauldron, The Huffington Post, and Thrive Global. Rob is a respected Diabetes Advocate and Obesity Ambassador, writing and speaking regularly about Type 2 diabetes and health. Follow him on Twitter @robmtaub or at www.RobTaub.com. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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