JAKE TAPPER (HOST): Taking those rules on. The White House is also now acknowledging that it has spent time and your tax dollars trying to figure out a way to change the modern legal interpretation of the First Amendment to the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of the press. James Madison be damned, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was recently asked if the president really wanted to pursue a change in the libel laws, as he threatened during the campaign.



[...]



His desire to change the constitutional systems we have in place to protect the nation from any theoretical would-be dictator comes at a time when President Trump has shown unusual actual outreach to a number of actual dictators, such as for instance, North Korea's Kim Jong-Un.



[...]



The White House says that President Trump had a quote, “very friendly conversation with the president of the Philippines,” Rodrigo Duterte, who according to Amnesty International has engaged in rampant crimes against humanity, with extra judicial killings of at least 7,000 Filipino citizens by the police.



Duterte has personally bragged about committing some of these murders himself, and has said that some journalists should be assassinated. President Trump invited Duterte to the White House.



[...]



Equating brutality and despotism with leadership -- that's not an American value.

Previously:



The Trump Administration's War On The Press

In 100 Days, Trump Has Attacked The Press Over 100 Times. Here’s How Fox News Cheered Him On.



Why Conservatives Love Trump's Attacks On Journalists