Donald Trump’s approach to the freedom of the press has never been especially healthy (we are talking about a president who’s echoed Joseph Stalin while attacking journalists), but his campaign against the media has gotten especially aggressive in recent months. In September, for example, the Republican suggested that “evening shows” are “not allowed” to criticize him and that networks that give him “only bad publicity” risk losing their broadcast licenses.
At one point, the president went so far as to claim that broadcasters that air evening news programs are doing something “illegal” if the White House disapproves of their coverage.
But when it comes to Trump’s media enemies list, The New York Times continues to hold the top slot — as evidenced by his decision in October to sue the newspaper for $15 billion, claiming that it defamed him and tried to ruin his reputation.
This week, the president took this ongoing offensive in an unsettling direction. As Time magazine summarized:
Donald Trump will be the oldest U.S. President in history by the time he leaves office if he serves out his full second term, and while he nicknamed his predecessor Joe Biden as ‘Sleepy’ and amplified questions about his declining fitness for office, Trump now says that reports about his own aging are ‘seditious, perhaps even treasonous.’
That might sound like a wild exaggeration, but it’s entirely accurate.
On Tuesday night, after delivering an economic speech in which the president encouraged Americans to settle for less, Trump published a hysterical 487-word rant to his social media platform that was disturbing, even for him.
The whole tirade is worth reading, if for no other reason than to appreciate its intensity. The president boasted about how impressed he is with himself, pointing to fake accomplishments, taking credit for the nation’s “aura” and talking anew about having passed a cognitive test that he found difficult. It’s the kind of message that likely would generate an uncomfortable family meeting if you’d received it in an email from your grandparent.
But then Trump got to the heart of the matter, writing, “After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.’” He added, “They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it. … The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if The New York Times would cease publication.”
It’s insane for a sitting American president to equate journalism with sedition. It’s no better to see him casually throw around the word “treason” when targeting people and institutions who’ve upset him. But I’m also struck by the broader context: Two weeks ago, the Times published a report on the Republican’s effort to “project round-the-clock energy, virility and physical stamina,” which is starting to give way to an awkward new reality. From the article: Mr. Trump, 79, is the oldest person to be elected to the presidency, and he is aging. … [N]early a year into his second term, Americans see Mr. Trump less than they used to, according to a New York Times analysis of his schedule. Mr. Trump has fewer public events on his schedule and is traveling domestically much less than he did by this point during his first year in office, in 2017, although he is taking more foreign trips. He also keeps a shorter public schedule than he used to. Most of his public appearances fall between noon and 5 p.m., on average. In the days that followed, the president appeared to fall asleep in a variety of official settings. This is, to put it lightly, an unusually sensitive subject for Trump, and given his online harangue, it seems the Times touched a nerve. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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