Trump’s assault on the Free Press
By Nate Thayer
March 1, 2016
Donald Trump beat up an icon of the Free Press today, and Trump should hang his head in embarrassment and shame.
And America should be outraged.
photographer Christopher Morris being assaulted at a Donald Trump political rally in Virginia February 29, 2016
Christopher Morris, who has spent decades risking his life documenting the very dangerous reality in most every major war zone since the 1980’s, his images bringing searing truth to untold millions, was assaulted by Trump’s Secret Service security detail at some ten-cent political rally in Virginia.
Christopher Morris has covered the US invasion of Iraq, Panama, the Persian Gulf, and wars in Afghanistan, Somalia, Yugoslavia, and Chechnya, among numerous others.
I have known Chris Morris and, on occasion, worked with him over the years, although I am pretty sure he doesn’t remember me. But I certainly remember Morris and his extraordinary photographs—and witnessed him risking his life to bring important photographs to the homes of every American and much of the world.
He represents the importance of an unfettered free press everywhere.
Grozny, January 1995
Death on the road into Grozny.
Photo By: Christopher Morris
For Time Magazine/Robert Stevens
Morris covered the invasion of Iraq for Time Magazine. This was a very dangerous and unpleasant time for everyone there, including the contingent of mostly freelance journalists. The first night of the “shock and awe” of U.S. aerial bombardment, those of us in Baghdad gathered on the rooftop of the Palestine hotel, taking pictures and documenting the extraordinary U.S. bombing raining down from the skies on us. At that time, in March, 2003, less than 20 of us freelance journalists were in Baghdad which was still under the control of an increasingly angry Saddam Hussein, who had a few days to wait until his government was overthrown. Saddam and his people were not happy.
Saddam’s security forces burst threw the doors onto the Palestine Hotel roof and wrestled with a photographer on contract for TIME, who defended his cameras, but the thugs of Saddam’s security forces wrestled them free and threw them, and almost the photographer, off the rooftop to the street 17 floors below. I was sure, for a long moment, that the TIME shooter would be thrown off the roof along with his equipment.
Photograph (c) Christopher Morris
One never hears about these little dramas in the day-to-day drudgery of life as a working war correspondent, but remembering it today made me want to spit on Donald Trump.
Morris’s Travelling gear.
Today, in Virginia, the protest started after one activist interrupted Trump, to which Trump responded by asking the protester “Are you from Mexico?” Dozens of protesters interrupted, linked arms and brought Trump’s stump speech temporarily to a halt. “Get them out of here!” Trump ordered his Secret Service and personal security thugs from the podium.
Morris was tackled to the ground when he tried to photograph the events. In video of the skirmish, Morris can be heard saying “fuck you” to a Secret Service agent who had grabbed Morris by the throat in a chokehold and threw him violently to the ground.
That “fuck you” was echoed by every working journalist in the world.
Morris being put in a chokehold by a Trump Secret Service security guard in Virginia today
Christopher Morris has documented most of the world’s most dangerous war zones.
The first time he was mugged, as he was today by Donald Trump’s thugs, was in Detroit in 2013 when thieves stole $15,000 in camera equipment. Three men smashed the window of his rental car in a McDonald’s parking lot, and ran off with his camera, gear bag and iPhone.
One of Morris’s first forays into danger zones was covering the invasion of Panama under George Bush the first.
Photo by Christopher Morris in Panama during the 1989 U.S. invasion in 1989. The three other photographers with him were all shot
“This picture was made in December 1989 during the third day of the U.S. invasion of Panama, and shows U.S. Army Sergeant Raymond Cabacar trying to protect civilians during a gun battle with the Panama Defense Force at the Panama Traffic Directorate. The firefight lasted for most of the afternoon. I was there taking photos and next to me were around 18 civilians that were caught in the crossfire. Several civilians were killed and Sergeant Cabacar was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor for his actions that day. I was one of four foreign photographers in Panama when the invasion started, along with Patrick Chauvel working for Newsweek, Malcolm Linton working for Reuters and freelance photographer José Manuel Rodríguez from Spain. I was there on assignment for TIME. The day before the photo was taken, though, two of these photographers were wounded, and, very sadly, José died after receiving a gunshot to his head. So I was left as the only photographer still working…This image gave me a new sense of self-confidence — it showed me that I could control fear, something that in my earlier conflict work I had struggled with. I had a clear understanding from earlier, similar situations that if I didn’t learn how to manage fear, that it would eventually lead to my death. So I challenged myself to understand it, and later to embrace it. Fear, it turns out, can be channeled into a positive energy. Which is a good place to be in when making this type of journalism.”
