Los Angeles Times

Robin Abcarian: Believe Trump when he vows revenge on the news media. MAGA shock troops are already on the attack

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on Apr. 27, 2023, in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Was it just a little joke when Orange Jesus declared to Sean Hannity that, in the event of his political resurrection, he would be a dictator on "Day One"? I didn't take it that way. You shouldn't either.

Former President Donald Trump's MAGA shock troops have been announcing all over the place that a second Trump term would be dedicated to punishing enemies real and imagined, especially journalists who have dared speculate about how he would set about torching the Constitution.

In the dictator's playbook, demonizing the press is Job No. 1, and it's something Trump is long familiar with: He not only calls news he doesn't I guess.) Mainstream news outlets, he's often said, are "truly the enemy of the people." Reporters are "scum," "the absolute worst."

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