‘Deep Throats’ lined up for a city block

Newly elevated, helium-inflated, a president for a bare blink of an eye, Donald Trump chose as one of his first presidential acts a declaration of war on the press.

So, how's that going?

Trump called reporters "the enemies of the people." Henchman Steve Bannon called the media "the opposition party." Interesting claim from one who made his name with the saliva machine of Breitbart.

Define "media," guys. Does that include Twitter? Does that include Fox News? Does it include lil ol' Moscovites with laptops?

Hilarious it is that Trump would ever denounce "fake media." After all, he is its chief beneficiary, indeed, its invention.

In a CNBC rundown of the "top fake news stories" of 2016, the most-viewed bogus post on social media was, "Pope Francis shocks world, endorses Trump for president."

So, it's hard to know what Trump means by "the enemies," because he paints with a broad brush the "media" reporting facts and stating truths. 

If he means The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, the Associated Press, Politico, Time, Slate, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, even The Wall Street Journal, the "opposition" is staging a rout.

The Los Angeles Times last week ran a seven-part series of editorials titled "Our Dishonest President." It called Trump's campaign to discredit news organizations "cynical" and "creepy," with "echoes of Josef Stalin and other despots."

Surely the editorial writers didn't mean Trump's long-distance squeeze, Vladimir Putin, there.

Trump excluded the American media but welcomed Russian reporters to his glad-handing and intel-sharing with chief Russian officials after firing FBI Director James Comey. Then someone leaked that Trump called Comey a "nut job."

Recall now that the key source who helped bring down Richard Nixon, known as Deep Throat to The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, was the No. 2 man at the FBI at the time, Mark Felt.

With Trump's character assassination of Comey, a man well-respected in the ranks, one can imagine insiders lined up three abreast outside the parking garage to be the next Deep Throat to bring down a president.

For days The Washington Post and The New York Times have taken turns delivering stunning scoops with dozens of inside sources.

Trump's eyes shed projectile tears about these leaks. With so many leakers inside the White House, the only way to eradicate them would be to flea-bomb and bolt all exits.

Of course, when it comes to the press, the issue with Trump is not just his quest to bully and delegitimize news-gatherers.  He also reveals a grade-school mentality about press freedoms.

 One of Comey's memos indicates Trump's desire to imprison reporters who share the leaks that have made his monarchic dreams so miserable.

Trump apparently hasn't heard of the Pentagon Papers case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government couldn't stop news agencies from reporting classified materials that they obtained.

By the way, that principle would be front and center if the United States were to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, something Attorney General Jeff Sessions now seeks.

In this and whatever legal clash presents itself, be assured that Donald Trump would go hard and heavy against the First Amendment. It is the man's nature.

Noting that every president has battled an inquiring press, the editorial series in the Los Angeles Times asserts that Trump "has escalated the traditionally adversarial relationship in demagogic and potentially dangerous ways."

That said, the paper pledges that it will continue to do its job of covering the Trump administration fairly and comprehensively.

In the Watergate investigation, The Washington Post did not set out to bring down a president. It set out to find the truth.

Mr. President, if you have an enemy, it is the truth.

Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.