By Hunter
That didn't take long. Not even a week has passed, and the president elect's team is already warning Trump critics to be "careful" about the way they criticize Trump.

[Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid] on Friday had said that "the election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America" and that "white nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump's victory, while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear." [...]
Then, she added: "He should be very careful about characterizing somebody in a legal sense. He thinks -- he thinks he's just being some kind of political pundit there, but I would say be very careful about the way you characterize it."
Donald Trump's minions seem to be confused about this, so let's fill them in on something they're going to need to know going forward: The President of the United States has the least legal protection against criticism or libel of anyone in the country. As the ultimate public figure, courts are obliged to grant public citizens wide leeway. This is why, for example, elected public officials, private citizens, and the Fox News channel have been repeatedly able to peddle 100% false information about Barack Obama for a decade with absolutely no repercussions.

To demonstrate how this works, I could, for example, say something like "President Donald Trump is a small-penised sex-obsessed pervert who stands accused of raping a 13 year old girl and who, given his temperament, has in all likelihood sexually abused at least one of his own children. He is mentally unstable and among the dumbest individuals ever to hold any public office anywhere, is quite probably colluding with Russia to undermine American interests, and spends his evenings aggressively masturbating to National Geographic footage of burrowing meerkats. His sole aim in acquiring the presidency is to convert the Lincoln Bedroom into a Rape Room, and he will sell an American nuclear weapon to ISIS for fifteen dollars and change if he thinks he'd make two dollars worth of profit on it."

Welcome to the big leagues, President Summer Squash. You're going to have quite the adventure from here on in.
Reid's office was eager to respond.

“It only took five days for President-elect Trump to try to silence his critics with the threat of legal action. This should shock and concern all Americans. [...]
Since Trump was elected, acts of hate against Muslims, Jews, women and people of color have spiked dramatically. The KKK is planning a parade to celebrate Trump’s victory because the KKK sees Trump as their champion. Today, a headline in one newspaper reads, ‘Popular neo-Nazi site urges readers to troll liberals into suicide,’ while another reads, ‘Post-election spate of hate crimes worse than 9-11.’

“But instead of rising to the responsibility of his office, Trump is hiding behind his Twitter account and sending his staff on TV to threaten his critics.

“If this is going to be a time of healing, Trump must take action immediately to stop the acts of hate and threats of violence that are being committed in his name across the country. Trump owes the nation leadership, not petty attempts to silence his critics.”
Donald Trump continues to ignore the acts of hate sweeping the country in his name. We can presume at this point that it is because he wishes those acts to continue.

(Published 2016/12/27 at 12:01 am)