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Thune: Contra Trump, Free Press Vital to Democracy

Why should you ring the Blog Tip Jar and support Dakota Free Press?

Because, as Republican Senator John Thune tells WNAX, the free press is vital to democracy:

…A free press plays an important role in keeping governments accountable and… holding their feet to the fire. We need a vibrant, open, and free press [Senator John Thune, audio clip #1, in “SD Senator John Thune: Media Not ‘Enemies of the People’,” WNAX, 2018.07.09].

Senator Thune says he and most (only “most”? let’s find the holdout fascists and turn them out!) of his Capitol colleagues respect the free press. He also says Donald Trump needs to stop denigrating this vital civic institution for doing its job:

Most members of Congress recognize the important role that the media plays, and I just wish that [Trump] would not use his Twitter account to attack the media simply because they may cover him in a way that he doesn’t agree with. That comes with the territory [Thune, clip #2, 2018.07.09].

John Thune and Cory Allen Heidelberger, an imaginary hearing on the merits of supporting Dakota Free Press
—Mr. Heidelberger, can you assure this committee that you’ll use this money in service of democracy? —Yes, Senator, that and groceries!

Thune says Trump’s attack Tweets “are not… constructive….” You can be far more constructive by reading, sharing, and donating to Dakota Free Press. Click this link to put money in the Blog Tip Jar or click the Blog Tip Jar icon in the sidebar (desktop viewers) or down below (mobile viewers). Democracy needs your support—Senator Thune says so!

12 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2018-07-10 09:46

    Poor Marlboro Barbie is stumpf broke when it comes to dealing with authorities. He stands in the background and grins like a ‘possum instead of suggesting, in no uncertain terms, Drumpf shut his pie hole.

    Don’t want to disrespect the one thug who shows no respect for anyone, anywhere? Then resign and maybe you will be replaced by Cory or someone not afraid of the wrath of illegitimate, bogus potus.

    We had a unusually elegant, smart, diplomatic and Black Potus who garnered zero respect from wasicus of the wingnut persuasion. What fools these fools be.

  2. Roger Cornelius 2018-07-10 10:02

    Newspapers are being threatened by Trump’s shortsighted tariff war and may not get the paper necessary their daily or weekly publications.
    Will Thune intercede on behalf of the newspapers to drop the tariff on paper in the name of democracy?

  3. leslie 2018-07-10 11:48

    8 justices and newspaper is better than a GOP congress and president. Then gain the house 2018. A limping SCOTUS won’t stop impeachment. Then 2020 dem senate/pres. Indict Trump org, sanction McConnell, Boehner, Bush, Ryan, Nunes to emasculate GOP service to 1%, institute ethics, transparency, anti-trust. ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE

  4. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-07-10 13:39

    Good point, Roger, about the newspaper tariffs and how they fit into Trump’s anti-journalism campaign. I could accept an argument that paper is obsolete and that electronic journalism can fill its place (although I welcome environmental impact studies on the cost of one sheet of paper versus one screen of data). However, it appears the electronic media—Twitter and TV—play to the dictator’s strengths more effectively than print media. Newspapers are less hackable than the Internet.

    Then again, the Internet makes my entire journalistic career possible.

  5. Roger Cornelius 2018-07-10 14:09

    Agreed, Cory, I’ve been all digital for sometime now and like it that way, one of the biggest selling points for me is the larger print that is easy to read.
    However, we still have a large segment of society that swear by their daily newspaper and nothing will force them to change.
    Kevin Woster still reads the print edition of the Rapid City Journal and looks to it everyday.

  6. leslie 2018-07-10 17:24

    Thune:

    1. Cts/LEO-0; militia-5
    a. Charlottesville
    b. Mahauer
    c. Bundyville NV
    d. Fed Ct Order reuniting border children w/parents.
    e. Arppeio

    About time chickenhawk Senate might stand up to FASCISM.

  7. mike from iowa 2018-07-10 17:45

    Arpaio is a funny sounding name for a supposed American. Anybody ever check his green card? Could have been an American Indian-Arapahoe or a South American fish Arapaima. Either way he is dusky colored enough to have been illegal. And he was fast friends with Steven Seagal who is fast friends (and a Russian citizen) with Putie. 7 degrees of separation?

  8. jerry 2018-07-10 17:58

    With trump in secret talks with Putin, Alaska may be on its way out of the United States. Yikes, we loose two republican senators and one republican house member. Senators will not be missed, but the house member, could loom large.

    “Hard-right Russian nationalists are mourning the 150th anniversary of the sale of Alaska to the US, with some calling for the territory to be returned.

    There will be few events marking the 1867 sale in the US, but in Russia it has brought back bitter memories and is being seen as a “convenient” opportunity for nationalists.

    Some historians regard the transaction as a short-sighted blunder by Czar Alexander II, giving up Alaska’s rich natural resources, particularly its oil and gas, for $7.2 million – about $125 million (£100 million) in today’s money. ” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/russia-nationalists-want-alaska-sold-us-150-years-later-a7659941.html

    We know how the evangelical hard right works here and in Russia, it is no different. How much do you think we will get out of the old girl? What is Alaska worth? Another thrown election, maybe.

  9. mike from iowa 2018-07-10 18:13

    Rumour has it Drumpf gave Putin naming rights to Denali just for the chance to get an audience with Putie in Russia.

    In a saner, brief moment from DC, Pompeo finally admitted his last talks did not go well for America with Li’l Kim.

  10. jerry 2018-07-10 18:28

    Confederate Thune is on board with the Fox press, just like his boss trump and the big boss Putin.

    “Vladimir Putin is a news junkie.

    The Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, didn’t use that expression when we talked by phone, but that’s what he described to me: a man at the center of an ever-churning machine processing vast amounts of news and data at his command.

    “Sometimes we’re wondering what is the limit for a human being for absorbing this huge amount of information,” Peskov told me, “but, well, it’s really a very, very, very heavy job.”

    Peskov, speaking fluent English, described the operation. “First of all, the information and press department of the presidential administration prepares digests on print media, on Internet sources, on domestic media—federal and regional.”
    https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/how-the-media-became-putins-most-powerful-weapon/391062/

    Does this sound familiar to the minute by minute propaganda from Fox news promoting all things trump? It should, it has been a proven winner in Russia for the past 19 years.

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