As conservatives again game the ref by whining without proof that Facebook is targeting them instead of targeting all news organizations (which is what they are doing), President Trump is actually targeting The Washington Post.
Trump is abusing his powers as president in what should be an impeachable way with his targeting of Amazon because of the accurate reporting by The Post, reporting that resulted in a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of Trump’s misleading claims about donations to charities. Trump treats the press like they are his adversaries, but they are only his adversaries because he is violating ethical standards, norms, and is under investigation for possibly colluding with Russia in their attack of war on this country. So, “adversary” means “reporting what Trump is doing” in this case.
Amazon shares plunged on Wednesday, losing more than $30 billion off of its market value, after Axios (also owned by Jeff Bezos) reported that President Trump wanted to curb Amazon’s power.
Thursday, Trump again targeted Amazon in an attempt to undermine The Washington Post, which is privately owned by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. He also tried to prove he wasn’t targeting them over their coverage of him, but given his feverish penchant for abusing his power to fire people who try to tell the truth, investigate him in any way or deal with the world rationally, the claim falls flat.
“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump (this tweet doesn’t read like it was written by the President; it reads more like an attempt at damage control by someone who understands the damage he is doing by the appearance of abusing his power) wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Yes, it’s true that before the election, Trump also lashed out at reporters who covered him accurately, including his years long harassment of a woman reporter, calling a woman reporter a “c*nt” to her boss, and more. What he doesn’t seem to grasp is that doing those things as a private citizen is not the same thing as doing them from the bully pulpit of the unmatched power of the President of the U.S.
But here’s just a sliver of the Trump as president pique aimed at the New York Times and The Washington Post:
Thr coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017
…dwindling subscribers and readers.They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2017
As Reuters’ Lisa Lambert pointed out, “Trump’s claims about Amazon’s state and local tax payments have been met with skepticism. While the company was once criticized for attempting to skirt state sales taxes, it currently has a reputation as a leader in collecting the levies, which can vary from state to state.
Legally pursuing Amazon could affect more than its share price, which was largely steady after Trump’s tweet. Amazon is currently in the process of establishing a $5 billion second headquarters which could bring 50,000 new jobs to the location it selects. In January, it winnowed the list of possible locations down to 20 metropolitan areas.”
What Trump is doing is the definition of picking winners and losers, something Republicans inaccurately accused former President Obama of doing but their own president is now doing. This is also the definition of abusing presidential powers to target an adversary, something conservatives scream about so often and yet has rarely actually happened to them (see their disproved claims re the IRS under Obama).
The Washington Post, which now proclaims ominously every day in both print and online editions, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” has successfully used Trump’s previous attacks to double down on solid reporting and growing readership. Trump’s attacks on the press and relentlessly mind-numbing abuses of power serve to reward investigative journalism and thus have actually reminded the American people of the importance of our two venerable papers, rather than undermine them. But that doesn’t mean he’s not trying, and the effort itself is an abuse of power.
Trump basically stole $30 billion from Amazon’s value with his temper tantrum on Wednesday and he’s still at it.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Lampert for Reuters.)
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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