Press is not the enemy of the people

Here’s something to think about. On Wednesday, President Donald John Trump sent out a Tweet because he was apparently provoked by news coverage of his summit with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un.

The text stated, “Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!” In February 2017, he called several news outlets “the enemy of the American People!” According to multiple news sources, no modern president has publicly maligned the press this way. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution provides for the freedom of the press (Paraphrasing: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”).

Thinking back to January 20, 2017, then president-elect Donald John Trump repeated this statement in front of the entire world, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Many questions occur to me including: Is President Donald John Trump unable to defend the Constitution’s First Amendment? When he severely criticizes the press, is he preserving their Constitutional rights to cover news and provide facts as they see them? Is he protecting freedom of speech if the press does not portray him in the most glowing terms (what he calls this “Fake News”)? Is he preserving the rights of all Americans to know the facts?

Given those questions, can we reasonably conclude that he is “faithfully executing the Office of the President of the United States?” I encourage you to ponder that question. Personally, I don’t consider the press to be fools or an “enemy of the people.” WILLIAM E. MOWCZKO Yuma