Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics

No, Mr. President, The Media Is Not The “Real Enemy of the People”

440px-Official_Portrait_of_President_Donald_TrumpIn another attack on journalists, President Donald Trump called the “fake news media” the “real enemy of the people” yesterday. The tweet is in response to uniformly negative coverage, including on Fox News, of Trump’s handling of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since the vast majority of reporters described the summit as a debacle, it put most reporters in this category.  The tweet caused even Fox reporter John Roberts to remark that he must also now be an “enemy of the people.”  The White House is still reeling from Trump’s disastrous news conference with Putin and various Republican leaders (and Trump’s own intelligence figures) have made varying levels of corrections or outright contradictions of his words.  I have repeatedly criticized the media for unfair coverage of the Trump investigations and related subjects. However, these attacks on the media are as unfounded as they are dangerous for American society.  The President often has a point on slanted coverage but his use of such inflammatory and unjustified language should be rejected by all citizens.

 

Trump continues to call the summit a “great success” while blaming the media for the overwhelmingly negative reviews:

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear……..

Notably, however, polls show that Republicans remains overwhelming convinced that the summit was a success and Trump performed well.  Sixty-eight percent of Republicans approved of the president’s showing and 21 percent said they disapproved, according to the CBS News poll published Thursday.  However, overall 55 percent of the people disapproved of his performance and only 32 percent approved.  While the 83 percent of Democrats disapproving can be discounted, Trump also lost the key independents with 53 percent expressing dissatisfaction with his performance.

Once again, the merits of Trump’s performance are not my concern. Rather the continued reference of journalists as “the enemy” is alarming and unprecedented for a sitting president. Past presidents have criticized the media without ratcheting up the rhetoric in this way.  Not only does it undermine our core commitment under the First Amendment to a free press, it actually undermines Trump’s arguments.  I agree with his criticism of some coverage as struggling to take the most negative view possible of his actions and policies.  Even positive developments are often spinned in a way to denigrate the Administration.  While Trump often gives ample reason for negative coverage, there is a pattern of biased reporting in my view.  Yet, Trump negates that record by adopting the rhetoric of authoritarian figures in history in denouncing journalists as public enemies.

225px-LeninIronically, it was Vladimir Lenin who denounced democratic leaders as “enemies of the people” and nations from China to Iran to Turkey have used this phrase to fight the free press or free expression.

Helsinki in my view was another self-inflected wounds and justifiably criticized.  Trump can disagree with that assessment and highlight the positive outcomes from the summit. However, this country owes a huge debt to journalists who have courageously revealed government abuse and corruption for decades in our system.  We have real enemies in this world and our strength is based in no small part to those who report on our government.

449 thoughts on “No, Mr. President, The Media Is Not The “Real Enemy of the People””

  1. Captain Ahab spirit in the media towards Trump reaches monomania:

    ” From hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned Trump!”

    1. Perfect, Mr. K….Trump is their white whale, or they would say, orange whale.

    2. Love Melville:
      “There is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all are equals.”

    1. From Wikipedia.

      Peter Paul Strzok II (/strʌk/, pronounced “struck”) (born 7 March 1970) is a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. Strzok was the Chief of the Counterespionage Section and led the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server.

      Strzok rose to become the Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division, the second-highest position in that division. He also led the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. As of 2018, Strzok has been a career employee with the FBI for 22 years. By July 2015, Strzok was serving as the section chief of the Counterespionage Section, a subordinate section of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

      Peter P. Strzok II was born at the Kincheloe AFB Hospital near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to Peter Paul Strzok and Virginia Sue Harris. His father, Peter P. Strzok, was a longtime member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. One of Strzok’s uncles is Father James Strzok, SJ, a Jesuit priest doing missionary work in east Africa.The Strzok family hails from Poland. For high school, Strzok attended St. John’s Preparatory School in Minnesota, graduating in 1987. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 1991 as well as a master’s degree in 2013. After graduating from Georgetown in 1991, Strzok served as an officer in the United States Army before leaving to join the FBI in 1996 as an intelligence research specialist. Strzok is married to Melissa Hodgman, an associate director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

        1. The evidence that Schulte and Kurtz presented in links on the blawg is that Strzok sent a memo to the Justice Dept. listing his title as Counterespionage Section Chief. Schutle and Kurtz take that to mean CIA. That’s not what it means. The counterespionage section is part of the counter-intelligence division at the FBI. So, to review the bidding with the original inflection, because neither Schulte nor Kurtz have the faintest idea what they’re nattering about, therefore Strzok was a CIA agent planted in the FBI. There are several technical names for that sort of argument. But I prefer to call it a Crock of Cockamamie. Although, FUBAR fits just as well.

          2. L4D enables David Benson – Section Chief is not an FBI title, but rather a CIA title.

    2. Repeated for emphasis:

      By July 2015, Strzok was serving as the section chief of the Counterespionage Section, a subordinate section of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

      Pay attention Kurtz. The FBI’s Counterespionage Section of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division is the FBI–not the CIA. The only coordination between the FBI and the CIA occurs through the National Security Division of The Department of Justice. Most of the work done by the DOJ’s NSD is Counter-terrorism investigations. Strzok doesn’t do counter-terrorism investigations.

