As America enters a dark tunnel of dangerous internal divisions and an increasingly violent public discourse, Donald Trump is escalating his attacks on many of this nation's institutions.

One of the most dramatic battlegrounds is the US president's war on the media.

It was typified this week when Trump announced he was beginning a $US15 billion ($22 billion) defamation lawsuit against The New York Times .

It was not for any particular article, but rather a general dislike of one of the country's oldest, and most cherished, institutions. Trump is arguing the paper has become a mouthpiece for the Democrats and in general defames him.

He's doing this because it works for him. His MAGA base — the Make America Great Again loyalists who twice propelled him into the White House — delight in

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