Trump is epitome of cancel culture

IN (THE Aug. 30) Journal, Rep. Alonso Baldonado of Los Lunas says the “public shaming by the cancel culture mob is the greatest threat to our fundamental rights of freedom of speech.” He says “this thinking is simply antithetical to the principles inherent in a free and open society” and asserts that the purpose of the cancel culture is to prevent you from speaking in the first place.

I agree with him. However, this is President Trump’s defining behavior. It is what he does.

Public shaming is President Trump’s first go-to response to anything he finds unacceptable, and unacceptable, to him, is anything not complimentary.

It is Trump who has declared — using the words of dictators — that the press is “the enemy of the people.” It is Trump who has suggested that The Washington Post should be shut down because it’s owned by someone who doesn’t support him. It is Trump who suggested the same about The New York Times and CNN. It is Trump who has had people removed from his rallies because they didn’t support him, who has had reporters removed from press conferences because they questioned him. It is Trump who has publicly shamed disabled war heroes — “I like people who weren’t captured”— and grieving parents.

Rep. Baldonado claims that Donald Trump is standing up for freedom of expression. He is not. His thinking is simply antithetical to the principles inherent in a free and open society.

JERRY STAUFFER Albuquerque