Grozny. January 1995.
Chechen fighter flees the presidential palace.
Photo By: Christopher Morris/VII
For Time Magazine/Robert Stevens
Through the 2000’s Morris covered the U.S presidency and the campaigns. Morris wanted his pictures to let viewers “see what I saw and feel what I felt – a nation that has wrapped its eyes so tightly in red, white, and blue that it has gone blind.”
Flanked by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. President George W. Bush addresses reporters on a road outside his ranch in Crawford, Texas, August 23, 2004.
Photo By: Christopher Morris / VII
His words then are prescient to the events now.
Morris has also covered life in the U.S. outside of politics.
Morris documenting the dark side of middle America
New York City subway: Photo Christopher Morris
How dare you desecrate the work of people like Chris Morris who has risked his life to document events far more important than your irrelevant little political campaign, Mr Trump? You should be defending the rights of people like Morris to do his job, not arresting them.
Even Saddam Hussein didn’t arrest Christopher Morris, but Trump did. What does that say about America in 2016?
Mr. Thayer – Thank you for your impassioned response to this attack.
I feel compelled to say this, however. I was terribly frustrated when I read the following: “The first time he was mugged, as he was today by Donald Trump’s thugs, was in Detroit in 2013 when thieves stole $15,000 in camera equipment. Three men smashed the window of his rental car in a McDonald’s parking lot, and ran off with his camera, gear bag and iPhone.”
Neither of these events accurately represent a mugging.
Having your vehicle broken into, and items stolen from it, is a break in. Unless he was sitting in the vehicle, under threat from the individuals, who then broke the window to get at his equipment.
Being assaulted by a protective detail is assault, not a mugging.
Although a small detail, this inaccuracy makes your words begin to smack of hyperbole and taints an otherwise excellent piece.
Nick: You are, of course, correct. It was literary license on the word “mugged” (In fact Chris Moore has been assaulted numerous times over his career). Regarding the Detroit incident, he was able to locate the house in Detroit where his stolen gear had been taken through a gps device in his camera bag or phone. While police refused to show up, someone came out of the house with some of his material and Chris negotiated a price to return his camera equipment. The thieves took money and went back into the house and never came out. Again Detroit police refused to show up, so he never got back his kit
THIS IS MISLEADING LIE :Donald Trump beat up an icon of the Free Press today, and Trump should hang his head in embarrassment and shame.
TRUMP MUST HAVE LONG ARMS TO REACH HIM FROM THE PODIUM!
MY COUSIN WAS 7 FEET AWAY FROM THIS GUY WHEN HE REACHED OUT OF THE MEDIA POOL AREA THE SECURITY WAS FROM THATS LIFE FOLLOW THE RULES!;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Nate, message me
I emailed you at the address attached to your comment
You have the audacity to call yourself a “Journalist.” No wonder the presidential election is such a circus with the quality of reporting that is covering this election cycle. You missed one “small” detail – the photographer tangled with the Secret Service and not some security guard. Changes the whole tenor of your article. Also, your title – suggesting that Trumo engaged directly with the reporter – ruined any shred of credibility you had before the article even got started. All this, and I am no Trump fan.
Ok, what happened sucked – I’m saying that up front, but the reporting by this Nate Thayer leaves much to be desired, as the descriptive details are a muddled, incoherent mess.
– was the person that placed Morris in a chokehold ‘secret service’ (i.e. Government paid) or a ‘personal security detail’ (i.e. Privately paid for security)?
– Morris wasn’t ‘arrested’ by Trump, as Trump has no legal authority to do so.
