Watch Rachel Maddow explain the threat Donald Trump poses to journalists and news outlets
Maddow: “This is strongman authoritarian form of government stuff, which our Constitution protects us from explicitly”
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From the October 21, 2024, edition of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show
RACHEL MADDOW (HOST): One of the things that strongman leaders do when they do get control of a country is they shut down independent media. They make it a crime or they make it otherwise impossible for anybody to report or say or broadcast anything that is independent of the strongman or that is critical of the strongman.
And that of course is not how the American system of government works, with our robust First Amendment and freedom of the press protections, that's not at all how we are set up as a government and as a country. But again, what's on the table from Republicans in this election is scrapping our system of government and instead doing it the strongman way instead.
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This comes in the wake of that same candidate, Donald Trump, saying that ABC News should also have its broadcast license revoked. And it comes in the wake of that same candidate saying that this network, MSNBC, and NBC News should have its broadcast license revoked. And it comes on the heels of him saying that the head of Facebook should be put in prison, and it comes on the heels of him saying, "Just you wait, just you wait to see what he's going to do to The New York Times, wait until you see what I'm going to do to them."
This is not normal American stuff. This isn't American at all. This is strongman authoritarian form of government stuff, which our Constitution protects us from explicitly. But he wants to get rid of all that, and he's saying if you vote for him, he will get rid of all that.