Trump’s disdain for the press has a silver lining

[Commentary] Not once in the eight years that George W. Bush was president did he handle the press with the derision and contempt President Donald Trump displayed in his first week. Instead, the media in the Bush era relied on access and sources to assimilate the most catastrophic lie in American history. Compared to President Bush and Vice President Cheney’s smooth, respectful manipulation and subjugation of the media, President Trump and his regime’s snarling hostility and barefaced lying to the press—ie, their openness about their motives—are a gift to the republic.

[Lee Siegel is the author of five books and the recipient of a National Magazine Award for Reviews and Criticism. ]