Lies from the Great Orange Charla-dictarian's Mouth

Since Trump referenced him today in his rally in Florida, I would like to correct his fallacious use of Thomas Jefferson’s views on the media: Thomas Jefferson was often "called out" and even slandered by the news sources of his time; yet, almost above all, he believed in the fundamental purpose of a truthful free press. At his 2nd Inaugural Address (1805), President Jefferson said: "Since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false opinions in league with false facts, the press confined to truth needs no other legal restraint." An attempt to silence objection and criticism by slandering reliable news sources as "fake" is an attempt to subjugate the rabble "we," an attempt to weaken that which is best in and of us. The press is "the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man and improving him as a rational, moral, and social being" (Thomas Jefferson to A. Coray, 1823). If we start to believe that our sound, broad-based, and researched sources of information are "fake" and the only "true" source of information is from the mouth of the Great Orange Charla-dictarian [sic], then we might as well accept tyranny and embrace our dehumanization.