For Trump, ‘national security’ remains the answer to every question – MS NOW

For Trump, ‘national security’ remains the answer to every question  MS NOW

Three days after Donald Trump announced a new policy banning journalists from MS NOW (my employer), CNN and Politico from the White House, quite literally referring to his policy as “the ban on the free press,” the three news organizations filed a federal lawsuit against the president and several top administration officials challenging the unprecedented move. Time will tell what becomes of the case, but hours after its filing, the president published a related item to his social media platform, effectively predicting a defeat and vowing to “go for appeal.” But that’s not what stood out for me. Rather, what struck me as notable was the phrasing that followed. From the online statement: [W]e’ll go for appeal because Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown “sources,” shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World.

Roughly seven hours earlier, after equating news organizations he dislikes with “cancer,” he also described journalism he disapproves of as “a threat to our National Security.” A day earlier, the president tried to rebrand his “triumphal arch” as a “top grade Military Complex,” which he said he intends to complete “for National Security purposes.” If the phrasing seemed at all familiar, it’s not your imagination.