Trump agrees with former Communist KGB Putin on "getting rid" (killing) of Journalists

Rabid far righties howl about infringements of any sort on their precious 2nd Amendment rights. 

AR-15s? Don't you dare touch them!  2nd Amendment! 2nd Amendment! My right to bare my arms!!!!!!!

The so-called POTUS agrees with a murderous Russian dictator about "getting rid" of journalists (there is no free press without journalists), and the rabid far righties who whine about preserving the 2nd Amendment, laugh along with Trump in his joke about getting rid of the First Amendment.





This is the guy Trump admires:


Putin has "gotten rid" of not only journalists, but his opponents.

The Republican POTUS thinks it's funny to joke about killing journalists, like his hero, Putin, kills them.

Trump also made a Ha-Ha funny and told Putin "don't meddle in our next election." Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. Get what I mean; get what I mean.

Trump and Putin make a lovely duo: Both of them have no respect for our American values or the Constitution.

TrumpCultists love it when Trump and Putin joke about killing ("getting rid') of journalists.




Donald Trump joked with Russian President Vladimir Putin that they should “get rid” of journalists as they met in public at the G-20 conference of world leaders in Osaka, Japan. Indicating toward the journalists in the room, Trump said, “Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn’t it? You don’t have this problem in Russia but we do.” 

Putin responded, in English: “We also have. It’s the same.” 

It has been reported that 21 journalists have been killed in Russia since Putin came to power in March 2000. Trump’s remarks come a year to the day that a gunman killed five people at the Annapolis Capital-Gazette in Maryland.



The fourth estate in Russia 

 Russia currently ranks 180 out of 199 countries for press freedom, behind Iraq, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the international watchdog Freedom House. 

Though it has never been known for its media independence, Russia’s press freedom and ranking have continuously decreased in the past decade under Putin.

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Reporters killed 

 Combining data from two nonprofits that records violations of press rights (the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and the Moscow-based Glasnost Defense Foundation), we found that at least 34 journalists have been murdered in Russia since 2000. (This tally only includes deaths confirmed or likely to be work-related homicides committed in Russia. It doesn’t include murders where the motives are unclear, or journalists killed in war and on other dangerous assignments, like covering the mob or riots.) 

 For comparison, in the same time period, two journalists were murdered in China, while three were killed in the United States (including the on-air deaths of two television reporters in Virginia this year). Nina Ognianova, the coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Europe and Central Asia program, said journalists covering corruption, human rights abuses, organized crime, and official wrongdoing can be "slain with impunity in Putin’s Russia." "Their killers are emboldened to act by an administration that marginalizes them, isolates them, and downplays their role in society," she said.

Accusing the New York Times of ‘Treason,’ Trump Crosses a Line

The Founders considered it the gravest of crimes. Tossing the charge around is irresponsible and wrong.

From the WSJ, June 19, 2019

First it was “the failing New York Times.” Then “fake news.” Then “enemy of the people.” President Trump’s escalating attacks on the New York Times have paralleled his broader barrage on American media. He’s gone from misrepresenting our business, to assaulting our integrity, to demonizing our journalists with a phrase that’s been used by generations of demagogues. Now the president has escalated his attacks even further, accusing the Times of a crime so grave it is punishable by death. 

On Saturday, Mr. Trump said the Times had committed “a virtual act of treason.” The charge, levied on Twitter , was in response to an article about American cyber incursions into the Russian electrical grid that his own aides had assured our reporters raised no national-security concerns. Few paid much attention. Many news organizations, including the Times, determined the accusation wasn’t even worth reporting, a sign of how inured we’ve grown to such rhetorical recklessness. But this new attack crosses a dangerous line in the president’s campaign against a free and independent press. Treason is the only crime explicitly defined in the U.S. Constitution. 

The Founding Fathers knew the word’s history as a weapon wielded by tyrants to justify the persecution and execution of enemies. They made its definition immutable—Article III reads: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort”—to ensure that it couldn’t be abused by politicians for self-serving attacks on rivals or critics. 

The crime is almost never prosecuted, but Mr. Trump has used the word dozens of times. There is no more serious charge a commander in chief can make against an independent news organization. Which presents a troubling question: What would it look like for Mr. Trump to escalate his attacks on the press further? Having already reached for the most incendiary language available, what is left but putting his threats into action?