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| President Donald Trump called the "fake news media" the "true enemy of the people," the week after bombs were sent to top Democratic officials and CNN, and just a few days after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. |
It's a vicious finger-pointing cycle |
| By Elvia Diaz |
| You know President Donald Trump is desperate when he goes nuts about militarizing the U.S.- Mexico border to keep out the Central American "invasion" and the "terrorists" hiding among the migrant caravan. Or when he threatens to ax a constitutional amendment with a stroke of his pen to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of foreigners. |
| The president apparently thought the menace of an "invasion" and "terrorists" wouldn't get enough conservative voters to the polls on Tuesday. He decided to tease America with the idea that he could end — by executive order — the birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. |
| What happened next? |
| We in the news media went equally nuts with wall-to-wall coverage of Trump's teaser. Yes, it was just that, a teaser because it'd be nearly impossible for Trump to pull it off. |
| Yet, we fell for it. |
| Who's really crazier here, Trump or the mainstream media that give him the attention he seeks to his lies, his bizarre and wacky statements? |
| Anything about Trump is frustrating. I've advocated scrutinizing each of his words as long as he remains president of the United States. Then, like many Americans, I recoil in disgust as I watch how we — the news media — continue to feed his most primitive instincts. |
| We've been at a crossroads since Trump's election and his incessant attacks on journalists as the "enemy of the people." |
| On the one hand, investigative journalists have relentlessly covered the chaotic administration, resulting in special counsel Robert Muller's Russia investigation and high-profile indictments. |
| Journalists have sounded the alarm on everything from the Muslim ban to the cruel White House policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, which Trump has since rescinded. |
| On the other, wall-to-wall coverage of every word he utters and every tweet he posts has deepened America's divide. Americans are angry at journalists, at each other, at the president. |
| Trump blames the media for that. The media blame him. How and when will this end? |
| We are simply the messenger — nothing more. It pains me at times, but journalists must keep reporting every word the presidents utters and every tweet he posts. |
| We must do so responsibly and, yes, we must always call out the lies, the bizarre and the wacky. But we also should not get carried away, lending credence to outlandish claims. |
| There is good news in this feud. And that is you — the voter — have the power to help restore America's integrity. |
| Don't be fooled by Trump's tantrums and distractions. Don't be fooled by the ads or the sensational news coverage. You're smart enough to know better. |
| Elvia Diaz is an editorial columnist for The Arizona Republic, where this column first appeared. You can follow him on Twitter: @elviadiaz1. |
 | | Trump zipper | | RJ Matson/Portland, Maine/PoliticalCartoons.com | |
What our readers are saying |
| Comments taken from USA TODAY's Facebook group "Across the Aisle, Across the Nation": |
| Actually, I'm so happy we have President Donald Trump to do the job. There are a lot of us who feel this way. If the news media would ever report the good he does, instead of all these opinion pieces they spew, people wouldn't be so upset. I think he is doing a great job and will vote for him again in 2020. |
| — Lisa Alonso |
| Has anyone considered that the left and right agendas and the media manipulation are the reasons Trump is in office? Never has this nation been more polarized. If we don't fix things like media bias, team left vs. team blue and start putting term limits to get these corrupted crooks out of office, we may get worse than Trump. I do think Trump is selfish, deceiving and a poor person in general, and I do not like him, but he has done better than many before him. |
| — Robert Tomberlin |
| Letter to the editor: |
| This constant focus to undermine the press has a well-developed strategy to sow doubt and distrust in the media, as they continue to report President Donald Trump's actions. When you hear him at a rally complimenting a congressman for body-slamming a reporter saying, "He's my kind of guy," Trump's promoting violence. When he continues to attack the news, he sounds like a person blaming his appearance on the mirror. |
| You take away our free press and you remove accountability from our leaders. |
| James Keough; Palos Heights, Ill. |
What others are saying |
| Dick Meyer, USA TODAY : "By discrediting the press, President Donald Trump discredits criticism and scrutiny of his administration, character and words. He discredits the idea that truth and facts exist. Many have written that this is the deep, enduring threat that Trumpism poses to democracy. Trump doesn't only mock the press; he lies to it compulsively and thus to 'the people.' In doing so, he uses another technique swiped from other 20th authoritarian regimes — The Big Lie." |
| Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times : "By so often putting his words under a microscope, journalists may give the impression to Trump's supporters and even some undecided voters that they are out to get him. ... In practical terms, then, journalists should ignore Trump's tactic of using false narratives to divert their attention away from real crises. ... But how long will it take the news media to come up with a more effective way to counter the litany of baseless claims washing through the news cycle?" |
| Ezra Klein, Vox : "Trump has always treated his presidency as a reality show, and every good reality show needs a villain. From day one, Trump wanted his villain to be the media. With Democrats basically powerless, the media were the only force powerful enough to make continuing sense of Trump's aggrieved, oppositional political style. The problem was the media didn't want to be Trump's opposition party. The media wanted to cover his presidency. ... Trump's solution to that problem has been to provoke the media into looking like his opposition by lying in more absurd ways and directly attacking them in more outrageous ways at more and more outrageous times." |
| To join the conversations about topics on USA TODAY or provide feedback to this newsletter, email jrivera@usatoday.com, comment on Facebook, or use #tellusatoday on Twitter. |
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