The authoritarian wannabe in the White House launched a Twitter attack on Saturday morning, claiming social media websites should favor right-wing lunatics over reality-based users.
“Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices,” Donald Trump whined. “Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen.”
President Putin Lite’s tantrum comes after social media websites have been booting users like Alex Jones and Infowars for peddling dangerous, hateful and discriminatory content.
The full three-part lash out:
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Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
…..Censorship is a very dangerous thing & absolutely impossible to police. If you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN & MSNBC, & yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed. I get used to it and watch with a grain of salt, or don’t watch at all..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
….Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made. Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
Trump is afraid of the truth
Instead of applauding actions that push people like Jones into the shadows where they belong, the president is lashing out. He knows that having fewer conspiracy peddlers in the internet universe is bad for him and his message because his entire political platform relies on convincing his supporters that up isn’t down.
He said it himself last month, telling supporters, “Just remember: What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”
Trump is a weak leader who sees an intruder in every closet and monster in every bed. In this case, the monster he fears is the truth, and every action he has taken is an effort to silence the truth.
We see it in the president’s repeated attempts to undermine Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. We see it in his repeated attacks on the free press. Most recently, we see it in his disturbing push to remove the security clearances of former intelligence community officials who may have valuable information for the special counsel investigation.
Once again, this president and his shrinking throng of tinfoil-hat-wearing followers are confusing “discrimination” for the truth and “fake news” for factual reporting.
Removing hateful and discriminatory voices from social media is good for America, even if it disappoints an authoritarian wannabe president who has repeatedly catered to and encouraged those voices.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.