‘Change libel laws?’
“The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us,” President Donald Trump told a joint session of Congress February 28.
That was then, this is now.Â
President Trump on Thursday morning repeated his Wednesday attack on The New York Times, while once again promoting a right wing tabloid, The New York Post, but this time he added another target: the First Amendment.
“The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning. “Change libel laws?”
The First Amendment is very clear about protections for the media, as are hundreds of years of settled law and court cases.Â
Elected public servants who don’t like the coverage they receive have various options. They can request a retraction, they can write a letter to the editor, they can also ignore a story. They can also sue, if they feel that is their only recourse.
President Trump has done none of the above.
Taking one of the above steps is what responsible officials do. On the other hand, fascists decide to take on the media and try to change – or gut – the nation’s laws.
As one top reporter who closely covered the Trump campaign notes, this is not the first time Trump has threatened this.
“I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write…horrible & false articles, we can sue them & win lots of money,” Trump told supporters in Texas.
And on Wednesday, in response to a portion of Trump’s attack, The New York Times responded:
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Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr and a CC license