Julian Assange

Somehow, Donald Trump Jr. and Julian Assange are united in outrage at CNN over the video Donald Trump tweeted of himself beating a figure with the CNN logo in place of a head. (I know. I can’t believe I just typed that, either.)

The back story is as twisted as you’d expect. After Trump the father tweeted a GIF of himself in his days as an occasional WWE character tackling and beating a wrestler with the CNN logo edited onto his face, CNN found the Reddit user who initially created the image, got an apology from him, and said they wouldn’t publish his name due to his remorse, but that “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.” The same Reddit user, by the way, previously posted pictures of CNN staff with Stars of David next to their heads and the text “Something strange about CNN...can’t quite put my finger on it.” So it’s not like he’s just apologizing for the Trump wrestling thing.

To Trumpland, it’s a total outrage that if the same guy returns to making violent and/or anti-Semitic memes about CNN, the network will release his identity. Hashtag “CNNBlackmail.” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange dove right in with the claim that this was a crime. Which Uday Trump quickly cited:

x JULIAN ASSANGE: CNN Committed Crime - Violated ÃÂ§ 135.60 on "Coercion" #CNNBlackmail https://t.co/IlBtIbQBkgÃÂ§-135-60-coercion-cnnblackmail/ — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 5, 2017

Not that this should be a surprise, given that the Trumps have a history of pointing to Assange's expert opinion. But Uday wasn’t done.

x Again. HanAssholeSolo is not 15 or anywhere close to it. This is POTUS' son spreading misinformation. pic.twitter.com/AB98NLn7nc — andrew kaczynski Ã°ÂÂ¤Â (@KFILE) July 5, 2017

A Trump, spreading misinformation? Surely not!

As a reminder in all of this, we’re talking about a network that went out and specifically hired Trump-supporting commentators during the Republican primaries, then hired Trump’s former campaign manager while he was still collecting money from the Trump campaign. But Trump demands 100% fealty—and he’s looking to make an example of one of the biggest, blandest news outlets he can to frighten the rest of the media into line while telling his supporters to believe that anything they don’t want to hear is fake news.