It’s hardly news that Donald Trump isn’t the biggest fan of journalism. Barely a day goes by that he doesn’t personally insult a journalist asking him a straightforward question, and his administration as a whole is overtly hostile to any outlet they see as insufficiently worshipful of Trump.
But threatening journalists with execution? That may be a new one. Last night, Trump was particularly active on Truth Social, posting some genuinely bonkers rants even by his standards. In between jabs at the Supreme Court, he made sure to open fire on journalists over their coverage of his war with Iran:
In the middle of this nonsense, Trump indicated that journalists he doesn’t like should be charged with treason, a crime punishable in the United States by execution:
The story was knowingly FAKE and, in a certain way, you can say that those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information! The fact is, Iran is being decimated, and the only battles they “win” are those that they create through AI, and are distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets. The Radical Leftwing Press knows this full well, but continues to go forward with false stories and LIES.
“Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information!”
Trump seems particularly infuriated by a video of what appears to be an attack on a US Navy ship by “Kamikaze boats” and a report in The Wall Street Journal that five Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged while on the ground in Saudi Arabia.
Trump is correct that there are many AI-generated videos out there purporting to be actual footage from the conflict. However, the planes do indeed appear to have been damaged, something Trump dismissed as “false reporting”.
One of the themes of the first and second Trump administrations is to deny reality. This is basically the “nuh-uh” tactic, which can be applied to almost anything. Grocery prices skyrocketing? “Nuh-uh!” Businesses collapsing from crippling import fees? “Nuh-uh!” Evidence that he’s in over his head in Iran? You guessed it, “Nuh-uh!”
But Trump burbling incoherently on social media is to be expected. What’s more worrying is his administration’s threats to revoke the broadcasting licenses of news networks overtly critical of Trump and his team. As can be seen in the ongoing gradual acquisition of large swathes of the media world by the Ellisons, the aim is simply to suppress anything remotely critical of MAGA.
And you probably don’t need spelling out that this bunch of lying, homicidal goons having the power to control what truth is… isn’t good.
Published: Mar 16, 2026 08:13 am