On Thursday, before supporters and demonstrators clashed outside the San Jose Convention Center, a Donald Trump campaign staffer had a Politico reporter ejected from the event for reporting without the campaign’s permission…. Trump has sharpened his rhetoric targeting the First Amendment and the free press of late, recently referring to an ABC reporter as a “sleaze.” He has also referred to journalists as “scum” and “slime.” Also, he wants to make it easier to sue media outlets. “I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” he said in February.
I’m frankly growing tired of writing about Donald Trump. The man’s a pig and a self-promoting bully, to whom the endless media attention must seem like a never-ending spontaneous orgasm.
We must have REALLY pissed of the gods, eh? Election day is five months off, and it appears we’re stuck in an endless Trump-dominated news cycle. If there’s a Hell, I’d submit we’re hip-deep in it.
My purpose in this rant isn’t to bitch and moan about Trump, though it would be distressingly easy to do. No, my concern is that someone who only believes in the 1st Amendment only insofar as he can manipulate it to his advantage is advocating for dismantling a basic American right. That politicians want to control and massage the coverage of their campaign is understandable; that’s what politicians do. What happened in San Jose is evidence of something far worse than the desire to manage how one is portrayed in the media. The ejection of a journalist for “reporting without permission” represent a newer and much higher degree of malevolence toward the constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech.
The job of the press is to inform the public. While it’s possible to argue about how accurately the Fourth Estate relays information and events to the American Sheeple, the truth is that a free press is essential to any democracy. No candidate should be allowed to curtail the 1st Amendment rights of a journalist (or anyone else) because they don’t approve of how they’re being covered. Examination from all quarters is part of what a politician signs up for when they run for office. Voters deserve to know as much as possible about someone running to represent them. Yes, the process may seem invasive and highly partisan, but the alternative is relying on campaign press releases, the candidate’s website, and television ads…all of which are highly manipulable. Anything a campaign produces is at least one part propaganda and not to be taken as offered.
What Trump’s intellectually-challenged supporters seem unable to understand is that rights, once they go away, can be exceedingly difficult to restore. Or perhaps they only care about the Constitution they’re familiar with (the one that exists only in their imaginations)? Remember, “free speech and expression” isn’t defined as “speech that I like and agree with.” Sometimes it can be, and very often is, deemed to be objectionable and offensive speech.
First they came for reporters, but I didn’t care because I wasn’t a reporter….
