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The Real Reason Trump Went After Don Lemon and Georgia Fort

The arrests are a shot across the now of the independent media

Dan Pfeiffer

Feb 3

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Friday’s arrest of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for reporting on a protest at a church is just the latest assault on press freedom by the Trump administration.

It wasn’t just the arrests themselves. It was the glee with which the administration celebrated them that was so chilling.

Pam Bondi, the embattled attorney general—desperately seeking ways to regain favor—posted a threatening video. The White House social media account followed up by posting this graphic:

Like so much of what is happening, this is shocking, but not surprising.

Trump first ran for office, calling the press “the enemy of the people,” siccing his rally crowds on reporters in attendance. He considers the press to be the opposition; the constitutional right to a free press is an obstacle to his agenda. Trump is also a thin-skinned, petty, wannabe dictator who bristles at anything short of obsequious approval.

The real question, however, is why Trump and his lackeys chose Lemon and Fort.

The first reason is obvious. Trump takes particular umbrage at criticism from people of color. Hence his long-running obsession with Joy-Ann Reid, AOC, and Jasmine Crockett—not to mention Kamala Harris.

But there is a second, more troubling reason. And it sheds light on Trump’s broader plan to control the media...