President Donald Trump took to Twitter Saturday evening and accused The New York Times of treason for publishing a story about cyber warfare involving Russia. As HuffPost notes:
Current and former U.S. officials told the Times about the deployment of American computer code into Russia’s electrical power grid and other targets both as a warning to the Kremlin and as a readied strike in case of a Russian cyberattack.
That was all it took for Trump to angrily respond:
Do you believe that the Failing New York Times just did a story stating that the United States is substantially increasing Cyber Attacks on Russia. This is a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019
…..ALSO, NOT TRUE! Anything goes with our Corrupt News Media today. They will do, or say, whatever it takes, with not even the slightest thought of consequence! These are true cowards and without doubt, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019
The Times, however, pushed back on Trump’s ranting:
Accusing the press of treason is dangerous.
We described the article to the government before publication. As our story notes, President Trump’s own national security officials said there were no concerns. https://t.co/MU020hxwdc pic.twitter.com/4CIfcqKoEl— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 16, 2019
The president has repeatedly attacked the media since taking office, often referring to them as the “fake news media” and accusing them of being the biggest enemy of the country. But to toss around the word “treason” when Trump himself said just this week that he would welcome foreign interference in the 2020 election is not just ironic, it’s also incredibly dangerous and irresponsible.
Social media lit up with jibes aimed at the president for his “treason” claim:
Actual act of Treason would be coordinating an attack on the US with hostile foreign country, while President, to help win an election.
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) June 16, 2019
You clearly don’t know what treason is. I’ll give you hint, it’s basically every thing you have done since you started running for office.
— jamib14 (@jamib14) June 16, 2019
Obviously, you had to have been looking in the mirror when you tweeted this.
— Brian Crowley (@tbc6652) June 16, 2019
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
— Thomas Jefferson
— Debbie Schmidt (@DebbieSchmidt74) June 16, 2019
Featured Image Via NBC News
