Donald Trump’s anti-media Twitter rants and repeated promises to “open up libel laws” are cause for concern.
Trump wants jail time and loss of citizenship for flag burning. He wants to “close up the internet” for our own protection. He called those who value First Amendment freedoms “foolish people.”
Trump’s “running war with the media” also includes labeling news outlets he doesn’t like as “fake news,” an alarming glimpse of what is to come.
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
Congratulations to @FoxNews for being number one in inauguration ratings. They were many times higher than FAKE NEWS @CNN – public is smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
“But the people would never let this happen!”
Not true. Compare this situation directly with what has been happening in Russia with our favorite James Bond villain Vladimir Putin, who shares Trump’s inability to take criticism or endure even the smallest of insults.
The Russian constitution gives its citizens the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but Putin’s government has systematically applied laws, regulations, prosecutions, criminal investigations, attacks, and threats which have forced the people to self-censor on a vast scale.
Trump has blacklisted entire news outlets, endangered individuals by calling them out during rallies, and threatened newspapers. These are exactly the type of tactics Putin has successfully employed in his quest to control a state-owned media empire that toes the official government line.
Bringing the Internet Under Government Control
Putin signed an extremely vague “Law on the Protection of Children from Information Detrimental to Their Health and Development” that is clearly aimed at bringing the internet under government control while at the same time creating a hostile environment for critics and activists.
“Harmful” websites are blacklisted and forced offline. There are no trials and no appeals, and the government can block any site for any reason whatsoever.
Federal Law No. 97, the “Russian data localization law.” adds more regulations including blogger restrictions and a registry. It also requires all personal information provided by Russian citizens to be stored on servers inside Russian territory. Government officials can access the data at any time.
These laws provide legal grounds to block social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Indeed, on Nov. 17, 2016, the Russian government officially blocked access to LinkedIn for its alleged violation of the data localization law.
A State-Owned Media Empire
The Kremlin tightly controls the Russian media. There are hundreds of news outlets that rarely offer opposing views. In fact, Russia has only one independent television channel: TV Rain. They have managed to stay operational despite massive efforts by the government to prevent them from broadcasting.
Masha Makeeva, TV Rain’s Deputy Editor said:
“The authorities didn’t want to shut us down, as that would have looked bad. They wanted to create impossible conditions for us so we had to shut down ourselves.”
Russian authorities continue their practice of creating “impossible conditions” by charging dissenters with trumped-up offenses such as “insulting a government servant” in order to limit their activities.
The citizens of the United States are in danger of losing their freedoms just as the people of Russia have. We must fight Trump at every turn if we want to keep our liberty intact.
https://youtu.be/yfEG4oWz5AY
Featured Image: Screenshot Via Twitter.
