President Donald Trump’s continued attacks on the First Amendment cannot go unchallenged. His view that the press is “the enemy of the American people” is silly, of course, but if you tell a lie often enough, some of you out there will begin to believe it.
At a gathering a few weeks ago at The Columbian, I was asked what the answer was to Trump’s attacks on the media.
“Truth will win out,” I said.
So keep reading and supporting The Columbian. Truth and the mainstream media will — indeed — win out.
• • •
I thought about the line “some of them remember him for several days” because I’m thinking my several days are just about up.
Still, I’ll continue this column on the first Saturday of every month. That might buy me a few more days!
So before my editor thing becomes really old news, I wanted to devote this column to sharing a few of those comments:
• “I have been around a while, and I have never seen a better example of how the voice of the people, that is the press, can effect positive change in government.
“Your work in exposing the cancer in the county commissioner’s office was unrelenting, brave and spectacularly effective.”
— From a judge in Clark County
• “You have taken the mission of good journalism fiercely seriously while making the news entertaining and fun.
“You have made me nervous. That is you doing your job. A good thing.
— Larry J. Smith
• “Thank you for always backing up reporters in their pursuit of the truth!”
— Erin Middlewood
• “Ninety-nine percent of my subscription reasoning was your refreshing style.”
— Sam Atkinson
• “Congrats and thanks for a ‘must read’ every weekend! Will have to adjust to a monthly chuckle.”
— Peter Mayer
• “You’ve been the first thing we look for in the paper for a long time now. Thank you for doing such a great job of holding folks accountable and keeping us informed.”
— Judy Richards Chipman
• “Watch out Florida, Lou is on his way, the Bocce King.”
— Thom Rasmussen
• “I have always enjoyed your column. Your columns have always been well-written, extremely informative, humorous sometimes, and I have looked forward to reading it each week. You have touched many lives of people, some of whom you will never know. Your reporting has always been very meaningful to me, as well as to my 98-year-old father, who often greets me with ‘Did you read Lou’s column this morning?’ accompanied by a twinkle in his eye.”
— Helen Engel
Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor emeritus. His column appears the first Saturday of every month. Reach him at lounews1@gmail.com.