New York Times Publisher Fires Back at Trump’s ‘ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE’ Tweet: ‘It’s Dangerous’
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger published a response to President Trump’s Wednesday morning tweet calling the paper the “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE,” calling the president’s violent rhetoric both “false” and “dangerous.”
Following a well-documented and comprehensive Times report revealing that the president attempted to pressure then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to interfere in the Southern District of New York’s Michael Cohen investigation, Trump tweeted out that the Times’ reporting “is false” and that they are truly the public’s enemy.
The New York Times reporting is false. They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019
In a statement published in the Times Wednesday afternoon, Sulzberger noted that while presidents in the past have complained about the coverage they’ve received but that by “demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light, President Trump is retreating from a distinctly American principle.”
Noting that the phrase “enemy of the people” is “not just false, it’s dangerous,” Sulzberger said that this rhetoric has an “ugly history” of being used by dictators and tyrants.
Besides blasting the Times as an enemy, Trump also tweeted that the “dishonest” press write stories with “absolutely no basis in fact,” complaining that “writers don’t even call for verification.”
The Press has never been more dishonest than it is today. Stories are written that have absolutely no basis in fact. The writers don’t even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control. Sadly, I kept many of them in business. In six years, they all go BUST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2019
This was refuted by NYT reporter Maggie Haberman, who flat out called this a “lie” Wednesday morning, pointing out that she and other reporters reached out to the president last week to and sent several emails looking for comment.
The president has continued to call the “Fake News” media the “enemy of the people” over the past year, even after a Trump superfan mailed pipe bombs to CNN’s offices and American journalists have been targeted and killed. This, however, seems to be the first time he has singled out a single publication with the attack like while not using his “Fake News” qualifier.
