Donald Trump often calls journalists “enemies of the people” and glorifies violence against people who say anything remotely negative about him. His words and actions constitute a genuine threat to all journalists (and others) and should be roundly condemned by all decent people, some of whom just might happen to be politicians.
After a California man threatened Boston Globe employees in California, I wrote to my Congressional representative, Republican Claudia Tenney, and asked her to speak out against Trump’s demonization of journalists. I told her that her acquiescence in the face of Trump’s dangerous behavior would be interpreted as condonation of violence against journalists and that she should be considered complicit in any resulting violence directed towards them.
Tenney sent me a lovely response via e-mail. Here it is in its entirety:
Dear Tom,
Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding President Donald J. Trump. It is a privilege to represent the 22nd Congressional District and I am eager to work on your behalf to bring practical and principled change to Washington. As always, I welcome your feedback and look forward to addressing your concerns.
As you know, Donald J. Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States in November 2016. He formally took the oath of office on January 20, 2017, in what marked the 44th peaceful transition of power in our nation’s history. In the 241 years since our republic was founded, Americans have always come together in spite of political differences and out of a commitment to and understanding of the ideals of democracy and the rule of law. Even in such contentious political times, it is vital that we continue to honor this uniquely American tradition.
As your representative in Congress, I will continue to be a strong advocate for the principles and priorities of upstate New York. After having served as an assemblywomen in Albany where I worked to hold politicians to account for the promises they made, I intend to do the same in Washington. I will fight to lower taxes and to reduce unnecessary spending while improving programs that Upstate families rely on and reforming those that are simply broken. Most importantly, I will be honest, fair, and transparent in all that I do. Special interest groups have too many voices in Washington pushing for policies that only serve to undercut the middle class – my only interest is in being your voice.
I value your feedback and hope you will continue to share your views with me on issues that are important to you. I encourage you to visit www.tenney.house.gov to sign up for my weekly newsletter. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates on my work in Congress and around the district.
Thank you again for contacting my office. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I or my staff can be of service to you.
Sincerely,
Claudia Tenney
Member of Congress
Notice anything odd about that letter? Not once did she even allude to the substance of my message to her. Nothing about journalists, enemies of the people, violence, a free press. Nothing at all. Just pablum and filler.
I see only two possible explanations. Either she is afraid to say anything potentially critical of Trump, or she condones violence against journalists. I can’t believe it’s the latter, so I’ll assume it’s the former. She’s free to correct me if I picked the wrong answer.
Whichever it is, in the aftermath of the murder of the Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi and Trump’s latest cheerleading for body-slamming journalists, Tenney’s acquiescence and complicity in Trump’s attacks on a free press are alarming and disgraceful.