Telling voters that Second Amendment advocates could stop Hillary in November, 70-year-old GOP nominee Donald Trump clearly meant the powerful National Rifle Association [NRA]-voting block could vote against Hillary in the Fall. Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “rapid response team” called Trump’s statements “dangerous.” “This is simple,” said Hillary campaign spokesman Robby Mook. “What Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way,” putting on full display how the Clinton propaganda machine feeds the press disinformation. Showing the media bias that’s killing the Trump campaign, mainstream media print and broadcast outlets gave Mook’s pernicious propaganda inappropriate access to the mainstream media. Media outlets are obligated under the First Amendment to vet pernicious propaganda to spare the public the kind of manipulation that’s dangerous to democracy.
Hillary’s “rapid response team” is designed to flood the mainstream media with disinformation, designed, to advance Hillary’s political agenda. Media outlets have an obligation to ferret out pernicious propaganda designed to disseminate false, misleading and damaging information. Suggesting that Trump invited gun owners to rise up and kill Hillary goes beyond the pale but displays exactly what the Trump campaign faces in the 2016 campaign. Painted as a “racist,” Trump’s got all his work cut out for him, reversing the flood of propaganda that sent his polls plummeting in the Democratic National Convention, now making Hillary the odds-on-favorite to win in November. While everything’s fair game, Trump’s communication team has done a poor job of confronting Hillary’s pernicious propaganda. It’s one thing for the Hillary campaign to make up outrageous stories, it’s yet another for the media to dignify pernicious propaganda as news.
Under the First Amendment, media organizations have a solemn duty to disseminate the truth, not join political organizations in fabricating news stories to advance agendas. “Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year they’ll be voting in record numbers and it wouldn’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump,” said Trump spokesman Jason Miller. “To buy that, you have to be corrupt,” said former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, rejecting Hillary’s campaign that Trump’s inciting violence. For months, Hillary’s campaign fed the media nonsense about the Trump campaign encouraging violence at campaign rallies. Countless fabricated stories were printed or broadcast advancing Hillary’s disinformation that the Trump campaign encouraged violence.
Hillary’s campaign deviously linked racial unrest due to a spate of officer-involved-shootings to the Trump campaign, reinforcing Hillary’s message that Trump’s a racist. Only recently has Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort identified as extreme media bias as a violation of First Amendment guarantees. “It proves that most the press is in the tank for Hillary Clinton,” said Giuliani, exposing the most recent example of extreme media bias against Trump. Stretching Trump’s appeal to NRA-backers to encouraging supporters to harm Hillary goes over the top. While it’s one thing for the Hillary spin machine to insinuate to push outright lies, it’s another for the media to run with the nonsense. Trump’s detractors, and there are many, like to find the worst-case scenario. “You’re not only responsible for what you say, you’re responsible for what you hear,” said former CIA Director Michael Hayden, criticizing Trump.
When you listen to network and cable news, with the possible exception of Fox News, Trump gets bad publicity. Republican’s turncoat attacks on Trump prompted Fox News host Sean Hannity to say “he’s sick and tired of the Republican Party.” Hannity was especially critical of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for savaging Trump at the Democratic National Convention. Media organizations are obligated to report the facts, not serve as an extension of one campaign or another. Manafort rightly questioned the way the press has shown extreme prejudice against the Trump campaign With the press against the Trump campaign, it’s hard to gain traction in the polls with only negative press reports. Instead of blaming Trump for making controversial statements, it’s time to call out the press for taking Hillary’s bate and reporting it as facts.
Accusing Trump threatening Hillary shows exactly how outrageous the use of pernicious propaganda. It wasn’t any different when Trump joked about asking the Russians to release Hillary’s 30,000 missing emails, after suspected of hacking Hillary’s private server and that of the Democratic national committee. Hillary’s “rapid response team” has plenty of “experts” to accuse Trump of breaching U.S. national security, inciting violence or causing race riots. When the media swallows Hillary’s propaganda hook, line and sinker, it’s not enough to plead ignorance, when, in reality, it’s complicity with Hillary’s campaign. Media organizations have a solemn duty to uphold the First Amendment, reporting the only the facts, not working surreptitiously for the Hillary campaign. Accusing Trump of threatening Hillary for backing Second Amendment advocates goes beyond the pale.
