There are a lot of reasons to criticize Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post, as well as media in general. But Donald Trump's reasons for wanting to do it should frighten anyone who cares at all about civil liberties in this country.

In an interview with Sean Hannity earlier this week, Trump ranted about Bezos using the Post "as a tool for political power against me and against other people." Apparently he's never watched Fox News or read the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, or many of the other right-wing publications out there who have banged their drums against Obama for the past eight years.

Then the Orange One went far beyond mere criticism, descending into threats.

Like this one. "Amazon is getting away with murder, tax-wise. He’s using the Washington Post for power. So that the politicians in Washington don’t tax Amazon like they should be taxed."

Subtext: If I get in, I'm gonna tax the hell out of Amazon and all its users.

And his threat on anti-trust laws. "So what they’re doing is he’s using that as a political instrument to try and stop antitrust, which he thinks I believe he’s antitrust, in other words, what he’s got is a monopoly."

If you think Trump would stop at taxes or anti-trust laws, guess again. As Digby noted in her post this morning, he thinks Edward Snowden should be executed along with Deep Throat, he went after five innocent men in the Central Park Five case, calling for them to be stripped of their civil liberties, and now this.

Digby:

I know Amazon is an enemy of the people in other ways. But this is the Republican nominee of the Republican Party for president of the United States openly threatening to use the power of his office to stifle a critic using the anti-trust laws. He's threatened the media before.

There is a lot of corruption in our society, we know that. Big money has too much influence and monopolies are increasingly distorting the economy. There are many good reasons to be unhappy with the status quo. But any civil libertarian who thinks the billionaire fascist Donald Trump is the answer to that problem needs his head examined.

I think she's being too kind there. Donald Trump is a proto-fascist. He would openly defy our Constitution and his oath to uphold it in order to strip civil liberties in all areas where he, and only he, is the arbiter of what he deems fair.