Before attending church on Sunday, Donald Trump defended a Fox News host who was taken off air after she questioned whether a Muslim congresswoman’s religious beliefs were compatible with the US constitution.
“Bring back [Judge Jeanine] Pirro,” the president tweeted from the White House, before a trip across Lafayette Square for a St Patrick’s Day service at St John’s Episcopal church. Fox should “be strong and prosper”, he added, rather than “be weak and die”.

Ilhan Omar, the subject of Pirro’s remarks, came to the US from Somalia and is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Her remarks about Israeli influence on US politics have caused controversy on both sides of the aisle.

Pirro is an ardent supporter of the president on a channel with close links to the White House that are the subject of growing criticism.

On her show on Saturday 9 March, the former New York judge and district attorney said of the Minnesota representative: “Think about it. Omar wears a hijab, which, according to the Qur’an 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested.

“Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States constitution?”

Fox must stay strong and fight back with vigour. Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct

Amid outcry, Fox News said it “strongly condemned” the comments and had “addressed the matter with [Pirro] directly”.

In her own statement, Pirro said she had not called Omar “un-American” and said her intention had been to “ask a question and start a debate”.

“Of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the constitution,” she said, inviting Omar to appear on her show.

For her part, Omar thanked Fox and tweeted: “No one’s commitment to our constitution should be questioned because of their faith or country of birth.”

A week later, Pirro’s show did not appear. Citing an anonymous source, CNN reported that Pirro had been suspended but not fired. Fox repeated that it was “not commenting on internal scheduling matters”.

On Sunday, the president called for Pirro to be brought back and claimed “Radical Left Democrats working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media” were working to “silence a majority of our country”.

“They have all out campaigns against Fox News hosts who are doing too well,” the president wrote. “Fox must stay strong and fight back with vigour. Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down, and continue to fight for our country. The losers all want what you have, don’t give it to them. Be strong [and] prosper, be weak [and] die! Stay true to the people that got you there.”

The president also defended the Fox host Tucker Carlson, who is under pressure over offensive comments made on talk radio beginning in the mid-2000s. Advertisers have said they will withdraw from his show and the show hosted by Pirro.

“Keep fighting for Tucker,” Trump wrote, “and fight hard for Judge Jeanine. Your competitors are jealous – they all want what you’ve got – NUMBER ONE. Don’t hand it to them on a silver platter. They can’t beat you, you can only beat yourselves!”

The tweets came after Trump’s repeated complaints about other TV shows: Saturday Night Live – which did not broadcast this weekend – and late-night talkshow hosts who mock him.

“Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?” he asked. “There must be Collusion with the Democrats and, of course, Russia!”

He later criticised three Fox news anchors: Arthel Neville and Leland Vittert, who he said “should be working” for CNN, and “lowest rated anchor” Shepard Smith, a high-profile host who has been critical of Trump in the past.

In a more sensible forum, the Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib, another of the first Muslim women in Congress, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union.

“Congresswoman Omar and myself have gotten so many death threats,” she said, adding that she “actually prays every day for her safety”.

She added: “This is a woman that’s a mother, that is an American, that is serving her country. And we need to be very careful. When we disagree publicly, when we disagree publicly on various policy agreements, we have to be very careful in the language that we use … that it’s not feeding into the Islamophobia that is growing in our country.”

There is a lot at stake

The world’s most powerful man is using his office to punish journalistic organisations that won’t follow his orders or who report critically on his policies. Donald Trump’s actions against the press include bans, lawsuits and hand-picking his own pool of reporters.

But the global threat against the press is bigger than just Trump.

Economic and authoritarian forces around the globe are challenging journalists’ ability to report. An independent press, one that those in power can’t simply overrule, is crucial to democracy. Figures such as Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán want to crush it through exclusion and influence.

The Guardian is a global news organisation that will stand up to attacks on the free press. We have no interest serving those with immense power or immense wealth.

We are owned by an independent trust devoted only to protecting and defending our journalism. That means we don’t have a billionaire owner dictating what our reporters can cover or what opinions our columnists can have, or shareholders demanding a quick return.

The global situation is shifting hour by hour, making this an extremely challenging moment. It will take brave, well-funded, committed, quality journalism to call out what is happening.

Our job is to make sure we do not get overwhelmed as Trump floods the zone. We must focus on the stories that will make the biggest impact on people’s lives, while holding the powerful to account. We’ll also continue to focus on the ideas people need to create a better world: a reason for hope.

As the writer and Guardian columnist Rebecca Solnit says: “authentic hope requires clarity … and imagination”.

The Guardian can provide both and, with the help of readers like you in Vietnam, we can drive hope by reporting truthfully on what is happening and never pulling our punches.