User Name and Passcode Please

The title of this blog is misleading. You would think that this article is about computers, internet security, or how to log into the latest and greatest website. Well, the content of this blog has nothing to do with any of the previously mentioned topics. This blog is about the relationships between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The question that Americans are asking is what is the nature of the relationship between the two leaders. I am usually a calm citizen regarding political matters. I must be honest and say that I am concerned about what I has been communicated by the media to the public regarding the relationships between my President and the leader of Russia. Now, don’t think that I am a post-war American that believes that our country is constantly being infiltrated by spies from Russia. I know that this is the case! But, I don’t think Russia spies on us anymore than we spy on Russia, or Britain, or Germany, or any other country we feel the need to watch. What I am concerned about is that Putin may have his own username and login for America’s political infrastructure. The dominating story in the news is that Trump and Putin have a relationship that from a historically perspective is possibly inappropriate for a United States and Russian president to have. After a campaign that saw Trump repeatedly praise Putin’s leadership and promise to mend relations, the U.S. President-elect would likely need to grant Russia a string of concessions in order to fulfill that promise, (Shuster, 2016). If the rumors that President Trump wishes to mirror Putin’s leadership style are true, then the relationship signals the direction that Donald Trump wishes to take the American political system. There are evidences already. Trump wishes to control what the media reports, similar to how a communist society controls the media. The White House on Friday barred news outlets — including CNN, the New York Times, Politico and the Los Angeles Times — from attending an off-camera press briefing held by spokesman Sean Spicer, igniting another controversy concerning the relationship between the Trump administration and the media, (Borchers, 2017). What the White House was doing was handpicking the outlets they wanted in for this briefing. (Borchers, 2017). There are legal issues with censoring the press. Courts have held that a government press conference is a public forum generally open to the media, and any restrictions must be based on reasons other than content,” First Amendment attorney and LawNewz columnist Susan Seager said, ( (Stockman, 2017). At the time the news organizations were prevented from attending the press conference it was known that the organization had reported unfavorable stories about trump. Trump publicly shared his disdain feelings for CNN, which he called Clinton News Network, and for The New York Times, which he refers to as failing news. President Trump criticized the “failing” New York Times on Thursday for what he called a “big lie,” hours after the New England Patriots called out the news organization for posting a purportedly misleading side-by-side photo comparison of the team’s attendance at Super Bowl ceremonies with Trump in 2017 and former President Obama in 2015, (Barrabi, 2017). Am I being critical. Perhaps! Every president has endured media pressure. Obama certainly had his share of negative press. Which is strange to say, because if you are a consumer of any kind of political news these days, the only impression you get is that the Obama presidency is on the verge of collapse, and that he either doesn't know or doesn't seem to care, (Cherlin, 2014). There is even a funny cartoon where the media has attack so much he is wrapped in bandages. President Trump wishes to increase the ruling power of the upper class. I don’t think any president before President Trump has attacked the media or barred them from a press conference because of good or bad press about the sitting president. Although funny, it isn’t American. Our society has always valued, although the word valued is overrated, the opinions of others. The only place I see this kind of behavior, where the government controls the media and attacks opposition, is in communist societies. It is both known and believed that communist leaders deal with the media and opposition differently than Americans. "If you support stopping Russia's war with Ukraine, if you support stopping Putin's aggression, come to the Spring March in Maryino [a Moscow suburb] on 1 March," Nemtsov wrote in a social media post, published hours before he was shot (in Russian). The direct relatives of the executed uncle of Kim Jong-Un have been put to death upon the orders of the North Korean leader, it has been reported, (Parry, 2014). I read that upper 1% of Russian citizens rule the country. Often, after someone criticized President Trump, he lashed back at them. Thankfully, for the people upset Trump, we live in a democratic society. Like Russia, America’s top one percent make decisions about the country. That was true before Trump and Putin. I looked briefly to find support for this claim, but found nothing worth quoting. An unknown, Alexander Zakharov, stated, “However, all these differences are insignificant compared to the fact that in both countries all the real power is in the hands of the ruling class (that 1 percent), not the common people.” Jackson (2015) stated that “Until now, aside from the upper 1%, the American people have not been reminded that their opinion has done little to influence American’s political agenda.” If b

References

Barrabi, T. (2017, April 20). Trump, Patriots Criticize NY Times Over WH Obama Photo Comparison. Retrieved from Fox News: http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/20/trump-patriots-criticize-ny-times-over-wh-obama-photo-comparison.html

Borchers, C. (2017, February 24). White House blocks CNN, New York Times from press briefing hours after Trump slams media. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/24/white-house-blocks-cnn-new-york-times-from-press-briefing-hours-after-trump-slams-media/?utm_term=.3d77c7c811b3

Cherlin, R. ( 2014, August 4). The Presidency and the Press. Retrieved from Rolling Stone: 2014

Jackson, P. (2015, March 7). Who killed Russia opposition politician Boris Nemtsov? Retrieved from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31693234

Parry, L. (2014, January 26). Now Kim Jong-Un executes his late uncle's entire family to prevent 'mutiny' - including women, children and the ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia. Retrieved from Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2546506/North-Korean-leader-Kim-Jong-Un-executes-family-uncle-Jang-Song-Thaek.html

Shuster, S. (2016, November 9). What Vladimir Putin Is Expecting From Donald Trump. Retrieved from Time: http://time.com/4564254/president-donald-trump-russia-vladimir-putin/

Stockman, R. (2017, February 24). Trump’s Ban of Reporters at Press Briefing Isn’t Just Wrong, It’s Unconstitutional. Retrieved from Law Newz: http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/trumps-ban-of-reporters-at-press-briefing-isnt-just-wrong-its-unconstitutional/