Trump takes aim at the free press ahead of midterms

Does President Trump really control a video channel? Yes. That’s not hype — it is true. The YouTube channel is being advertised as showing his “biggest moments all in one place.”

“Quite literally state-run TV,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

Also, hard to believe but true, is that in the last few days President Trump used taxpayer money to run political ads on television framing him as the nation’s hero.

There is more. For the first time in history the president controls a social media platform, Truth Social. He recently tried to charge a fee for early access to his presidential announcements on the site. And Trump is blaming the press for polls showing his party doing badly in the midterm elections. He is lashing out, getting even, with an assault on the First Amendment protection for a free press.

This is his “October Surprise.”

Trump wants to energize his voters by demonizing the press. He recently pulled White House passes from reporters for three media companies. He announced the punishment on Truth Social and identified the targeted outlets as “Fake News” organizations.

Trump’s effort to control the news extends to coverage of the war in Iran.

That fighting is now more than six months along. But the Pentagon has not held a press briefing since May.

And last month, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon hid full reporting on the extent of casualties in the war.

Four people killed in combat had not been counted as casualties as the Trump administration attempted to “portray the war as a success,” the Post reported. The Pentagon had “reclassified,” some deaths. Those deaths of those soldiers did not count, according to the Pentagon, because they........

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