President Donald J. Trump booted CNN, MSNOW and Politico out of the White House because he is furious with how he is covered.
asserted
he → boot → House
The media companies have taken him to court, arguing: “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.
asserted
this → take → interference
The four major television networks – including Fox News – have withdrawn their cameras from the White House.
asserted
networks → include → House
The president who loves to be on the air for hours a day now sits in the Oval Office with no big media cameras on him.
asserted
who → love → him
How did we get to this crisis over freedom of the press?
asserted
we → get → press
Trump wields with abandon an idiom that is centuries old – all to flaunt his massive executive power as president.
asserted
that → wield → president
When asked about limits to his power, he said: “My own morality.
asserted
he → ask → morality
It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
asserted
that → ’ → me
To speak with a forked tongue is “to tell lies or say one thing and mean something else” and to “make empty or false promises”.
asserted
speak → speak → promises
It conjures up serpents, with their forked tongues.
asserted
It → conjure → tongues
Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn, was characterised as a serpent.
asserted
mentor → characterise → serpent
The stunning new biography, American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump, by Kai Bird and Susan Goldberg, shows Cohn’s immense sculpting and shaping of Trump as he built his real estate empire in New York.
asserted
he → show → York
As Carlos Lozada of The New York Times has observed, “One of the core parallels or similarities or lessons … between these two men [is] that sort of ultimate self-confidence, paired with ultimate disdain for rules and traditions and norms.
asserted
One → observe → rules
Trump has sued, so far unsuccessfully, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for defamation.
asserted
Trump → sue → defamation
He has threatened to have the regulatory agencies in his executive branch take away the broadcast licence of CBS and ABC because of how they report on him.
asserted
they → threaten → him
He has defunded America’s public media, PBS and NPR.
asserted
He → defunde → media
But what makes Trump vulnerable to the most critical coverage of any president, ever, including Richard Nixon, is that he speaks with a forked tongue on almost all major issues of the day.
asserted
he → make → day
He hates being confronted by reporters who question the truth and legitimacy and contradictions of what he says.
asserted
he → hat → what
Trump declared on his social media soap box, Truth Social: “AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX, no different from RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA – UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE – IMPEACHMENT HOAX #1 — IMPEACHMENT HOAX #2 — and all of the other HOAXES and SCAMS that America was forced to endure.”
asserted
America → declare → that
Most AI leaders are genuinely fearful that artificial intelligence could cause or trigger an existential event threatening all of civilisation.
uncertain
intelligence → cause → civilisation
In 1947, Albert Einstein and the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists wrote to the president Harry S. Truman: “Through the release of atomic energy, our generation has brought into this world the most revolutionary force since prehistoric man’s discovery of fire.”
asserted
generation → write → fire
And what was needed was “the aroused understanding and insistence of the people of this world”.
asserted
needed → need → world
In his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, and before discussing this with China’s President Xi Jinping, Trump rejected with prejudice any global oversight of AI.
asserted
Trump → discuss → AI
In taking the oath of office, Trump swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”, which requires that the president takes care that the laws are faithfully executed.
asserted
laws → take → care
At the recent Republican midterm political convention in Dallas, Trump broke that pledge.
asserted
Trump → break → pledge
He asked all those present to raise their right hands and affirm, “That I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way – I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell, like they [the Democrats] do, they’d never, there’s never been bigger cheaters, they don’t care.
asserted
they → ask → hell
I am gonna go out and I’m gonna get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November 3rd or we are going to vote before that!
asserted
we → go → that
”
Trump urged them to break election laws.
asserted
Trump → urge → laws
On the economy, the consensus of almost all experts was that it was imperative for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in the US.
asserted
Reserve → raise → US
The US had to have “the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World”.
asserted
US → have → World
He added injury to insult: “LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT.”
asserted
WE → add → DEFICIT
Such nonsense would trigger a global economic catastrophe.
asserted
nonsense → trigger → catastrophe
Trump hates the coverage of the war.
asserted
Trump → hat → war
From the podium of the UN this week, he threatened Iran with “annihilation”.
asserted
he → threaten → annihilation
Last week, he said, as he often does: “I will tell you this.
asserted
I → say → this
Iran [wants] to make a deal so bad, they are calling constantly and they want to make a deal.”
asserted
they → want → deal
Trump regularly accuses journalists of treason, which is punishable by death.
asserted
which → accuse → death
Trump hates the mainstream print and broadcast media.
asserted
Trump → hat → media
Their coverage has become increasingly probing because Trump speaks daily with a forked tongue.
asserted
Trump → become → tongue
Any reporting he disagrees with is “fake”.
asserted
he → disagree → ?
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
