The first press briefing of the Trump administration saw the White House press secretary, Mr. Sean Spicer, accuse the news media of inventing a conflict between Trump and the intelligence community.
He further whined about the reported size of the inauguration crowd.
These are important issues to this new president on his first days in office.
Making such provably false, inconsequential and irrelevant statements at the very first briefing underlines a huge potential problem.
Information released by the White House during this administration must not promote its own alternative facts, nor discredit all sources of verification.
Free press is clearly under attack by this administration.
The truth must not be suppressed.
We must have a way to verify alternative news and fabricated facts.
We must support investigative journalism because that is the only way we can truly know what is happening in this nation and the world.
We will not know the actual results of negotiations with other world powers.
Claims of returned manufacturing jobs will certainly be exaggerated.
The impact of inevitable trade wars on costs to us will be unreliable.
The confusion and uncertainty that this presidential strategy will provoke will cripple our nation as never before.
Subscribe to your objective, legitimate news media of choice.
Stay away from echo chambers and hate ranters.
We are all in this together and need information that brings us together, not interests that fuel hatred and discord.
Roger Slagle,
Sequim