Trump leading attack on the media

Donald Trump and his PR team have harshly criticised press reporting of the presidential inauguration. Trump has accused the media of lying about the number of people who attended the ceremony, while a presidential advisor has called the White House's figures "alternative facts". For many observers the conflict between Trump and the media has reached a new highpoint.

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Népszava (HU) /

At loggerheads with reality

The world must get used to the fact Trump takes a lax attitude to the truth, Népszava explains:

“Criticism bounces off Trump like water off a duck's back. He's in a ridiculous war of numbers with the media, not only over the number of people who attended his inauguration, but also - yet again - over the election result. With an administration that is so much at loggerheads with reality, looking for a rational response is futile. Trump and his entourage apparently live in a surreal universe where white is not necessarily white, nor black black. No sooner had the new White House press secretary taken office than he ran into difficulties explaining himself and had to assert that he was 'only telling the truth'.”

Aftonbladet (SE) /

Far right has always vilified the media

Trump's behaviour towards the media gives Aftonbladet an ominous sense of déjà vu:

“Donald Trump is trying to strengthen his own power by undermining the credibility of the free press. … The far right has always regarded free media as a threat, as part of a liberal, socialist or Jewish conspiracy against the people. German Nazis talked of the lying press. Today the far right is talking about 'politically correct media'. The basic idea is the same: journalists are controlled by hidden interests and there is an 'alternative truth'. … There are 'alternative media' that are spreading this message. And an 'alternative right' that believes it.”

Rzeczpospolita (PL) /

Trump's victory is punishment for elite's arrogance

The established elites and media who look on in horror at the US president's populism should take a good look at themselves, lawyer Robert Gwiazdowski writes in a guest commentary for Rzeczpospolita:

“The 'elites' in America and Europe are making a huge hue and cry. And these defenders of democracy are protesting against Trump. ... But perhaps these elites should read [the philosopher] Joseph de Maistre. He wrote that the French Revolution wasn't an uprising against bad people who had betrayed the good people, but divine punishment for the sins of the aristocracy. ... In the same way you could make the bold argument today that the current revolution is also a sort of punishment meted out by today's 'God' - namely the voters - for the arrogance of today's aristocracy - our elites.”