  3. Edgar Allen Poe said: Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.

    What is seriously lacking is a healthy skepticism of everything being reported; whether it comes from the political class, the media, our friends or our family. If we are not getting our facts from the original source, then we have to assume we are getting a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. hand account of what may or may not be the truth. And if those facts not from the original source confirm your opinion, that does not necessarily make those facts or your opinion accurate. It still requires objective verification. If that’s too much work, and/or nothing will ever change your opinion, then you are nothing more than a useful idiot for tyrants.

    1. she probably was focusing on her job which was rendering an accurate translation. why does the NYT even name her? they just want to make her life hard, pressure her into making some garbage up against trump

      1. No kidding. This is outrageous treatment of this poor woman. She will be hounded to death now. And if they succeed in breaking her one way or another, no political leaders will ever be able to meet in private again.

        1. i would bet my eye teeth that the spooks on both sides taped it. we won’t find out what they said but if they did not frisk each other then they were prolly both wired. 0r she was. it’s a lot of nonsense.

      2. Don’t know about the, “garbage against Trump,” but the interpreters should be left alone.

        Accurate translation is a crucial necessity of diplomacy and requires an extremely fluent knowledge of language, idioms of said, and subtleties of nuance that only few possess.

        1. well now the whole premise of diplomacy is under attack by the Never Trumpers who want to burn down the house to get one guy they don’t like.

          they should not have published her name or picture. really irresponsible.

  5. We didn’t hire himi to destroy Putin we hired him to destroy the anti constitutional enemies domestic in our own country starting with clinton, Pelosi, Schumer, and as much of the left as possible etc including the RINOs.

    As I recall the GOP rejected him at their national convention and we independents out voted them and the left with our own agenda. 40% to second and third place add in SOME of the GOP for 55% as I recall.

    Don’t really care about the also rans and their rejected opinions. Especially not Pelosi now falsely claiming to be upholding her oath of office. What a rotten thing to say Piglosi.

    1. To repeat I am not a member of the party system. I am a self governing independent citizen.

      1. Are you one of these “sovereign citizens” who rejects the right of the government to require you to do anything, anything at all?

  6. Mr. Turley, you are wrong!! Most US media, including SOME of those at Fox News & Business, but not all, attempt to tell the truth. Lou Dobbs & Tucker Carlton get it. Laura Ingraham gets most of it, but she cow tows a little to the left in an inaccurate attempt to be ‘fair & balanced’. Her Dimm & Repub equivalencies are misleading because though the RINOS-CINOs are NOT supportive of the current administration, 85% or so of the Dimm fascists ARE enemies of the state. Laura needs to qualify her equivalencies.

    Even Hannity has come around. Then there is Newsmax & One America News Network’s Daily Ledger & Tipping point. OANN sent a team to Syria & found that none of the people living near the alleged site confirmed that there was that last gas attack that Assad was blamed for. OANN also found that it is Assad who protects Christians & other minority religions from the radical Muslims.

    Most US media is now a propaganda arm of the New World Order and have chosen, for $ome reason, to become enemies of the USA as we were founded. But Mr. Turley says they are not. WHY? Mr. Turley would be correct IF the media were truly interested in the truth of current events rather than continually pushing a deep state NWO Never Trump narrative. It is painfully obvious most media, in conjunction with the Dimms, the deep state & Repub sellouts, would rather push a leftist, fascist Dimm ‘progressive’ agenda than take the USA back to our founding documents.

    Mr. Turley, are you part of the controlled opposition? Again we hear that US intelligence agencies all agree that ‘it was Russia’. Show us the timeline for all the Russian meddling. Looks to me that it is 0blameUS & administration that should be under fire, not Mr. T. It was 0 who did nothing when Russian interference was going on. It was 0 & co who let the IRS scandal, fast & furious, the Hilldabeast server & emails & others REAL crime slide…any thoughts on Uranium 1? It wasn’t Mr. Trump who sent pallets of $$$ to Iran & traded FIVE TOP terrorists for a US traitor.

    Which of the ‘news’ media then Mr. Turley is NOT an enemy of the USA?

    Mr. Turley, you do know that there is a plan on the left to push the USA into a North American Union don’t you? You do realize then that the reason the left wing media & easy to manipulate Homer Simpsons want open borders do you not? That is so the Dimms can build their welfare plantation into an insurmountable voting block. If We The People allow them to achieve that goal, they will VOTE US into a NAU then later hand US over to their NWO handlers & financiers as a vassal state of a one world government.

    Is that OK with you Mr. Turley?

    SamFox

    2. So, what is this “new world order,” exactly? Anyone not personally loyal and in fealty to Trump?

    3. “Most US media is now a propaganda arm of the New World Order”

      I got that far before I realized Mr. Fox is a nutjob.

      I just woke up, but I still should have caught on to that earlier. y bad.

  7. Hitler invented the word “lugepresse”, which translated means “fake news”. He applied this word to any newspaper or radio that criticized him; that is, before he took them over and shut them down or replaced them with stooges who did his bidding.

