In Trumpland, only his speech is free
Donald Trump has a curious understanding of what freedom of speech means. His most recent head-scratcher involves a claim that writing unflattering newspaper stories about him is not protected speech. Following a lengthy Sunday
New York Times piece detailing dysfunction in Trumpland, The Donald tweeted, “It is not ‘freedom of the press’ when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false!”
Ken White, a First Amendment lawyer, told me: “Trump’s complaint is misleading. … Political arguments, characterizations, opinions based on disclosed facts, and interpretations can’t be ‘false’ for First Amendment purposes.”
Of course, Trump had no problem with news outlets running with his made-up claim in 2011 that President Obama “doesn’t have a birth certificate. He may have one, but there’s something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he is a Muslim.”
Meanwhile, Trump says official action should be taken against journalists when they anger him. In September, National Review editor Rich Lowry quipped that Carly Fiorina “cut (Trump’s) balls off with the precision of a surgeon” at a primary debate. Trump tweeted furiously that Lowry “should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him!”
Trump loves free speech only when he or his supporters are speaking. When he postponed a March campaign event because of throngs of protesters he told Sean Hannity, “I think this not a good group — really spiteful of First Amendment rights.”
Protesters can’t violate First Amendment rights. Only the government can do that. Moreover, whether a group is “good” or “bad” is irrelevant in determining whether a constitutional violation has occurred.
Last week, Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network he was going to work to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits non-profit charitable organizations from engaging in political activity. “Free speech is being taken away from people that are great people,” Trump told an interviewer. The “great people” in this case are Trump-supporting conservative Christian pastors who want to be able to take tax-deductible donations and also influence elections.
People saying “bad things” can expect different treatment from a President Trump. We know he has promised to “open up” libel laws so he can punish the “dishonest” media.
He also pledged to Bill O’Reilly that should he become president, he’d have his attorney general investigate Black Lives Matter. Why? “Because (they are doing) really bad stuff and it’s happened more than once,” he told O’Reilly.
Trump told me that he was referring to claims that a handful of BLM protesters chanted, “Dead cops now.” This allegation has been debunked. Nonetheless, Trump reiterated to me that he would have his AG investigate an activist group he dislikes.
This is what free speech would look like in Trump’s America.