It is amazing that Republicans can have a problem with shirts bearing the new Washington Post slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” yet have no problem at all with t-shirts bearing the slogan, “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required.”
A shirt, we scarcely need to remind you, that was popular at Trump rallies this past year. And Fox News, even when it remarked on the shirt, did not cast the blame where it squarely belonged: Donald Trump.
It was a shirt about which former All-Star pitcher Curt Schilling said in a tweet, “OK, so much awesome here…”
Schilling, pretending to be a journalist himself for Breitbart these days, deleted the tweet but claimed it was a ‘joke’ and was angry that people didn’t get that. Because lynchings are all kinds of funny.
You know, like all the Donald Trump ‘jokes’ Sean Spicer has been telling us about recently.
The folks over at Fox News take the new slogan, if not the proposed lynchings, personally, as CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out:
This Fox anchor says @washingtonpost's "democracy dies in darkness" slogan is "anti-Trump rhetoric." https://t.co/IFnapJK7rE
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 14, 2017
Yes, according to Fox & Friends, this is “media bias on full display!” Because exclamation points, as Donald Trump has shown America, bombast matters more than facts. Watch the crazy coverage here:
Media bias on full display! Newspapers now cashing in on T-shirts splashed with anti-Trump rhetoric (via @FoxFriendsFirst) pic.twitter.com/rfjZ15vt2C
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) March 14, 2017
Given Trump’s repeated attacks on the press, it is hardly a surprise these newspapers would take the approach they have. If they are a commentary on the times, that is only to be expected.
Donald Trump is waging a war on the press. Worse, he is waging a war on reality itself, trying to redefine it to suit the needs of the moment.
The press has not been waging a war on Trump. It hasn’t even consistently defended itself from Trump’s attacks.
If the press as an institution was waging a war on the ‘president,’ his presidency might be over already. At the least, it would be far more open and honest about Trump’s policies rather than continuing to normalize and excuse them.
If they were at war on Donald Trump, they would take a stand when one or another of them are banned from Trump’s presence rather than limiting themselves to t-shirts and slogans.
Even so, mild a rebuke as it is, WaPo’s new slogan touched a nerve. It is true that democracy dies in the darkness. It also, unfortunately, dies to applause.
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