Leonard Pitts: Trump’s anti-journalism hit squad

(Mary Altaffer | AP file photo) A police officer stands guard outside The New York Times building in New York.So says Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's "Henry VI, Part 2." Though often regarded as a Renaissance-era lawyer joke, the line is actually a backhanded compliment to the legal profession. Dick, a follower of the rebel Jack Cade, knows that before their insurrection can succeed, they have to get rid of the defenders of law and order.

We are seeing a disturbingly similar strategy unfold in American politics. Except that this time, they want to kill all the journalists.

The 2018 massacre at a newsroom in Annapolis and ongoing violence and threats against reporters make the analogy a…