More importantly, the legal thunder bolt came at a moment when press freedom is under verbal and occasionally physical assault from the president and his supporters. Just hours after Thomas’ opinion, Trump tweeted that the New York Times is “a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE,” a Stalin-flavored threat that the president has resorted to on nearly two dozen occasions. And shortly after that, an active Coast Guard member with a large cache of weapons was arrested and charged with threatening to kill journalists from MSNBC and CNN (as well as Democratic politicians). Christopher Hasson was stopped in time — but the Trump rally attendee who recently jumped into the press area and pummeled a BBC cameraman was not.