1/ In regards to my tweets today about "institutions" that make us great, let's talk about journalism and "both-sides-ism". Nobody likes it, but those who disagree with us are still reasonable people, the are multiple sides to every debate. This is why a free press is valuable.
2/ Let's take "anti-vaxxers" for a moment, which I assume you'll agree are "batshit crazy" and not "reasonable" in any fashion. Yet, we still have a "both sides" issue. Even if "vaccines cause autism" argument is garbage, we still debate whether governments can force vaccines.
3/ It's the same argument whether governments can force you to donate a kidney. Or force you to donate bone marrow (which is relatively harmless to the donor). Or force a woman to cary a baby to term.
4/ There's also a scientific debate. In the effort to prove stupid anti-vaxxers wrong, you've glossed over details. Why none of the science means "don't get vaccines", they do cause harm and adverse reactions in some cases. You can corrupt the science even when it's on your side.
5/ The problem with the press, though, is not that they do "both-sides-ism" on the anti-vaxx debate, but that they choose the wrong sides. They'll pick nutjobs because it makes for entertaining TV rather than look at the serious discussions.
6/ Any reasonable statement gets twisted. Chris Christie took the unusual stance that sometimes government CAN force vaccines, and this got twisted into him being an anti-vaxxer for saying sometimes they should't force vaccines.
7/ You can pick any debate which you are certain is one-sided, like climate change, the Mexican wall, evolution, and so on, and there are reasonable people on the other side. It's just that the press often fails to find them, because unreasonable people are more entertaining.
8/ In any case, this is about the institution of the free press. "Free" means they'll behave in ways I don't like. But there's a difference between criticizing them and calling them illegitimate.
9/ Sometimes Trump has valid criticisms of the press, but the issue is that Trump calls the press illegitimate, as in "Enemy of the People". This is a difference between criticizing and delegitimizing things as President.
