Washington Post Columnist Warns Journalists of Trump Presidency: ‘The Fight of Their Lives’

“Trump’s reign will probably be awash in investigations and prosecutions of journalists for doing their jobs,” Margaret Sullivan writes

donald trump pbs newshour inauguration livestream
Getty Images

Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan feels “journalists are in for the fight of their lives” when Donald Trump officially becomes the president on Friday.

“It’s possible to have a solid idea of what Donald Trump’s presidency will be like for the American media and for citizens who depend on that flawed but essential institution,” Sullivan wrote in a column for Monday’s Post. “The short form: hellish.”

Sullivan is the former New York Times public editor who is now at the Post, where she expressed concern regarding the media landscape under Trump’s presidency.

“Consider, for example, the saga of Serge Kovaleski, the highly regarded New York Times reporter whose disability limits the use of his arms,” Sullivan wrote. “Yes, this is the reporter whom Trump mocked during the campaign — waving his arms in a crude but unmistakable imitation of Kovaleski’s movements. When criticized for doing so, Trump vehemently denied that mocking Kovaleski was even possible because he didn’t know him.”

Sullivan called Trump’s excuse a “lie” and noted, “Any reasonable person looking back at the facts would find that absurd.”

She continued: “Trump will punish journalists for doing their jobs. Famously touchy and unable to endure serious scrutiny, he has always been litigious.”

Sullivan went on to predict, “Trump’s reign will probably be awash in investigations and prosecutions of journalists for doing their jobs, stirring up the ugliest of class wars along the way.”

She feels journalistsare going to have to be better than ever before, just to do their jobs.”

“They will need to work together, be prepared for legal persecution, toughen up for punishing attacks and figure out new ways to uncover and present the truth,” Sullivan concludes. “Even so — if the past really is prologue — that may not be enough.”

Comments