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Trump went full crybaby against the reporters, moaning about how his generosity was not being appreciated. When an ABC reporter asked Trump why Trump was calling him a "sleaze," Trump fired back, "You're a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well." Right.

The New York businessman and reality-TV star loves media attention, reporters who cover him say, but he hates media scrutiny.

Among other news organizations his campaign has blacklisted are Gawker, Politico, Buzzfeed, Foreign Policy, Univision, Fusion, Mother Jones, the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Des Moines Register, the Daily Beast and Huffington Post.

Journalists who do receive credentials are penned up in the rear of his events, where Trump can conveniently point at them and leads the crowd in choruses of boos and jeers reminiscent of "Two Minutes Hate" in George Orwell's dystopian "1984."

Republicans have complained about liberal media bias for decades. But the often-litigious Trump has gone further than most. He actually has promised to "open up" libel laws, should our country go crazy enough to elect him president. This would make it easier for newsmakers to sue and win judgments against media for coverage that they don't like.

Of course, Trump does not mention how that change would require a revocation of the First Amendment. All of which gives new meaning to Trump's declaration at one of his victory rallies, "I love the poorly educated."

That's a good reason for him to dislike the media. Too much information could shrink his base of supporters.

I have a suggestion for him. If he doesn't want to face reporters' questions, he could follow the path of Russia's Vladimir Putin and Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: He could buy his own news media. Then he could have the fun of both censoring and insulting himself.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)

(c) 2016 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.