A Vice News reporter was arrested for trespassing outside a Donald Trump campaign event on Saturday, according to the site.
Alex Thompson, a reporter for Vice News, was arrested in Houston around 1:30 PM ET and charged with trespassing at the Omni Westside Hotel in Houston where Trump was holding an event, according to Vice. Thompson is, as of the report, currently being held at Houston Central Jail.
Vice News reported that they requested access to the event earlier this week and was told by the Trump campaign that the status of the request was “pending.” When Thompson asked about the status of the access, a hotel manager asked him to leave and said that he would be arrested if he did not, according to Vice. Then, about two minutes later and without warning, as he was waiting for the Trump campaign to verify access to the event, he was arrested and escorted out.
Vice reported that it has not received any information on the arrest. The Trump campaign has not spoken out publicly on the arrest.
This is not the first time a reporter has been detained at or near a Trump event. CBS reporter Sopan Deb was arrested at a Trump event in March.
Arresting and detaining reporters while they wait to find out about their credentials and so forth. Very nice. Not at all reminiscent of an authoritarian regime.
In other news, hope everyone’s having a nice Constitution Day.
Looks to me like Trump is trying the ultimate in fascist tactics–not because this reporter got arrested–but because he is now daring the press that made him who he is to try going after him.
He thinks he’s winning, and that he is now untouchable by the press or anyone else, largely because the press gave him such a free pass. He suckered them in to thinking that they could “always” go against him, and now (very much on the model of his idol, Adolph) he will turn on the press and dare them to try to take him down. What fools the press has been.
The MSM do finally seem to be taking the gloves off. Even The New York Times has started calling a spade a spade.
What’s both revealing and discouraging, however, is that the media’s newfound backbone has not been occasioned by their realization that they have a duty to inform the public, not merely to act as stenographers or as track announcers calling the horserace. No, what’s finally gotten them up in arms is the Trump campaign’s mistreatment of reporters.
As long as it wasn’t about them, they were happy to do a shitty job. Now, not so much.
Might have been nice to include this.
[1]: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/watch-donald-trump-addresses-houston-event-closed-to-the-press/
Naturally that was a lie.
He was speaking at an event sponsored by these ‘nice’ folks.