Two days after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. President, Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway proclaimed two words which will be remembered for the entirety of Trump’s presidency. In an attempt to defend falsely-proven statements made by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Conway used the phrase “alternative facts” during an MSNBC interview on Jan. 22 when comparing the crowd size of Obama’s inauguration to Trump’s.

The use of the phrase  “alternative facts” demonstrates that the Trump administration is willing to counter any and all accusations by twisting reality  to how they want it to be. This jeopardizes not only the integrity of the White House, but the press’ relationship with the administration itself.

CEO of Trump International, Trump is the “Id”, or the manifestation of human instinct, to what many Americans had hoped the leader of the United States to be. He is widely considered by both citizens of the U.S. and other nations to be a racist, a misogynist, an isolationist, and more. These are hardly characteristics of someone who believes in “reuniting” America after the 2016 presidential race which alienated both longtime Republicans and Democrats alike.

Trump promised to “Make America Great Again,” while leading a nation that faces $20 trillion in national debt. If he ever hopes to unite America at all, addressing this will be his ticket to doing so. Unlike his businesses, Trump can’t simply declare bankruptcy a few times and call it a day.

This will take hard work, and will require an administration that is dedicated to building effective policies that can unite liberals and conservatives.

Unfortunately, it seems for now that Trump is focused more on undoing previous policies of former president Barack Obama, while lashing out at the slightest criticism from the press.

In Obama’s final press conference, days before Trump’s inauguration, Obama emphasized the importance of the media’s diligence to uncover the truth in any president’s administration. Now that Trump is in office, however, his administration holds a much more aggressive approach in dealing with the medias coverage of the president.

On Jan. 26, White House Strategist Stephen Bannon was quoted as saying that the media should “Keep it’s mouth shut” and to “listen” after the chaos of Trump’s executive action to detain and deport thousands of illegal immigrants. Alarmingly, Trump has repeatedly called CNN “fake news” with no evidence to back his claims. People need to see Trump’s leadership for what it is — an administration that is frankly thin-skinned to criticisms from the media.

American news outlets are an essential and integral part of both our nation and our history, and to try and discredit or outright shame them for doing their jobs is unacceptable. In the same MSNBC interview mentioned earlier, Conway emphasized the words “We allowed the press” into the press conference, as if trying to say that the administration does not have to.

When a President’s representative, of any status, uses the words “allowed” when talking about the press’ coverage of the President, that is a clear sign of not just attempted political manipulation, but that Trump will try and run the country the way he wants to — without opposition.

Look, the media isn’t perfect. The media isn’t always right. But without the media, think about how many pivotal American controversies that could have gone uncovered. Watergate, for example, was ignored by the general public until the Washington Post, under criticism, released evidence suggesting ex-President Richard Nixon was part of a mass cover-up and demonstrated an abuse in his power in the 1970’s.

We need the media to root out our problems, to focus on the stories that most people wouldn’t normally hear, and most importantly, to voice public concerns to any president’s administration.

Trump’s repeated attempts to discredit the media creates a sense of uncertainty and fear in many Americans. This is what scares me. Therefore, I suggest that we become more politically active, or at the very least, politically aware here at James Bowie High School. President Trump can say what he wants about the media, that’s his constitutional right. But the same constitutional right gives freedom to the press.

So if we can all be more vigilant, we can decide for ourselves the credibility of the media. We can analyze if news is factual or non factual. Ultimately, in the final analysis, facts are facts, and cannot therefore be “alternative,” no exceptions.