Trump attacks The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg over Hitler

Republican candidates' fixation on The Atlantic follows a dark pattern.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty

October 27, 2024, 3:19 p.m. ET

When someone attacks the messenger rather than the message, they are usually revealing something.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sharply criticized The Atlantics editor Jeffrey Goldberg on Friday evening in Austin, Texas, over a recent report on Trump's troubling attitude toward of the army, which he believed should be loyal to him personally. As Goldberg reports, Trump said: “I need the kind of generals Hitler had, who are both scary and historically illiterate.

Read: Trump: I need the kind of generals Hitler had

Trump called The Atlantic a failed magazine run by a guy named Goldberg. He added that they were the ones who made up the story that I was saying bad things about this, about the military. This is a reference to another article Goldberg published, in September 2020, reporting that then-President Trump had called Americans who died in wars losers and losers. Trump's attack is factually false on almost every count, but it remains a useful demonstration of Trump's methods and policy goals.

First, some administrative details: Former Trump staffers confirmed that the reports were filed in the duds and losers file. The Atlantic is thriving both journalistically (it has won the magazine industry's most prestigious award three years in a row) and as a business, reaching profitability this year with more than a million subscribers. Almost the only thing Trump got right was Goldberg's name. As in the past, he emphasized the name in a way that reeked of anti-Semitism. Trump likes to deny allegations of anti-Semitism by pointing the finger at Jewish family members, but he has a long history of crude and stereotypical remarks about Jews, and during this election he has repeatedly attacked American Jews for not support it, saying they would. to blame if he loses.

Read: Trump: American war dead are idiots and losers

Trump is attacking the messenger here because he can't really attack the message. He denies making these remarks, but there is plenty of other evidence to support this information. Goldberg's recent story was closely followed by a New York Times article in which John Kelly, a retired general who served as Trump's chief of staff, described Trump's obsession with loyalty personal and his desire to use the army against domestic criticism. Thirteen other former Trump administration officials signed a letter confirming these accounts. President Trump has used the terms “sucks” and “losers” to describe soldiers who gave their lives defending our country, Kelly recently told Goldberg. Many people have heard him say these things. Furthermore, Trump himself said he wanted to use the military domestically, and he disrespected fallen soldiers by trying to use Arlington National Cemetery as a cheap campaign prop.

He has also used this type of intimidation attempt before. Four years ago, Trump debunked Goldberg's story about losers and losers, but other journalists quickly replicated the report, including Jennifer Griffin of Fox News. Trump quickly (but unsuccessfully) demanded that Fox fire her. The former president has also spoken out against Goldberg and The Atlantic sporadically since 2020.

Read: Why Trump's Arlington debacle is so bad

Although Trump's attacks on the press are nothing new, they have intensified in recent weeks. Trump said CBS should lose its broadcast license over a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent. He pressured Fox News to stop airing ads critical of him. He threatened Google for spreading negative stories about him. He had already promised to imprison journalists.

This is not a question of pleading in favor of the poor press. Courageous reporting is courageous because it puts journalists in conflict with powerful people. Anyone who constantly expects adulation should take on another business. (This also goes for any media owner who might be tempted to tone down criticism of Trump.)

Read: Trump's credibility gap

But voters need to understand why Trump is attacking the press and where it will leave them if he is re-elected. The future of American democracy is the key question in this election. Trump has left numerous traces demonstrating that he is committed neither to the rule of law nor to government by the people. After all, he tried to steal the last presidential election after losing it. But many Americans seem to have forgotten what Trump's presidency was like, or they simply don't believe he will do the things he keeps saying, loudly, publicly, that he will do.

Stories like Goldberg's are an obstacle to Trump's return to power because they are vivid representations of what Trump believes and how he acts. In a country with a free press, voters can hear these things. American voters should listen carefully to what Trump says and know what he has done. They should be under no illusion that if he wins, Trump will try to make the press less free.

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