Recently, Donald Trump tweeted a GIF of him beating up CNN. Of course, he didn't actually beat up CNN. The GIF was made from a wrestling video of Trump slamming WWE CEO Vince McMahon to the ground, with the CNN logo was superimposed over McMahon's face, giving the appearance that Trump was tackling CNN to the ground. This set of a firestorm of criticism against Trump, and led CNN to want to find the origins of the GIF.
CNN found that the GIF was created by Redditor /u/HanAssholeSolo and was posted to the subreddit r/The_Donald, which is notorious for being a #MAGA cesspool.How Trump was able to get his hands on the GIF is still unknown. It was found the HanAssholeSolo also made several anti-Semitic as well as Islamophobic posts on Reddit. Due to his history, especially because of the GIF, CNN claimed that it reserved the right to release the true identity of HanAssholeSolo, but would not, because (s)he is a private citizen and (s)he apologized; however, if (s)he posted anything explicitly violent again, they would release his info. some may believe that is not a case of blackmail, that is what it appears to be. CNN clearly stated that it will release his name if (s)he posts something that they deem inappropriate again.
Let me be clear, HanAssholeSolo is just a run of the mill troll. (S)he deserves no time dedicated to him/her or attention thrown his/her way. All (s)he did was make a GIF. There are plenty of people on the Internet who create much worse memes, even about CNN. Yes, CNN threatening to release his name does not violate the First Amendment, but it does demonstrate the CNN is willing to try and silence content. It's just a meme, and HanAssholeSolo was just trying to be funny. The fact that CNN is more than willing to potentially ruin someone's life over a simple meme goes to show what their priorities are. The real concern is the fact that Trump tweeted the GIF himself. Don't waste time on trying to find the creator of the GIF. Trump has, in an unprecedented fashion, attacked the media. Presidents certainly more than welcome to criticize how the media portrays them, but no president should be attacking the media as "the enemy of the people."
Of course, though, this is all just a distraction. The media in general will keep the country pointed to this issue while the rest of the world is on to important things. We actually signed a ceasefire deal in Syria (which I did not expect, but I hope will lead to greater deescalation in the region.) which may not hold with neocons aching for war and the neoliberals tacitly supporting it. And, we're still looking to increase our involvement in Afghanistan (America's longest war). Don't let Trump's petty squabbles distract you, for those are what's actually fake news. Focus on the real stuff.
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