    Turley claims that the media seemed biased against Trump, and do not report his alleged “accomplishments”. I’d like to know what those “accomplishments” are, because from where I sit, there not only aren’t any, but this country has never been more divided or lacking in civility or moral leadership. Never before has an American President praised white supremacists, lied about his predecessor’s birth origins, bragged about grabbing womens’ privates, put children in cages as a means to leverage Congress to appropriate money to fulfill a false campaign promise, appealed to racist sentiments by calling Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals” or just plain lied consistently, mostly about himself: claiming an historically-large inauguration crowd, an historic Electoral College win, and the list goes on and on. He has serious emotional problems, manifested by a pathological degree of narcissism. This can be used to the advantage of our opponents. On the lower edge of the economic scale, he appeals to racists who love it when he tells off those uppity blacks and women and cages those brown people they are afraid are taking over “their” country. On the upper edge of the economic scale, he promises to roll back environmental and consumer protections and to give tax cuts that primarily benefit the uber-wealthy. He tells his followers, the low-brow ones, not to trust media or educated people. What climate change? We’re going back to a coal-based economy, there’s going to be a 2,000-mile wall on our southern border, and so forth.

    In Helsinki, Trump went out of his way to insult and criticize our allies, but has never criticized Russia or Putin. In fact, he was deferential to Putin, and when asked whom he believed about the Russia meddling matter, he supported Putin, someone who murders his political opponents, and sends agents to attack his opponents on the foreign soil of our allies. Then, he ham-handedly attempted to back-pedal, lying once again, and when the media doesn’t buy it, because his back-pedaling by changing one word doesn’t fit into the narrative of the entire interview, the media are attacked by Fox and Trump. He is a disgrace. He won’t even support his own appointees and the agencies that have investigated Russian activities, despite being given a confidential briefing before he ever took office. The ties of his campaign to Russia are well-documented. What does this imply to any reasonable person?

    Back to the media that he hates, other than his personal network, TNN, a/k/a Fox News, the media reflect the feelings of most Americans. Most Americans who voted did NOT vote for Trump, and since he took office most Americans do not approve of Trump or what he has done. They see the piss-ant, symbolic tax cut for middle income people as the chump change that it is. The media are not unfair because they write and say negative things about him. If what the media write or say isn’t fair or untrue, there would be no market for their product.

      1. DSS – isn’t Natacha supposedly a nurse? She probably brings the gas to parties. 😉

        1. How’s that Spy-Gate scandal coming along? Oh! And the FISA warrant abuse scandal? Maybe IG Horowitz can investigate the Main Stream Media for . . . I don’t know? Wait. Being Enemies of the People. Yeah. That’s in the Constitution. Sure it is.

          1. L4D enables David Benson – Mueller is two years in and no Russian collusion with Trump. IG is working on FISA on and the media leaks, which include McCabe and Comey.

    2. Natasha: thank you for noting the endless lines Trump has crossed. In the last two years not a single week has passed where Donald Trump hasn’t committed some outrage that would have sunk another candidate / president. We’re far beyond the point where any single person can keep track of all these outrages.

      Yet we have snarky Spastic to dismiss your list as just so much ‘gas’. Which effectively sums up the state of America today. Trump supporters honestly don’t care how many lines he crosses. As long as he destroys the machinery of government, Trump has fulfilled their hopes and wishes.

      1. Yeah ok whatever Petey you guys have gone totally paranoaic. Now Trump wants to “destroy the machinery of government”

        Is he an anarchist now, a billionaire Bakunin? It’s oxymoronic what you say

        1. President Trump reveals to Democrats his new plan on arms reductions and de-escalation with North Korea and Russia.

    3. it’s lugenpresse to you sir
      luge presse is what you get in your butt after sitting too long watching the winter olympics

    4. Oh, but Trump hates and disdains liberals, so all his mistakes and lies and gross exaggerations are to be forgiven.

  8. I have not verified these base locations, but I would suspect they are largely accurate. For this quantity, I don’t think being wrong on 5 or 10 makes much difference.

    Who (not a trick question here…) looks as though they have the upper hand??

      1. We’ve been over this before. The only ‘base’ on that map on territory adjacent to Russia is one ‘in’ Kazakhstan. It was actually on the border of Kazakhstand and Kyrgystan and was closed three years ago.

        1. Do you happen to have a copy of the map , that the US & former USSR/as it was being broken up, agreed to of where the US would not put any further NATO bases?

          1. oky1,…
            Do you have a source that verifies the U.S.promise to not expand NATO in countries near Russia’borders?
            I don”t doubt that those assurances may have been given Russia, but I have yet to find a source that verifies that.

            2. Tom,

              Not know I don’t, but I recall it was back about the time of the Nazi’s Son named GHW Bush.. 1988-1992.

              & we’re starting to get more details even today…. AKA Commie/Nazi grandson Bill Browder.

              One interview on Real News with David Knight & his guest Lee Stratihan (sic), W/details, yesterday & more with Lee on the Alex Jones Show today.

