Assaults on the media is likely to escalate

Sohail Monga/ Contributing Writer

In early May, The Guardian reporter, Ben Jacobs, made the news when he was attacked by a politician. Along with many other cases involving the media, being the target of physical attacks has been the center of attention.

This issue further escalates when delving into its origin, with many blaming President Donald Trump and his hateful rhetoric for assaults against the media.

The presidential election of 2016 was one of the most controversial elections, igniting emotions for and against Trump. With the election came Trump’s target of “the media” and their bias against him.

In the past, the media has proven to condemn Trump and his stance on issues like climate, controversial ties with Putin, and his multiple incidents of misogyny.

When Trump accentuated these biases during his campaign, it was drilled into the minds of some of his staunch supporters that the media, along with Hispanics and Muslims, are some of the main reasons for the country’s problems.

During a rally in Iowa in February 2016, Trump allegedly encouraged supporters to “knock the crap out of” anyone poised to throw tomatoes and even promising to pay their legal fees. By doing this, Trump gave his supporters the audacity and confidence to use violence against protesters.

Even though his words weren’t meant for a particular religious group or the media, this was enough to fuel supporters to do “anything” to “make America great again.”

People are very active on social media, and whenever I see a post about Trump and the criticism he gets for his hateful comments, I see blind faith in some of his supporters.

When Trump is targeted for things like climate change or not addressing daily issues on time, some people always try to defend him and bring out irrelevant issues. The attacks on the media shows that the aggravation and emotions caused by his rhetoric is not going away anytime soon.

In short, not only are there possibilities of more attacks on targeted ones, but issues of violence could likely be on a larger magnitude. This is because whenever Trump is criticized, people use violence to prove their point to defend Trump and his hateful rhetoric.

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Photo taken from Flickr.