Donald Trump’s Bible thumping photo-op has turned into a public relations catastrophe. The New York Times reported that it was the brain child of Hope Hicks, now back at the White House after her brief sabbatical at Fox News. To do the photo op setting the stage for Project Themis, where divine law and order is restored, it was necessary to clear Lafayette Park of protesters and somebody in Trump world made the decision to use tear gas — and now the Trump campaign is all over media outlets getting them to print retractions and say it didn’t happen, even though live broadcasts clearly showed that it did.

That was followed up by the Trump campaign sending out this note to media outlets. This was received by Media Matters, who told them “no,” they weren’t going to turn into Sean Spicer.

Hope you all are doing well, staying healthy and safe.

Saw your piece this morning on the use of tear gas at Lafayette Square. Wanted to make sure you saw our official statement on the false reports and would appreciate it if you would retract and correct your piece.

As always, happy to be a resource for you.

And this is Media Matters’ rationale.

Our response: No.

The Trump campaign is currently pressuring journalists and news outlets, demanding they issue retractions and corrections. None of them should cave to the pressure to deny well-established reporting.

One day after Trump’s inauguration in 2017, we warned, “Journalists need to recognize that they are dealing with proto-fascist conditions. Accordingly, they must stiffen their spines and stand up for their profession and the truth.” That warning echoes even louder in this moment.

Any journalist or media outlet that revises their original reporting based on nothing more than Trump’s assertions will have essentially morphed themselves into a cog in Trump’s authoritarian propaganda wheel — no better off than Sean Spicer the night he infamously lied about Trump’s inauguration crowd size.

Here are some facts about the government’s actions at Lafayette Square on June 1 and the U.S. Park Police’s absurd statement on June 2 that the Trump campaign is citing.

This clip is a good synopsis of this story. In particular, go to 1:54 and watch the White House’s version of Donald Trump, Man of God, making his pilgrimage to the church, complete with organ music. Sweet Jesus. This belongs in a remake of The Exorcist.

This next clip is good as well, because the reporter says that while he’s listening to Trump talking in his ear about law and order, “I was watching people fall down, I was watching people get pushed aside … they were using flash bangs and tear gas.”

This is what this distills down to: We have an administration which is so corrupt that it would have you expect that reality is now nothing more than a liar’s context and people who buy Fox News’ version of life are being told the truth and the rest of us are being lied to by the Forces of Evil. Anybody who opposes Donald Trump is evil per se. That is what we are being asked as a people to swallow.

I cannot do better than to quote George Orwell.

Trump made the comment while telling his whopper about tariffs not being a tax, but a way of getting China to write huge checks, to the VFW. The message that day was clear: Trump needs you to ignore the reality of your own senses and believe in him. He wants to be Big Brother.

And his Team Trump campaign is hoping that they can rattle media organizations into printing the lies that Trump and his campaign want them to print, to make Trump look good. The jaw drops.

 

Help keep the site running, consider supporting.

1 COMMENT

  1. Every one of those outlets are going to tell them what Jimmy Carter told the late Jerry Falwell: in a very Christian way, go to hell. It’s weak sauce on top of weak sauce, all part of what Hoarse Whisperer calls “the Loco Lawn Sprinkler phase” of Trump’s narcissistic cycle. It’s the stage of his psychology where he does the least harm, thankfully.

    • This was the time for all that to happen and he blew it so badly that no one will ever fear him again.

      So no, it’s he…who’s…effed. And in five months, we make that official.

      • Sorry, Loan Wolf. I have to go with Bear Shark on this one. The generals are making it clear they aren’t buying into tRump’s insanity. tRump can’t keep up his facade much longer. He’s going to literally blow a gasket and have a stroke or a psychotic breakdown.

  4. If only I were a honcho at one of these news outlets…

    MY response would be “Kiss my ass, then go screw the only person you care about – yourself!”

  5. Here is the Park Police statement: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/uspp/6_2_20_statement_from_acting_chief_monahan.htm

    I have been tear-gassed. It’s very distinctive, but id you have never experienced it, I can imagine that that any eye irritant, like pepper gas, s, may well be reported as tear gas. It is also largely irrelevant as the main point is the the park police likely illegally obeyed an unlawful order. The main theme of the statement seems to be that the police action was mostly preemptive, implying the crowd was planning mayhem after dark. But that’s not how it works. If the police really did find hidden caches of whatever, they simply confiscate it, and that’s the end of it. You don’t assault people who are presumed innocent.

    The fact is the WH scripted a scene where Trump is giving a speech about mayhem while ordering the Park Police to create mayhem outside the WH in the same moment. Barr was the on-location director.

  6. Pepper spray comes from the active compound in peppers, capsaicin. Tear gas is usually “CS gas,” or 2-chlorobenzalmalnonitrile, or, more rarely, “CN gas,” or phenylcyl chloride. Pepper spray and tear gas are different gases, but the difference is pretty much irrelevant to the main story.

      • The difference is moot to the people being gassed. By focusing on the trivial tear gas v pepper spray, the Trump campaign is deflecting from the main point that Trump ordered an assault upon US citizens peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.

  7. We’re just not behaving the way he demands we do and it has to be hurting his foot as he stomps it up and down in frustration and rage. That Bible stunt was, my opinion only, the cliched straw that broke the camel’s back. It was so visually fatuous as to be hysterically laughable. Said this before but will say it again: I hate like the devil to rush life away, but my God I can’t wait for November to arrive. And in the hope we are still standing by then.

  8. They are trying to claim it wasn’t tear gas on a very technical point, because the gas they used (OC) has exactly the same tear-causing effect as CS and CN. It’s a lie from the police/military/whatever agency Bill Barr commanded to do this.

  9. It’s easy to say that you gave a warning after you gas people. Like Hitler saying you won’t need a towel after your shower to the Jews in Germany.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

The maximum upload file size: 128 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here