              If I could figure out how to get paid doing research, Flow Charts, Outlines & Schematics following these political/financial blood trails I’d be making a ton of money off it. But I don’t so my time is limited to a bit more then a hobby.

              In the mean time I’ve got some pretty good free & paid info resources.

              BTW, I’m not a fan of Micosoft but I’m hearing Bing is currently giving the better search results.

              1. Oky1 gets his info from Infowars, along with the rest of the nutz.

          2. Well, you could ask the Soviets. Isn’t that one of the documents passed on by James Hall?

          1. My point is perfectly straightforward, Allan. The map is misleading and dated.

            1. I thought the map demonstrated where American bases were. Are you saying it demonstrates something else? If the flags are true representations of American bases both large and small what is misleading?

              1. A. It’s dated

                B. They’re not ‘near’ Russia.

                This is not that difficult.

                1. “It’s dated” Do you think the newest update would radically change the facts?

                  “They’re not ‘near’ Russia.”

                  As NATO expands the bases and NATO moves closer and closer to Russia it can increase the likelihood of war. Not that long ago there was some talk of Ukraine entering NATO. That would have moved the map even closer to Moscow so when you say “They’re not ‘near’ Russia.” I find that a bit disingenuous. We are already circling Russia and China.

                  Take note I am not saying this encirclement is right or wrong only that along with potentially creating greater security it can create a greater potential for war.

                  Every major power extends its influence past its borders and that influence based on geographic location wanes the further away that border is.

                  1. The two of you have elected to do a great deal of hand-waving.

                    1. you have elected to make cryptic remarks. which nobody gets but you. that’s ok, you’re entertaining

                    2. “The two of you have elected to do a great deal of hand-waving.”

                      DSS, I can’t figure out what you are talking about. The map though dated was a pretty good representation of the facts on the ground. For some reason, you are getting into a dither over it but why is impossible to know because you prefer to speak in your particular type of code.

                2. No, it’s not difficult. They are not near if you are walking but they are near enough if you are flying fighter jets and bombers that go over a thousand feet per second.

                  You just get a kick out of downplaying enthusiasm. Do you wear a bowtie, too?

                  1. I don’t get a kick out of much of anything. Slohrss29 published a misleading map. I point that out. You and Allan complain because you’ve got some emotional investment in an invalid thesis.

                    It’s not merely that the bases aren’t near Russia. There’s been a secular decline in American manpower in Europe, now ongoing for 50 years. There are 62,000 American troops in Europe. There are fewer than 3,000 in Turkey and the Caucasus. About 34,000 of these are in Germany, where they’ve been for 70-odd years. The largest contingent in Eastern Europe is to be found in Roumania. It numbers about 700.

                    1. DSS – when you have ICBMs you do not have to that close. 😉

                    3. “Uh huh. Then what was the point of the map?”

                      DSS, Consider this. What was the point of considering Ukraine as a member of NATO?

                    4. ” You and Allan complain because you’ve got some emotional investment in an invalid thesis.”

                      DSS, you are right about the reduction in manpower but what does that have to do with my thesis? Russian manpower is reduced as well from the old Soviet Union days.

                      Do you know have any idea what my thesis might be? Yo don’t and I know that because you say it is invalid. I think you can do better than this.

            2. More fun stuff:

              https://buchanan.org/blog/pjb-and-none-dare-call-it-treason-1049

              “… But Randy Scheunemann has another identity, another role.

              He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man.

              From January 2007 to March 2008, the McCain campaign paid Scheunemann $70,000 — pocket change compared to the $290,000 his Orion Strategies banked in those same 15 months from the Georgian regime of Mikheil Saakashvili.

              What were Mikheil’s marching orders to Tbilisi’s man in Washington? Get Georgia a NATO war guarantee. Get America committed to fight Russia, if necessary, on behalf of Georgia.

              Scheunemann came close to succeeding.

              Had he done so, U.S. soldiers and Marines from Idaho and West Virginia would be killing Russians in the Caucasus, and dying to protect Scheunemann’s client, who launched this idiotic war the night of Aug. 7. That people like Scheunemann hire themselves out to put American lives on the line for their clients is a classic corruption of American democracy….”

              There’s your war hero!

              1. Ha. War hero McStain? Sailors are waiting for his death to literally piss on his grave – just saw a bloke the other day who had one of those signs on his pickup about the USS Forrester. As well as MIA folks who were denied access to their loved one’s records which he had classifed.

                1. BTW – this post was made by Autumn. My (Autumn’s) laptop was destroyed yesterday by a water spill and I am using my husband’s – didn’t realize my post would appear as written by him.

                    1. Autumn – you can temporarily change your husband’s name to yours on his computer.

                  2. Autumn – sorry to hear about your laptop. I have destroyed a few keyboards with treacherous liquids. They are not to be trusted. 🙁

              2. I’m supposed to be either convinced or motivated by Pat Buchanan’s habit of spinning hypotheticals about a not very consequential conflict which occurred 10 years ago?

