A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.
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Friend,

Welcome to our weekly “Trumptastrophe” email series that serves to remind
us all of the destructive policies, decisions, and actions we encountered
during the Trump presidency and the threats that he and others in the MAGA
movement still pose – and to keep those moments clear in our memory as we
fight to defeat Republican extremists during the upcoming elections.

This week’s Trumptastrophe brings into focus how Trump and his MAGA
Republican allies attempt to undermine any media coverage of him that
isn’t favorable to the former president – while he was in office and
during his current reelection campaign:

In mid-February 2017, just weeks after become president, Trump unleashed a
series of attacks on the news media. Attacking the media was a Trump rally
staple, and built on years of rhetoric from far-right organizations urging
conservatives not to trust “the liberal media.” Typically, Trump pushed
things to extremes.

On Feb. 16, Trump “devoted much of a 77-minute news conference to
criticizing his press coverage,” [ [link removed] ]according to the New York Times. Trump
took things even further the next day, tweeting that the “FAKE NEWS media”
is “the enemy of the American people,” adding, “SICK!” In his original
tweet and a revised one sent shortly afterwards, he specifically targeted
The New York Times, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS.

As the Times noted, Trump’s rhetoric “echoed the language of autocrats who
seek to minimize dissent.” Journalist Carl Bernstein responded that Trump
was “demonstrating an authoritarian attitude and inclination that shows no
understanding of the role of the free press.”

The next day, Trump held a campaign-style rally to fire up his supporters
and [ [link removed] ]bask in their adoration. It featured sharp attacks on the news
media, a model he would follow for the rest of his presidency.

A few days later, Trump [ [link removed] ]spoke to right-wing activists at CPAC – the
Conservative Political Action Conference, where he repeated his attacks on
the media and his charge that “fake news” reporters are “very dishonest
people” and “the enemy of the people.”

Trump’s hatred for the non-MAGA news media only grew at the end of his
term, as journalists became more willing to call out his lies, especially
his Big Lie that the election had been stolen from him.

More recently, as Trump has geared up his campaign to return to power,
Trump and his allies have made it clearer than ever that they will follow
the playbook of the foreign strongmen they [ [link removed] ]admire and attack the
freedom and independence of the press:

* In November, Trump used his Truth social platform to attack MSNBC and
call on the government to “[ [link removed] ]come down hard on them” and “make them
pay for their illegal political activity.”
* MAGA activist and [ [link removed] ]former Trump official Kash Patel, expected to
have a senior administration job—possibly as head of the Central
Intelligence Agency—if Trump returns to the White House, echoed his
boss a few weeks later, [ [link removed] ]threatening on Steve Bannon’s podcast that
Trump will “come after” what he called “conspirators” in the media who
“helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.” Patel warned the media,
“We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly,
we’ll figure that out.”
* Boosting the threat of a second Trump term is [ [link removed] ]Project 2025, a
massive project led by the far-right Heritage Foundation and embraced
by almost 100 organizations spanning the MAGA movement and right-wing
religious, political, and legal infrastructure. One major premise of
Project 2025 is to give the president [ [link removed] ]virtually dictatorial power
over the executive branch, including the FBI, Justice Department, and
independent agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, so
that Trump can use them as weapons against his personal and political
enemies, including the media. “What we’re trying to do is identify the
pockets of independence and seize them,” says former Trump official
Russ Vought.
* As Bruce Maiman noted in a HuffPost [ [link removed] ]column:

Control of all federal branches would mean control of the Federal
Communications Commission, which makes and enforces rules for
television, radio and internet companies. You can imagine an effort
to neutralize the power of a media that routinely has exposed
Trump’s well-documented lies and improprieties.

“Domesticating” the media is a priority of autocrats, as is crafting
a compliant judiciary, something Hungary’s Viktor Orbán succeeded in
doing after taking office in 2012. It should surprise no one that in
their 2019 White House meeting, Trump [ [link removed] ]praised Orbán for doing “a
tremendous job in so many different ways.”

* Indeed, MAGA leaders [ [link removed] ]revere the autocratic Orbán, who has
[ [link removed] ]contempt for the very idea of democratic [ [link removed] ]checks and balances,
and Trumpists have expressed their desires for Trump to take down
media and civil society opposition the way Orbán has. At this year’s
CPAC, a main-stage panel is being promoted with the theme, “Going Full
Hungarian.”

These are just some of the reasons we need YOU in this
fight. So, find your
favorite way to unwind after reading through this week’s recap, and then
make a plan for how you will fight back this week, this month, this
election cycle.

For members who are interested in sharing the weekly Trumptastrophe
series, you can [ [link removed] ]find all previous editions on our website! This post
will be published by Thursday so you can share with your friends and
family and remind them of the importance of ensuring that Trump is
defeated again this November.

[ [link removed] ]If you’d like to opt-out of this series but still continue receiving
our other email content, you can do so here >>

Thanks for all that you do to defeat Republican extremism.

– People For the American Way

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