Photo credit: Dave Davidson (Prezography.com)
The Washington Post’s recent headline “Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting” troubles me.
Donald Trump seemed to repeatedly accuse President Obama on Monday of identifying with radicalized Muslims who have carried out terrorist attacks in the United States and being complicit in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando over the weekend, the worst the country has ever seen (My note: actually not true).
“Look, we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said in a lengthy interview on Fox News early Monday morning. “And the something else in mind — you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.”
News, Not Opinion
I understand Trump’s complaint. President Obama’s inability to call our greatest national security threat for what it is boggles the mind. Heck even Hillary Clinton acknowledged it. It is odd how President Obama will bend over backwards to defend Islam.
Therefore, Trump’s comments make sense to those who have been critical of President Obama.
Futhermore it is reasonable to ask why the FBI dropped not just one, but two investigations of this individual. Also, it is reasonable to ask why they did not inform local authorities and how he was still able to keep his private security license.
Even asking those questions does not rhetorically connect President Obama to the shooting, and that is something Trump did not do.
The Washington Post’s headline belongs in the opinion section of the newspaper. It’s not news because it is an opinion.
I expected Donald Trump’s response to go overboard, and the campaign delivered.
The Washington Post unfortunately covers Mr. Trump very inaccurately. Today’s headline, “Donald Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved With Orlando Shooting” is a perfect example. We no longer feel compelled to work with a publication which has put its need for “clicks” above journalistic integrity.
They have no journalistic integrity and write falsely about Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump does not mind a bad story, but it has to be honest. The fact is, The Washington Post is being used by the owners of Amazon as their political lobbyist so that they don’t have to pay taxes and don’t get sued for monopolistic tendencies that have led to the destruction of department stores and the retail industry.
Trump punishes those who criticize him.
Trump’s modus operandi with his campaign so far is to ban news outlets that criticizes him or publishes an article he perceives to be unfair. Is this what a Trump White House will look like?
Does he plan on making the White House a safe space?
Just because Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee doesn’t make this approach to the press acceptable either. The Washington Post needs to go back to reporting news, and Donald Trump needs to stop banning news organizations he doesn’t like. The First Amendment is at stake.
I disagreed with President Obama’s handling of the press in the past and I can’t give Donald Trump a pass either.