I was greatly disturbed to read in Thursday’s Tribune editorial that 48 percent of Republicans believe that the news media are the “enemy of the people.” I was even more horrified to read that 43 percent believe that President Donald Trump should have the authority to shut down media outlets that engage in “bad behavior.”
This is the Republican Party that has total control of Utah politics and controls most of the other state legislatures, both houses of Congress and the White House.
Where have we failed? Did we focus so much on STEM courses that we neglected our children’s education in civics, government, history and the arts? Everyone in those 48 percent or 43 percent groups should be required to read the classic work by William Shirer, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” to see how easy it was for a despot to grab power from a democratically elected government.
It was not that hard when one had the support from a few ultra-rich and powerful people and when the general populace believed the continual lies they heard that the media, various ethnic groups, and people with opposing views were the real enemies of the people.
Thor Nilsen, Sandy