              3. well, you can have a good service record and still make bad choices 50 years later.
                I think the PJ Buch article is good.
                Another example of McCain goading Russia, no doubt, his backers have encouraged this
                the interesting thing to me is how the pro-war factions of both parties have so consistently pushed similiar agendas

        3. Like I said, “give 5 or 10…” the point is still made. Don’t see many warsaw pact troops near our border. We apparently have the missiles in place as well. Can’t imagine that making anyone uptight though.

          What??? No Warsaw Pact…??? Why do we have NATO then??

          Here’s a laugher for you. My, how times have changed. I hope Natacha doesn’t break her neck with all the flailing around it’s about to do.

          http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-meier20-2008aug20-story.html

          of particular note:

          ‘Even Putin, in his first days in the Kremlin, seized on the issue. In March 2000, in his first interview with a foreign reporter — the BBC’s David Frost — Putin shocked critics and fans alike, saying, “We believe we can talk about more profound integration with NATO, but only if Russia is regarded as an equal partner.” Asked outright if Russia could join NATO, Putin shot back: “I do not see why not.” He also added a dark warning: Any NATO attempt to exclude Russia from the debate over the alliance’s eastward expansion would only provoke “opposition.”‘

          Enter McCain, Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, John McCain, a few hundred grand for war chest… and here we are.

        4. hey spas… that reminds me

          the US helped clean up the very base where the soviets made Novicok

          I guess NATO sure had plenty of access to the substance, even if NPR has been telling us it “only comes from Russia”

          https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/25/world/us-and-uzbeks-agree-on-chemical-arms-plant-cleanup.html

          the Skirpal poisoning was never proven to have been done by “the russians” but they keep on mentioning it

          let’s here your take on that. wet blanket now or what?

    1. Nope. Our borders aren’t secure. Trump didn’t “create” a booming economy: President Obama reversed the worse recession since the Great Depression, and the growth he created has slowed since Fatso took over. The US is not energy independent, and manufacturing continues to go overseas. He has done nothing for “infrastructure”. You’ve been watching Fox News, a/k/a TNN (Trump News Network).

      What he has done is insult and criticize America’s allies, insulted war-hero, John McCain, attempted to de-stabilize the EU and NATO, because Putin wants him to, and lie, lie, lie. He has also created a climate of dissention unprecedented in recent history, because of his pathological narcissism, racism and xenophobia.

      1. Natacha – that would be John McCain, war hero, who was responsible for the deaths of 120+ sailors on his ship?

        1. I’m sorry–did McCain murder them? How is he responsible? Or, is it the case that McCain is being criticized because he voted down the repeal of Obamacare and speaks truth to Trump?

          1. McCain speaks McCain’s petty spite. He cannot help himself even though he’s a terminal patient.

          2. Natacha – a ‘hot start’ on the USS Forrestal. In his defense, he probably just lit the match and started the fire. The situation was made worse by conditions on the ship.

            1. Relevance? I thought not. Typical.

              this is to “I need advice from hannity, who won’t return my tweets” paulie

              1. Marky Mark Mark – my conversation is with Natasha who asked a question, which I answered. That is the relevance, dipwad.

            2. AND, McCain was there–why? For the purpose of murdering U.S. naval personnel? All the while Fatso was nursing his poor heel spurs instead of serving, and you have no sympathy for John McCain.

              1. I personally know someone who served with McCain and was incarcerated with him. I was told that that Jeremiah Denton was the respected inmate turned politician and not so much McCain.

                1. Mr Kurtz – do you remember what McCain did that made him a war hero? I don’t.

                  1. He was shot down bombing NV infrastructure and incarcerated. He was tortured and resisted interrogation. He was injured. When his daddy was appointed CINC of Pacific fleet he was released.

                    I can accept that he had an honorable service record, but he was not the only one. If people want to read about what the aviator POWs experienced then they should read Jeremiah Denton’s book.

                    What matters anyway is not what happened 50 years ago but more like the last 5. He is a troublemaker, very belligerent, full of himself type politician.

                    1. Mr Kurtz – he was badly injured ejecting from his plane. I don’t think he was ever tortured. Once they found out they had the son of royalty, he got the royal treatment. So, what part makes him a war hero?

                    2. Mr. Kurtz,…
                      McCain was released with the rest of the POWs in 1973, after the Paris Peace Accords.
                      He and some others were offered “early” release from capitivity during their years in captivity…..most refused.
                      There were often “strings attached” to the N. Vietnamese offers, and “the code” was “first in, first out”.
                      The longest-held pilots had to be released first before others accept “early” release.

                    3. Jerimiah Denton was an incredibly strong character and leader the other POWs.
                      A “super-hero”.
                      Also pretty damn good with Morse Code😊…. the way he blinked out those words in that telivised interview was sheer genius.

                  2. they say he was tortured in what i read and in the prison for several years
                    I assume they attempted to coerce confessions of all their prisoners
                    I don’t like mccain and I don’t really care what he did in Vietnam one way or another 50 years ago. not any more than I do his captors.

                    1. this will piss spas off but didn’t McCain’s father play a role in downplaying the USS Liberty incident? I cant remember. Just trying to get the Spas to make one last toss of his wet blanket before night falls.

