On April 21, I was presented with an opportunity. I had a night off of work, a friend with a car and two free tickets to the Donald Trump rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I took advantage of this opportunity for two reasons:
- I needed to see if the hype surrounding Mr. Trump and his rallies was true. I’m sure we’ve all seen the stories about protesters being ridiculed and thrown out as well as the outlandish statements he makes against the media, the other candidates and the people inside of the arena. Videos don’t do the hatred justice.
- My teacher was offering extra credit to anyone who went to a political rally. Who doesn’t like extra credit?
At the rally, we were met with hundreds, if not thousands, of people who could probably smell the liberal on us. To put it lightly, they were people you would not want to meet in a dark alley.
As we sat in our seats in the grandstands ‒ because there was no way we would make it out alive on the floor -- we were met with a lot of yelling and a lot of nonsense from both the big man himself and the people who came to see him. Trump rallies have been compared to the likes of a circus. In my opinion, it’s much worse. People scream obscenities, hatred and discrimination can be smelled in the air, and the entire vibe is off-putting.
There were many things that upset me at the rally, but one of the things that hit me the most was the following words that came out of the big, outlandish and awfully-orange guy’s mouth: “Look at the media back there, aren’t they ridiculous? That is a group of the most dishonest human beings. They’re the worst.” Cue booing from everyone on the ground.
As more and more news about Trump’s so-called media "blacklist" is reported, I am continuously brought back to that day, brought back to that moment and brought back to that sentence.
I won’t deny that some other politicians may also despise the media, and I also won’t deny that the media will sometimes stretch the truth to get a good story, but Trump’s behavior is childish and downright un-American as he denies news outlets the right to report on a presidential candidate’s rallies. How else are people who are unable to attend, or do not want to attend, these rallies supposed to uncover the news?
For those who do not know, Trump’s blacklist has been growing in size since he announced his campaign for the presidency. This list prevents journalists associated with the blacklisted news outlets from attending any of the presidential candidate’s events, thus forcing them to stop covering the stories from such events as well as revokes all credentials on articles posted about Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump has recently added The Washington Post, one of the biggest news outlets in America, to his list. Other blacklist members include Politico, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post and the National Review.
According to an article published on Newsweek, Trump calls the blacklisted newspapers “phony” and “dishonest.” Perhaps they’re phony and dishonest because they’re pointing out the truth behind the presumptive Republican nominee’s policies and ideas. Perhaps they do not agree with something that he mentioned at a rally or interview and decided to share their opinions. Regardless of the reason, one thing is for sure: Trump doesn’t like them.
Is that a good reason to blacklist them? Is that fair? Does it even follow the first amendment? Doesn't it sound similar to a dictator?
Some may say that Trump has the right to create such a list. It’s his rally, so he can decide who he does and does not want to attend the event. It’s just like any other party, right? Children are able to invite or disinvite other children to their birthday party, so why can’t Trump do the same with his rally?
As childish as the presidential candidate may be, he’s not a child. He is a 70-year-old man who is vying for the most important title in the United States. He is a presidential candidate, not a teenager who decides they no longer want to be friends with The Washington Post.
By blacklisting certain media sites, he is essentially saying that not everyone has the right to hear the things that he’s saying, merely because he does not like them or the things they say. As a common reader of The Washington Post, I am almost appalled by Trump’s actions. I can attest that I scoured the Post’s website for almost an hour while writing this article and found nothing out of the ordinary. I found no articles that ridiculed Trump more than any of the other candidates.
Not only is he restricting freedom of the press, but he is limiting the outreach of his words. Is that good or bad? It’s both.
We might think of limiting the publication of Trump’s outlandish statements as a good thing. I can’t think of anyone except his own followers who want to see that kind of hateful, derogatory behavior a daily basis. By not reporting about his events, we are giving him less and less publicity. Trump is a charismatic man. In fact, that charisma is one of the only reasons the Republican has made it this far. When we limit his outreach, we limit his popularity, right? Perhaps this blacklist is actually backlashing against Trump.
Wrong.
Would Trump ever do something that didn’t benefit him? This blacklist serves a purpose. Not only does it prove to the world that Trump has power and he’s not afraid to use it to punish big companies he does not agree with, but it also limits the outreach. By limiting his outreach, we’re essentially ignoring his words. Again, that may seem like a good idea on the surface, but by ignoring him, we are blind to what he plans to do in office. We already know very little about how Trump plans to pursue his policies besides the thousands of times that he’s responded with “I’m going to make them [bring back our jobs, pay for the wall].” I imagine that we don’t want to know any less than what we already know.
While the blacklist may seem like it limits Trump’s publicity, it may actually increase it. Almost every news outlet, blacklisted or not, is reporting on the blacklist. Buzzfeed even made a video about it.
What is the purpose? Are we even sure ourselves?
There is only one thing for sure: the mind games this man can play are dangerous.
When will the mutiny stop? When will this childish behavior be put to an end? I fear that this may be just the beginning of the end for freedom of the press. If Trump can do this when he's just a candidate for president, what could he be capable of doing if he actually succeeds and becomes the next president?
Sooner or later, we'll all say something that he dislikes and be blacklisted too.