By Ben Schiffman
Last Tuesday night, after election results showed Democrats would take control of the house for at least the next two years, President Trump immediately and publicly reacted with fear for his presidency and reputation and with anger at the democratic process here in the US.
This became most apparent in the press conference following the election, and the subsequent revocation of CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta’s “hard pass,” his press credentials that allow him to enter the White House and report on the administration. This move is not only unconstitutional, but a glimpse into the dictatorial position that Trump sees himself as occupying as the President of the United States — a position which we can now say has had a multitude of negative effects on our democracy.
Trump’s post-election meltdown is more than a glimpse towards the dictator Trump wishes he can be, but more an example of how Trump is willing to abuse his power with no hesitation. Journalists and pundits alike have predicted how Trump may abuse the powers of the office of the President, and now we can see these predictions were not only valid, but have come true.
Trump’s willingness to undermine the press has been observable even before he was sworn into office. His harsh and dangerous rhetoric portrays negative press as not only fake and slanted, but as the enemy of the people out to harm our democracy. When in reality, the press aims only to strengthen our republic. And we now know his rhetoric has been more than just words.
His rhetoric can also be linked to a rise in white nationalism, and politically motivated violence. The FBI recently reported that the rate of hate crimes being committed in the US rose 17% in Trump’s first year in office. A bomber sent a multitude of packages to CNN, its reporters and public critics of the president. The president has called CNN specifically the enemy of the people many times. A shooter killed 11 Jews in a synagogue, citing Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, in addition to his horrific anti-semitism, as a motivation to kill these innocent people. Clearly, Trump’s words are not only aggressively attacking our democratic norms, but causing terrible harm to the country and its people.
The press especially has been harmed. Hard working men and women seemingly risk their sanity to report on this administration. Jim Acosta being banned from reporting on Trump’s White House is the culmination of all this horrifying rhetoric against the free press. With seemingly no regard for the Constitution, Trump is showing his true colors: a wanna-be dictator.
Losing the House will likely have dire consequences for Trump, as the Democrats will now have control of oversight powers in Congress. Although daunting for any president, one with nothing to hide shouldn’t feel the need to lash out at our democracy as a result. The president, like a child, is a sore loser. His party lost the house; now we lose our democracy, he seems to be saying.
Trump has no regard for our nation’s founding principles, and more than likely this shocking power grab will come back to haunt this president, and he will regret attacking the freedom of his people.
