Trump Wants to Change to Libel Laws to Block Unwanted News

The fragility of Der Trumpenführer's ego seemingly knows few limits - not surprising since he is a malignant narcissist - and now the White House has floated the notion of changing the libel laws so that Trump, in true dictator form, can sue any news out let which reports stories he doesn't like. Namely, stories that (i) tell the truth about him and his endless series of lies and untruths, (ii) they dysfunction that reigns in his regime, (iii) his unpopularity outside of the "basket of deplorables" who make up the bulk of his base, and (iv) his likely - in my view - collusion with Russia.  In the mentally ill word of Trump, anything that doesn't support his detached from reality view of himself is "fake news" while in truth, if anything is fake, it is what spills out of his mouth or onto his twitter feed.  The Guardian looks at this disturbing issue.  Here are highlights:

 A day after Watergate reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward issued a stirring call for the press to hold Donald Trump to account, the president’s chief of staff said the White House is actively considering a change to libel laws affecting news reporting. 

“I think it’s something that we’ve looked at,” said Reince Priebus, appearing on ABC’s This Week. “How that gets executed and whether that goes anywhere is a different story.”

On the campaign trail last year, Trump responded to reporting on his policies and background by floating the possibility of a change to libel laws. Such a move would in reality require a change to the US constitution, which enshrines freedom of the press in the first amendment, the supreme court having ruled on the issue.

Undaunted, the president returned to the theme on Thursday, writing on Twitter: “The failing [New York Times] has disgraced the media world. Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?”

On ABC, Priebus cited “articles out there that have no basis of fact and we’re sitting here and 24/7 cable companies writing stories about constant contacts with Russia and all these other matters”.

Links between Trump aides and Russia affecting the election campaign are the subject of House, Senate and FBI investigations as well as anonymously sourced reporting by major news outlets. Trump has been strongly critical of such reporting, on Russia and other subjects.

Woodward and Bernstein, who won Pulitzer prizes for their exposure of the cover-up of criminal activity by the Nixon White House, spoke at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington on Saturday night.

Priebus was also asked about Trump’s suggestion that people who burn the American flag should be jailed or have their citizenship revoked. The supreme court has said burning the flag is a form of free speech.

“People need to stand up for our flag,” Priebus said, adding: “It’s something that, again, is probably going to get looked at.”

Trump Versus the Constitution and Free Speech

One of Donald Trump's latest Twitter tirades - it is difficult to keep track since there are so many - involves flag burning.  Per Der Fuhrer, " . . . .there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”  I have always found it telling that for the far right - including most evangelical Christians - they find burning an American flag much more distressing than seeing starving children or Muslims being murdered by brutal dictators in the Middle East and elsewhere. It speaks volumes about their moral bankruptcy and the toxicity of their foul version of Christianity.  But back to Der Fuhrer.  Trump's Twitter outburst reveals many things, not the least of which is that the man is clueless on constitutional rights of citizens or the fact that a Supreme Court ruling upheld flag burning as a right of freedom of speech.  The New York Times, with which Trump has love/hate relationship schools Trump on constitutional realities.  Here are excerpts:

When Donald Trump, hand on the Bible on Jan. 20, swears to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, we the people will have good reason to doubt he knows what he’s talking about. Consider what he tweeted out on Tuesday:

“Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Here’s where we explain what shouldn’t need explaining. Flag-burning is constitutionally protected speech. The Supreme Court has made this clear, in a ruling joined by Mr. Trump’s favorite justice, Antonin Scalia. It’s popular to want to punish flag-burners — pandering politicians, including Hillary Clinton, have tried. But the First Amendment exists to protect unpopular, even repulsive forms of expression. As the Supreme Court said in a 1990 decision finding a federal law against flag-burning unconstitutional, “Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered, and worth revering.” It’s interesting that so many of the people who are eager to punish flag-burners, like Mr. Trump, are at the same time so untroubled by speech that offends minorities, women and other Americans. They rail against any concern about that kind of speech as “political correctness.” But in this country, flag-burning is about as politically incorrect as anything you can do. Where is their courageous defense of speech now? Isn’t Mr. Trump the man who stood up for the freedom to say brutally unpleasant things? Who said, at the Republican convention: “I will present the facts plainly and honestly. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.”

The court, by the way, has also declared that citizenship cannot be stripped away, not by Congress or the president, not in this democracy.

But we don’t have the luxury of merely mocking someone who is now as powerful as Mr. Trump. Before you tune him out, remember what the right-wing propaganda site Breitbart was celebrating on Tuesday — that Mr. Trump’s social-media presence allows him to get his message to millions, bypassing “corporate media.” He has more than 16 million Twitter followers. With Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, he can feed lies and ignorance directly to 36 million people.

He tweets, he posts, he incites. He trolls. He commands a global platform and will soon be America’s commander in chief. But it has to be said, and said again: This is not normal. It demeans the presidency.

 Be very afraid of this man and what his gang of henchmen and Republican sycophants in Congress are poised to do to this country and the rights of citizens.