Trump's latest display isn't just deranged. It's also an abuse of power.
I think it is a good article.
Trump’s latest display isn’t just deranged. It’s also an abuse of power.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/27/trumps-latest-display-isnt-just-deranged-its-also-an-abuse-power/
May 27, 2020 at 9:44 a.m. CDT
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That debate pits those who see Trump as a clownish and ineffective autocrat wannabe against those who see a much more insidiously destructive form of corruption at work.
What’s happening right now strongly supports the latter interpretation. While some will seek to cast Trump’s war on Twitter as largely feckless, it actually constitutes a genuine abuse of power that is already showing corrosive signs of working as intended.
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.........................Trump’s threats have a real impact
That larger context is a much longer-running pressure campaign by Trump allies to equate any and all fact-checking of Trump with Bias Against Conservatives. In response to Twitter’s fact-checking of Trump’s lies about voter fraud, Trump campaign manager Brad
Parscale said this:
We always knew that Silicon Valley would pull out all the stops to obstruct and interfere with President Trump getting his message through to voters.
Trump reiterated a version of that, claiming that Twitter is “interfering” in the election and “stifling FREE SPEECH.”
Now let’s also note that Twitter’s fact-checking also shared information with voters that could actually inform them about vote-by-mail, thus potentially giving them additional options to vote amid a pandemic.
Trump and his campaign are quite literally claiming the right to lie to the American people about potentially lifesaving voting options during a pandemic — entirely free of accountability. They are explicitly declaring that any effort to correct those lies will be cast as an affront to the free speech of conservatives...................................................
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(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
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