– chokehold is bad – but that’s a long way from “beating up” Morris. As best as I could ascertain, Morris was placed in a chokehold and then fell to the ground, or was thrown to the ground (spitting the iconic “fuck you” at his aggressor) – yet there was no indication that he was beaten up (something that is usually more violent and equines hospitalization).
– what happened to other protesters throughout all of this? This is just as important, yet there were no real details on their treatment. I guess they don’t matter?
My problem with this sort of reporting, or writing, is simply that it undermines the intended effect of exposing this – while there is initial outrage over the event, an emotional reaction, yet once rational analysis takes over there are inconsistencies and questions (see above), which then lead to questioning the reporting and the event.
Obviously, this took place – no doubt about it – and I’m not dispelling the actual event, but shoddy, exaggerated, opportunistic writing (IMO) lessens the intended impact a great deal (again, IMO).
Journalism? Too many people call themselves journalists, very few actually qualify.
He did say that it was the secret service who attacked him. He also said that it was Trump who started this attack by saying, “Are you Mexican?” to a protester and sicking his security on the him. He is not the first journalist to point out how Trump is responsible for the violent actions of his followers and the unnecessary deployment of his security or secret service. He incites violence, as he did here. When he incites crowds or guards to attack the crowd, he is responsible for these attacks.
In my summation, he is responsible for a rise in fascistic mentality and violence against non white people in America, because he incites it. (Just one of many incidents being a school sports team being taunted by people shouting, “Trump! Trump! Trump!” at a game because they were Mexican.)
This attack was a direct result of his order. It is very important to note that a war photographer who has been through many violent regimes and war fronts had not been so brutally assaulted until he was at Trump’s debacle.
So no, this was not dishonest journalism.
Also, being put in a chokehold and being violently thrown to the ground is one definition of being beat up.
Also, saying “Fuck you” does not warrant a brutal attack. In America it is even acceptable by law to to say “Fuck you” to law enforcement without being put in a chokehold (illegal) and being slammed to the ground. Regarding spitting, a Mexican man was spit on by a menacing Trump supporter in one of his rallies recently right in front of security, and nothing was done. In fact it was the Mexican man who was thrown out, and he did nothing.
It is interesting to me that instead of focusing on the unnecessary and brutal attacks that Trump incites, people are nitpicking the style in which an article is written. In case people haven’t noticed, racist attacks against Latinos and Muslims have sharply increased. This is a time when a popular presidential candidate is calling for people to be killed with bullets being dipped in pigs blood, yet people are picking apart the style in which this article is written.
Interesting.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/02/29/video-reporter-grabs-neck-of-secret-service-at-trump-rally/
I don’t care if he is an accomplished photo-journalist, or a rookie off the street on his first assignment. Anyone who doesn’t see a problem with a politician using his security detail as a personal thug squad doesn’t give a fig about America. Trump, if elected, would have no qualms about using the full range of presidential powers to direct law enforcement, or even the US Armed Forces, to accomplish the same aims–silencing his critics–on a much larger scale. Imagine the fascism.
“Donald Trump beat up an icon of the Free Press today” ~ False. Donald Trump had nothing to do with the actions of security personnel.
“The first time he was mugged, as he was today by Donald Trump’s thugs” ~ False. As the commenter above pointed out, this was not a “mugging”
“by Donald Trump’s thugs” ~False. The person Morris had a altercation with was a member of the Secret Service. Since the Secret Service is under the administration of Homeland Security, which is under the Executive Branch of the government, wouldn’t it have been more accurate to say “by President Obama’s thugs”?
I am not a Trump supporter, but articles like this make it easy to understand his disdain for the media.
Ginny is right. I’m with him.
I want to believe that we still have a tradition of good, healthy journalism, whose cruciality is more obvious at times like these, when characters like Trump are gaining power. But I’m disheartened to see headlines like this article’s, and misleading language like “Trump’s secret service” when referring to government employees assigned to Trump. The truth is shocking enough; no need to stuff Kleenex in it.
The SS agents are assigned to protect the candidate; these agents are not working for Trump, but they are in fact assigned to protect him. They are not there with Constitutional authority to restrict access to journalists. It’s obvious that this assault was not an act in anyway necessitated as a means of protecting Trump. The agent should be on administrative leave and should be tried for assault.