                    2. The treatment of virtually all of the c.600 POWs did not match up with Hanoi Jane’s gushing assurances that our POWs were well-treated by their captors.
                      What a dumb b****.

                    3. Tom Nash – she did look good sitting on that gun though. 😉

              2. Natacha – because of goat John McCain doing a hot start on the deck of the carrier he started a fire that ended killing 134 and injuring 161. The goat is the cadet who graduated lowest at the Academy.

                1. Again, your account of the incident is disputed by various sources, which attribute the fire to a rocket accidentally fired from a fighter jet (not McCain’s plane).

                  1. DSS – I think the rocket was from the previous day. Snopes has tried to cover for him as did his father.

                    2. wildbill99 – Snopes is not to be believed. Do you have another source?

                    5. The article is persuasive. The source is qualified and believable.
                      It appears that Senator McCain’s version of the incident is seriously flawed.

                      Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Paul, I believe you have changed my mind.

                    6. wildbill99 – thank you for reading it and having an open mind.

              3. Most men born between 1938 and 1954 were never on active duty, Natacha. There is nothing out of the ordinary about Trump’s service record or his brother’s.

                1. DSS – I was born in 1943 and every male I went to school with who was draft eligible saw active duty. If they delayed their status they might have seen time in Vietnam. Every male I knew above and below me did active service if they were draft eligible.

                  1. PC Schulte,…
                    Until 1965, a draft-eligible guy had a good chance of not being called up.
                    There were 16,000 U.S. military advisers in Vietnam when JFK was killed in 1963 .
                    There were c. 540,000 when LBJ left office 5 years later.
                    The sharp increase in draft calls actually started in early 1965, after LBJ defeated Goldwater.
                    The campaigns were much smaller, shorter affairs back then, but LBJ managed to say that he had no intention of sending “American boys 10,000 miles away to fight a war that should be fought by Asian boys”.
                    That statement was made about 10 days before the 1964 election.
                    Anyway, LBJ was “off to the races” in pouring U.S. troops into Vietnam about 6 months later.
                    So the bulk of the LBJ increase actually occured from the spring of 1965 to the end of 1968.
                    That 3 1/ 2 + year period saw draft-eligible guys being drafted right and left.
                    And the draft also helped motivate millions of others to enlist in other ( than ARMY) branches, reserves, and Nat. Guard.

                    1. Tom Nash – all of my friends were on active duty, either in the states, Europe, S. America, Africa, Asia. Regardless, if you were eligible, you served. We all did ROTC (required) at college or university for two years.

                  2. You either had a very eccentric social circle or most of them have dropped out of your memory.

                    From the beginning of 1965 to the end of 1972, 1.73 million men were conscripted into the regular forces, 3.63 million men enlisted de novo, and 325 thousand were plucked from the reserves. That’s 5.68 million men. From the beginning of 1945 to the end of 1952, about 13.9 males were born (of whom perhaps 2% died before age 20). The ratio of the former to the latter is 0.41. (The foregoing does not include the Coast Guard, which might account for 5% of the total).

                    The Statistical Abstracts published ca. 1971 also provide some compiled stock data on the service history of men born from the beginning of 1930 to the end of 1938. About 55% were on active duty at some point and another 9% had time in the National Guard or Reserves. Post 1938 cohorts were less likely to enter the service than Korea-era cohorts. Among those born ca. 1922, roughly 80% were on active duty at some point.

                    2. About a 1/4 of those in the post-1929 cohorts were disqualified on examination, some categorically and some contingently. Your schoolmates would have had to have been exceptionally healthy as well.

          4. Natch I really like trump, he is a nationalist. You are not. As far as I am concerned, you people who embrace open borders are the real traitors and we have 13 million tresspassers here to thank for it. That’s a threat to national security not having a nice press conference with a foreign leader.

      2. President Obama reversed the worse recession since the Great Depression

        He did nothing of the kind. All significant tonic policy measures were in place prior to Obama’s inauguration. The one thing he added was raiding the TARP funds to pay off Democratic Party clients in the auto industry. The country didn’t need the Porkulus. It was an existing wish list that Pelosi / Reid stapled together. Production levels stabilized in May 2009 before much of anything was spent.

      3. If President Obama reversed the depression, then why were food stamps breaking records? Even the mainstream media is talking about how great the economy is doing now. Now, as in after November 2016.

        And you don’t think all of the hatred, intolerance, bigotry, racist attacks against conservative minorities, or the silencing of conservative speakers has something to do with the “culture of dissension”? How does this work, exactly? The Left can bully, intimidate, and be racist, but it’s OK because Trump? All the rampant anti-semitism on the Left doesn’t bother you? The way Hilary’s lawlessness isn’t even talked about in the media is not cause for concern in your ever present vigil against dictatorship?

        Trump has left Obama’s legacy in tatters. If it was Obama, and not Trump, and all of those food stamp records were some sort of outlier, then Trump would have ruined Obama’s wonderful economy, not improved it.

