Something big must be about to blow for Donald Trump
“President” Donald “Dictator Donnie” Trump must be in trouble again. Something big must be about to blow. How do we know this? His tweets, lashing out at the media. On Sunday, he once again labeled the media the “enemy of the people,” emphasizing the attribution in all caps: “THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”
This followed his attacks on Saturday Night Live, calling for retribution for daring to make fun of Corruptus Maximus: “Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!”
Notwithstanding that the statement on its face is absurd, that a political satire program can somehow be a form of collusion (which Trump and his legal team repeatedly state when it comes to him is not a thing), the tweets are dangerous. They are the ramblings and wishes of a dictator, someone who is not open to criticism or questioning, sort of the treatment his idols Putin and Kim and MBS get from their home media outlets.
At one point in our nation’s history, not long after we established our new nation under the United States Constitution, Congress passed laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Passed in 1798, the laws focused on certain behaviors by immigrants. The alien parts of the laws remain in effect today, more than 200 years later. However, the sedition acts, which prohibited public opposition to the government, including parody and criticism, and imposed liability against those who “write, print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous and malicious writing” against the government, expired in the early 1800s. Over the decades, the laws have changed, and we are permitted to criticize the President and others. (If that were not permissible, the 24/7 channels including CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, would quickly be out of business.)
The real enemy of the people, the one who is most dangerous to our nation and who has poisoned his base against the media, against federal law enforcement, against all our cherished institutions and bedrocks, is “Dictator Donnie.” His language is dangerous, and we must all call him out for the danger it is.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.