I’m going to keep posting this link to Masha Gessen’s Rules for Survival while living in an autocracy, because Gessen just keeps being right. Gessen wrote, after Donald Trump’s electoral victory, that Americans need to prepare ourselves for the decline – if not fall – of so many institutions that we hold dear. The institutions will not save us. Trump will destroy the judiciary for generations. Law enforcement will not save you. And the media will fall too. That’s what this story reminded me of – the fall of the media. It started during the election, and looking back, it’s astonishing how easily media outlets began to be manipulated. Now that the First Amendment is being threatened by President-Elect Trump, don’t expect much of a fight. Trump invited representatives from major networks to Trump Tower yesterday in what was supposed to be an off-the-record meeting about press access during his administration. You’ll never guess what happened.

Donald Trump scolded media big shots during an off-the-record Trump Tower sitdown on Monday, sources told The Post.

“It was like a f–ing firing squad,” one source said of the encounter. “Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed.’ The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added.

A second source confirmed the fireworks.

“The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks,” the other source said. “Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars. Trump didn’t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate – which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room.”

The stunned reporters tried to get a word in edgewise to discuss access to a Trump Administration.

“[CBS Good Morning co-host Gayle] King did not stand up, but asked some question, ‘How do you propose we the media work with you?’ Chuck Todd asked some pretty pointed questions. David Muir asked ‘How are you going to cope living in DC while your family is in NYC? It was a horrible meeting.”

Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway told reporters the gathering went well.

“Excellent meetings with the top executives of the major networks,” she said during a gaggle in the lobby of Trump Tower. “Pretty unprecedented meeting we put together in two days.”

The meeting was off the record, meaning the participants agreed not to talk about the substance of the conversations. The hour-long session included top execs from network and cable news channels. Among the attendees were NBC’s Deborah Turness, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, ABC’s James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz, Also, CBS’ Norah O’Donnell John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham and King, Fox News’ Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, MSNBC’s Phil Griffin and CNN’s Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett.

[From The NY Post]

This is how a petty despot behaves. This is how a baby-fisted tyrant behaves. This is how a thin-skinned dictator behaves. And what KILLS me is that these journalists are still bumbling around, trying to act like this is normal, like they still have to play by the same rules in the face of unhinged fascism.

Photos courtesy of Getty.