        I have a secret to share with you. If you want to prevent a dictatorship, then limit the power of government, and protect individual rights. You know…the opposite of what the hard Left keeps trying to do. They do so love their maniacal homicidal dictators like those in North Korea, China, Venezuela…In fact, until 2016, college campuses across the country adored Putin, and would wax poetic on the humanitarianism of the Soviets. How fair it was and all. It must be some kind of super power to go from Hillary’s plot to steal the election from Trump, like she did Bernie, using false information she paid millions to Russian spies to obtain, to blaming the victim of her attempt to defraud voters. She did, after all, defraud them from their apparently chosen candidate of Bernie Sanders.

        What was the extent of “Russian meddling” that helped the GOP? Revealing truthful dirt on the latests of Hillary’s unethical conduct. I guess the Left really, really did not want people to know what they’ve been doing. But, dictators typically like to keep such activity hush hush, and the extreme Left does love its human rights abusing dictatorships.

      1. Ah, the seers are out in force. As a firm believer in the paranormal, I’m not knocking it.
        I just prefer calling the heavily advertized California Psychics Hotline.
        That resource, coupled with the fortune cookies I get at Chinese restaurants, have been more reliable sources of what the future holds that what is usually presented here.

  11. Professor, I have long been a fan of yours, but your comments section has become a disturbing cesspool of conspiracy-paranoia.

    1. Most of the people who are given to trafficking in conspiracy memes haven’t been contributing in recent days.

        1. Diane’s so omnivorously rude she has to snarl even when she’s making no sense.

      2. Let’s get back to E Howard Hunt, whenever you like. I can see you have perused the literature more than most!

    2. it’s a conspiracy initiated by Russian KGB agents. we are all Russian bots, pretending to be curmudgeons.

  12. Here you go, whiners. Some history for you. And, just a reminder, there was a world before 2008. This is what Russian aggression looked like. And even then, our leaders had diplomatic ties. And yes, they probably devoted more energy to influencing events here. Real leaders talk:

    1. Russian Reset Button? Uranium One deal giving 1/5 of all of our Uranium to a nuclear adversary? And it’s Trump you’re worried about? What, did he deliver a pallet of cash like Obama did to Iran?

      1. Heavens, you’re way behind. Those stories are discredited, dead, and buried. But when you have nothing to defend, I guess you have to go back to nonsense conspiracy theories.

        2. Those stories are discredited, dead, and buried.

          So Clinton did not present a Reset Button to the Russians? Interesting, what was it then? There was no Uranium One deal affecting 20% of our uranium reserves? $1.7 billion was not delivered to Iran by the Obama administration?

          Are all those absolutely untrue? How were those discredited?

        3. Oh Suze Q! You in a stew? Sez U– “Heavens, you’re way behind. Those stories are discredited, dead, and buried. But when you have nothing to defend, I guess you have to go back to nonsense conspiracy theories.”

          No dear blind lady, it’s the fake dossier basis for the Muleear witch hunt, your lies & exaggerations, the personal attacks on Mrs. T among a laundry list of other jive that discredits you fascist Dimm bulbs. Not to mention Muleear & Rosenstein & others are compromised to the max & THEY should be under investigation .

          Buried? That is what you treasonous Dimms will be in the midterms. Your angry diatribe spewing fat mouths & tiny brains dig your political graves deeper every day.

          Uranium 1 discredited? Hilldabeast’s handling of her servers & such? Uh Suze, THE PICTURES OF 0BUMMER’S PALLETS OF CASH WERE ON TV for all the world to see. 0’s trading a traitor for 5 top level Muslim terrorists is very well documented. So is fast & furious, the IRS as a weapon against conservatives, illegally spying on the Trump campaign, implementation of the Page-Strozk insurance policy…yeah, we made up all those texts…you are a dumb bucket if you think we are fooled by a fool.

          You can pivot & lie all you want. You & other leftists tear down the USA freaks via Cloward & Piven’s book Strategy are exposed. On top of that you are still whining because you lost the election. All you leftist fools are doing is making yourselves look worse & worse. And you call US conservatives balls of ‘nasty stuff’ & deplorables.

          You have TDS to the maximum! Especially if you think Rules For Radicals is still a viable way to obfuscate issues.

          SamFox

      2. Strange isn’t it when regular people, rightly or not, are accused of aiding a terrorist group their freedom is destroyed but when a politician aids an internationally known state that sponsors terrorism, he is rewarded?

  14. Freedom of the press.

    Free people must be cognizant and capable of exercising their freedom to ignore published and broadcast lies and “fake news.”
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

    People must adapt to the outcomes of freedom.

    Freedom does not adapt to people…

    dictatorship does.

  16. “The White House is still reeling from Trump’s disastrous news conference with Putin ….”

    My opinion on some of these writings are narratives that people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome they are feeling mentally/ personally & they are attempting to project their losing onto those that are succeeding.

    And notice Prof Turley & some others seem afraid to go onto Alex Jones Show or other such new/trusted media site, or say Lawyers Mark Levin or Lionel, to civilly argue his/their position.

    Instead all the Old Dying Media can serve up is Judge Jeanine by the View/ Whoopi Goldberg Screaming their only argument: Racist, Racist, ‘F-You! F-You!, then the Special Snowflakes run away to their “Safe Place”.

