The president peddles fake news
We are hearing President Trump label news stories that displease him as “fake news.” By any reasonable definition, fake news is intentionally designed to deceive readers or viewers by making false claims, quoting errant statistics, providing misinformation and corrupting facts.
Many examples of fake news circulated online during President Obama’s tenure, including claims that he ordered the United States Postal Service to issue a postage stamp celebrating a Muslim holiday, that he ordered the Marine Corps to change its uniform head dress to a “girlie-style” model, and that he and Michelle Obama saluted the flag with their left hands. These were pure and unabashed fabrications, created by internet trolls who apparently have nothing better to do than generate falsehoods.
What isn’t fake news is analytical reporting. When the press prints stories that the president finds not to be to his liking, he labels them as fake news. Strangely, Trump and his White House cronies are at their very best when they fabricate and spin their own versions of situations, that are easily exposed as fake news. It is most distressing that apparently many citizens are so easily swayed into believing Trump is doing an excellent job as president simply because he vehemently proclaims it to be true.
Add his boisterous demeanor to his attack on the press as the “enemy of the American people,” and we see the initial steps of an autocrat in the making. This is outrageous, and the citizens of the United States must put a stop to this before too much damage is done to our democracy.
Ronald J. Yamka
Canonsburg