A CNN panel Wednesday reflected on Trump’s tweets about possibly revoking the licenses of biased network news in alarmist terms.
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CNN’s Van Jones said, “It’s remarkable this is happening in the United States of America. This is the kind of stuff that will happen in Latin American countries, African countries. The United States would be rushing to the microphone saying it is not acceptable for a leader of a company to silence people, to use and abuse executive authority, to essentially hand handcuff and blindfold the public. We used to fight for freedom of the press around the world.”
“The idea that a sitting president would threaten local news outlets, broadcast networks, I’m going to snatch your license, that could have been — I mean even a novel with that in it would not have been published because it’s so ludicrous, but here we are,” he added.
Van Jones also said, “Can I just say one more thing about this? The President is a part of the Republican Party which is a party that is allegedly conservative. The idea of the government intruding into the private market further and imposing its will on private broadcasting should have Republicans marching in the streets. Can you imagine if Barack Obama said he would start snatching licenses. This would have been declared a Constitutional crisis the minute it hit the internet.”
“The idea that you have Republicans that say they love the Constitution, respect the free market, don’t want government overreach has said nothing. A shocking statement from a President is telling it in and of itself. You have an anti-liberal party — anything is fair game so long you’re attacking liberals,” he concluded.
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