    Sorry, I’m Laughing at these nut cases: Oh please tell us, did the “Bad Man” Trump grab you by Whoopi cushion to Goldberg. LOL.

    Anyway, I’m hearing what the Old Media is attempting to convince all of us of: We are part of the Gov’s ongoing “Operation Mockingbird” Propaganda operation against the American people. And Like Toyko Rose & Baghdad Bob of the past, We come in “Peace” so do not resist as they, Old Media, rouge US intel agencies, Upper Dem/Rino Repub party heads, openly talk about & implement an Un-Constitutional Coup against a duly Elected President Trump.

    Well, I believe they are still Failing.

    “CNN IS NOT AN ENEMY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”

    1. Whoops–your “Trump Derangement Syndrome” comment shows that you are a Fox disciple, and therefore, not very bright nor capable of reasoned thought.

      1. The only place on cable news where you get “the news” at the moment is actually Fox. It won’t last long if the two young Murdoch’s have their way. “The news” is that Trump is not a traitor…I know you don’t like that. Those who have gone down this “Trump is a traitor” road have dug themselves quite a deep hole. They are so far down the hole that they have no choice but to keep digging else face their own stupidity.

      2. I never watch Fox let alone other tv garbage, but I like the expression TDS
        it’s a social sickness. Should have compassion on people who suffer from it.

        1. Mr. Kurtz,….
          It doesn’t matter if you watch Fox News or not.
          If you regularly read these comment section, you will find that a number of people pull out the “Fox News” stunt as if it they were making a logical, cogent point by screeching “Fox News, Fox News” like a parrot.
          It’s a tired, unoriginal, ineffective, and stupid game to jump on the “Fox News viewer 😧” bandwagon.
          Buy if it makes them feel good…….

    2. Haha. Alex Jones. Please. Post. More. Of. This. Type. Of. Material.

      this is to “they’re all in on it, I tell ya” okie

  17. Absolutely disagree. The large corporate media is the enemy. The people agree with Trump. Don’t let the corrupt media lead you around by the nose. It’s embarrassing to see it happen to you, Prof.

  18. Sorry Jonathon,
    Totally disagree with you on this one. Already the Syria situation is changing for our and Israel’s benefit. It is obvious having a good working relationship with Russia is paramount in the Middle East. I believe you’ve bought the main streams criticisms hook line and sinker. Already he’s planning a state visit to the United States for more negotiations. One miss spoken word and you’ve joined the never Trumper’s❗

    1. Interesting that you think the Syria situation is supposed to change for our and Israel’s benefit. It has been anything but beneficial for the Syrian people during the 50 year Assad regime.

      1. suze, you are talking fake news. Look up

        assad protects christian and other minority religions

        Copy & paste that term in a search. If you dare to find out how wrong you are. I don’t think you are that honest. Prove me wrong.

        Also copy & paste

        one news network investigates latest Syrian chemical attack

        and you will see there wasn’t one.

        SamFox

  19. “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations—entangling alliances with none.” 

    Thomas Jefferson
    Third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809

    The corporate mass media and the War Party ( Republicans and Democrats who have interests in the Military Industrial Surveillance Security State-M.I.S.S.S. ) demand conflict, chaos and conflagration.

    It’s good for business, good for politics and good for deflecting citizens from their own self interests.

    No “Cold War II,” No More Middle Wars, No more promises of great victories by people in a foreign country or neoconservatives in this country because of dual loyalties ( perhaps, a first and only loyalty ). No N.A.T.O. and no more thinking or values based on the so-called “World War II.”

    Rebuild the United States, Reclaim the Constitution and Restore the Rule Of Law and Restore The Republic.

    dennis hanna
    p.s. I did not vote for President Trump. I have not voted for a Republican or Democrat since Nixon v. McGovern. I do not anticipate voting for a Republican or Democrat in the next Presidential Election

    1. Good call on your part. We saw the sad and pathetic display of the repubs as they capitulated in the fake news press on Trump. They are as cowardly as the whiny dems. Except for Rand!

  20. “Once again, the merits of Trump’s performance are not my concern. Rather the continued reference of journalists as “the enemy” is alarming”

    I don’t’ always agree with Trump rather I have points of agreement and points of disagreement. The only way I can judge him is based on results and compare him with other Presidents. To date, I think his results have started to turn around a nation and forced us to focus on real things that have been hidden. When comparing him to our former leader I find him to be an unquestioned success.

    The media is very important because they act as a fourth branch of government. Unfortunately, most of the MSM is not acting as a fourth branch of government rather they act as a wing of the Democratic party. That is what Professor Turley should find alarming. If they are not acting in good faith then they are the enemy of a democratic republic that requires its elements of leadership to act honestly. Professor Turley, you should blame the media, not Trump for making themselves into a political tool.

    2. Ah, another one of these. I regret to inform you that while you are manifestly allowed your own opinion–no matter how uninformed–you are most assuredly not allowed your own facts. So sorry for your loss.

      this is to “but hannity is never a meanie” allan

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Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks

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