Whereas Donald J. Trump stood beneath American flags on the steps of the United States Capitol on January 20, 2017, placed his hand on a Bible, and spoke these words:
I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear 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, so help me God.
Whereas the Constitution of the United States reads in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Whereas Trump has responded to news coverage he dislikes by advocating that the freedom of the press be abridged by bureaucrats and legislators; and by calling the press a public enemy and a target of his “drain the swamp” agenda.
For example:
- “It’s frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write and people should want to look into it.”
- “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!”
- “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!”
- “Why Isn’t the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!”
- “Drain the Swamp should be changed to Drain the Sewer - it’s actually much worse than anyone ever thought, and it begins with the Fake News!”
- “With all of its phony unnamed sources & highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting, #Fake News is DISTORTING DEMOCRACY in our country!”
- “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @CNN, @NBCNews and many more) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people. SICK!”
