There seems to be a lot of memory loss working its way through the mainstream press of late, particularly about how President Obama dealt with the media. The latest example is this tweet by Ron Fournier, which contains two major flaws.
Chris Wallace tells @Reince Obama whined about media but never accused journalists of being enemies of state. Only Trump crossed that line
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) February 19, 2017
First, Mr. Fournier misquotes the president. Here is the Trump tweet to which he is referring. Notice that Trump calls the press the “enemy of the American people,” not the enemy of the state.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
The second problem with Fournier’s tweet is that he is forgetting about or ignoring the fact that Obama used the Department of Justice to go after members of the media and their families.
No, he just tried to indict them in espionage cases. https://t.co/4MiZUWltv9
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) February 19, 2017
.Obama went after James Rosen and his family. Yes, his FAMILY. https://t.co/pBgUdeep9i
— ElizabethJ❌?????? (@flatwalk) February 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/BasedVet/status/833367659400003584
This stat from an article in The Guardian back in May of 2013 puts Obama’s feelings about the media in perspective:
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The Obama justice department has prosecuted more government leakers under the 1917 Espionage Act than all prior administrations combined – in fact, double the number of all such prior prosecutions.
As of now, the Trump administration has not named any members of the media as co-conspirators, even though there have been some very damaging leaks and reporting thereon. So Mr. Fournier is correct that a line was crossed. Obama’s using the DOJ as a weapon against the press is far more concerning than Trump simply calling them out.
Update:
James Rosen responds to Ron Fournier’s tweet.
.@ron_fournier @Reince I was a declared enemy of the state under @BarackObama and @EricHolder. Sad but true.
— James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) February 19, 2017
Related:
Ron Fournier sparks some flashbacks after telling Trump why he’s #NotTheEnemy
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