Profile picture
Greg Sargent @ThePlumLineGS
, 9 tweets, 7 min read Read on Twitter
1) Sarah Sanders is flagrantly lying about what happened with @acosta, to justify punishing a reporter for holding Trump accountable.

People seem baffled.

How could the White House lie about something that's on video, where everyone can see what really happened?

*Thread*
@Acosta 2) The answer is that the audacity of the White House's lying is *the whole point* of it.

The lying is an *assertion of power.*

Trump and the White House lie about things that have already been debunked. They lie audaciously, about the most trivial, easily disprovable matters.
@Acosta 3) Once understood as an assertion of power, the more frequent and audacious the lying is, the better.

From my book, “An Uncivil War”:

amazon.com/Uncivil-War-De…
@Acosta 4) This lying as assertion of power, in a way, is directly linked to the underlying act -- the revocation of @acosta’s credentials.

The White House can not only crack down on a journo for holding Trump accountable; it can also lie about why, and you can't do anything about it.
@Acosta 5) This will thrill many of Trump’s supporters, who actually do believe the media is the enemy of the people, or are at least are willing to tell pollsters this, as an expression of solidarity with Trump.

Quinnipiac:

poll.qu.edu/national/relea…
@Acosta 6) Previous presidents have, of course, tangled with the media.

But this concerted, ongoing casting of the press as the enemy of the people is in important respects something new:

amazon.com/Uncivil-War-De…
@Acosta 7) This is why @jayrosen_nyu says the media is embroiled in a “public battle," and the “fight of its life.”

Many have struggled to find the right footing in response.

But we have been in situations like this before. Historically, the media has adapted:

amazon.com/Uncivil-War-De…
@Acosta @jayrosen_nyu 8) Still, this is an exceptionally trying moment. And don’t forget: Trump's attacks have *actual consequences.*

Robert Chain, who allegedly threatened to murder Boston Globe employees, echoed Trump’s “enemy of the people” language while doing so:

washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-lin…
@Acosta @jayrosen_nyu 9) But Trump continues using this language, anyway. At yesterday's presser, he attacked @CNN in precisely these terms.

Trump knows what he is doing may be inciting murderous intent, yet keeps it up, anyway.

Let’s adapt accordingly.

FIN
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Greg Sargent
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!