Day 676: Following the likes of North Korea, Russia and Iran, Trump wants to start state-run propaganda TV

Donald Trump loathes the free press. He also loves dictators. So Monday’s proclamation that the U.S. should start state-run TV should come as no surprise.

Trump’s trampling on the First Amendment cropped up yet again by claiming that “something has to be done” about CNN’s international influence.

Of course, Trump’s propaganda machine will never happen. The costs alone would be exorbitant, and getting funding for such an endeavor would be a political nightmare, but the suggestion alone is striking. (Plus, at least domestically, he has Fox News to carry his water whenever he needs.)

State-run TV is popular in nations run by authoritarians, like North Korea, Russia, China, Iran and Cuba. There, governments control the message and prevent certain information from being disseminated as a way to consolidate power. In the U.S., the freedom of the press isn’t going away, as much as Trump would like it to.

But even mentioning the desire to single-handedly control the message domestically and internationally by a propaganda news network only serves to tie the U.S. to regimes who engage in the same behavior.

676 days in, 786 to go

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