The Trump campaign issued their official statement yesterday on the assault of Michelle Fields, but we had yet to hear from the Big Man himself. Judging by the lie-filled idiocy they spewed on the issue, it didn’t seem promising. If you were expecting him to do the right thing, then you’re about to be sorely disappointed.

Donald Trump is digging in and sticking with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, even though Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields says he bruised her earlier this week. Trump told ABC News after last night’s debate Lewandowski is innocent.

He also doubled down on the previous comments by the campaign claiming it’s a big, giant conspiracy against him.

So there you have it, despite pictures of the bruising, audio, and witness accounts, Trump says the entire thing is fake. Made up. A complete lie. Give me a break. His loyalty to his employees is slightly admirable, but this is the same guy who kept his spokesperson even though she’s made some weird tweets in the past. But if Ted Cruz is willing to cut ties with his former spokesperson for putting out a fake Marco Rubio story, Trump should probably consider the same thing. Lewandowski needs to either resign or be fired. It’s the prudent and reasonable thing to do. The fact the Trump campaign won’t do the right thing might as well mean they really believe they can do almost anything, and Trump’s followers won’t walk away. In fact, they’re standing by their man almost better than Hillary Clinton did Bill Clinton in the 1990’s

There’s even video of Trump saying he doesn’t think it happened:

Here’s the audio of the encounter:

There’s also the matter of the bruises left on Michelle Fields’ arm:

And unfortunately for Trump, she’s not backing down. She’s challenged Corey Lewandowski to take a lie detector test, saying she would do the same.

Violence at Trump rallies is shockingly common, but there’s something beyond the pale about assaulting reporters. Keep in mind that Lewandowski originally admitted to assaulting Fields, and his excuse was that he thought she was a “bad” reporter — he didn’t recognize that she was a Trumpbart reporter. So that’s supposed to make it OK? Lewandowski’s original claim was that the assault was warranted because she was mistaken for a member of the “adversarial” media. This should make everyone’s blood run cold, because it sets an extremely disturbing precedent. What would happen to members of the media who report negatively about Trump if he became president? We already knew that he threatened to “open up libel laws” so he could sue journalists for printing things he doesn’t like. That’s scary enough, in and of itself. But now we also have the Trump campaigning roughing up reporters on several occasions (a TIME reporter got choked at one of his rallies). When you consider that this is also a man who expresses admiration for Vladimir Putin and thinks that the Chinese government just needed to crack down harder at Tiananmen Square, it’s downright terrifying.

Freedom of press is one of the freedoms our Constitution defends as a fundamental right. It’s also a right that Trump clearly does not respect. And this tells us that he has absolutely no business being anywhere near the Oval Office. You don’t get to only allow reporters to publish stories that you approve of. This, however, is exactly what Trump demands. That doesn’t make him a president; it makes him a fascist dictator. And the fact that so-called conservatives defend this behavior may possibly be the most disturbing part of all.