Memo to Media and Politicians on President Trump: The First Amendment Works Both Ways and Does Not Provide a safe Space or Comfort Zone for the Media

The First Amendment provides: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ….” The media has the First Amendment right to print almost anything it wants. It can print fake news, up to a point. It can print garbage and trash. It can be vitriolic and intemperate. It can be caustic. It can question the President’s sanity, call for his impeachment, label him with treason. It can call him sexist and misogynist. All of which they have done with President Trump. They are not bound by journalistic standards. Yet, the First Amendment does not grant immunity from criticism. The First Amendment work both ways. President Trump has a First Amendment Right to respond to the media. He can call them douchebags if he thinks they are acting like douchebags. Much of the media and many Democrats have been on a non-stop Crusade against President Trump, even before he was elected. They have thereby opened themselves up to criticism, criticism as strident as theirs. The First Amendment does not immunize them against responses, even if in bad taste or despicable. The First Amendment does not provide a “comfort zone” for journalists. Media that dish it out should not be surprised to be on the receiving end of criticism. They act like bullies, but then call President Trump a bully when his tweets insults them or others. The conduct, or misconduct, of the media symbolizes the deterioration of civil discourse in the country. The commentators, editorialists, and even reporters are no longer content professionally to critique on the merits and policies. Instead, they engage in personal ad hominin attacks on the President. They attack his character, his judgment, and his family. Morning Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have hurled highly offensive remarks about the President. In one broadcast she wondered if there’s “” a mental problem – or early onset dementia?” She’s also said she thought “he’s mentally ill in a way.” She compared the President another time to Kim Jong-Un, the brutal dictator of North Korea. Morning Joe said “My mother’s had dementia for 10 years. That sounds like the sort of thing my mother would say today.” He’s called President Trump “stupid,” a “jackass,” and a “schmuck” on other occasions. He’s said the President “clearly has a personality disorder.” We’ll told on June 23 that it feels like a “dictatorship” is developing in America. We also hear that] “This is a dark time.” Joe said on April 4 that “something is deeply wrong with this person.” Mika tweeted a photo of a box of Cheerios containing the caption “MADE FOR LITTLE HANDS.” She then commented on a Time Magazine cover of Donald Trump. She said he covered his hands “because they’re teensy,” echoing a statement of Senator Rubio during the primaries. She knew, and intended it to be, a comment on President Trump’s masculinity. She said he “is destroying the country.” Their broadcasts have been incessantly tasteless and classless. President Trump on Thursday tweeted Joe Scarborough was a “psycho” and called Mika Brzezinski “Low IQ crazy Mika.” He said he saw her “bleeding badly from a facelift. She denies the facelift, but admits to having “a little skin under her chin tweaked.” So not a full face lift, but a chin tweak? They responded Friday in an op-ed in the Washington Post. The title was “Donald Trump is Not Well.” Morning Joe said in a broadcast Friday that President Trump “attacks women because he fears women.” Mika said on Friday: “I’m just telling you, Melania’s got the worst job in the country and I don’t think she wants to do it a lot longer. I think she will do it for as long as she has to for her son, and that’s it.” Melania Trump responded with dignity and class: “It is sad when people try to further their own agenda by commenting on me and my family, especially when they don’t know me.” Mika also said President trump “appears to have a fragile, impetuous, childhood ego that we’ve seen over and over again.” The President tweeted on Saturday “Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their show is dominated by NBC bosses. Too bad!” It’s all good for the ratings! I personally like the unofficial Kennedy Family motto: “Don’t get mad; Get even.” I also like the saying “Revenge is best served cold.” President Trump has a different approach. He will not sit back and ignore the attacks, unlike President George W. Bush. President Bush thought it beneath the dignity of the President to respond. The media and Democrats proceeded to destroy his Presidency. President Trump has every right to respond. The media believes it has Freedom of Speech to pillory the President any way it wants, but call it bullying for the President to respond in kind. Critics accused President Trump of acting below the stature of a President; in short, “conduct unbecoming the President.” They don’t mention President Kennedy and his affairs, including a Mafia moll, a White House intern, an East German prostitute, a stripper, Jackie’s press secretary, and two White House secretaries, not to mention Marilyn Monroe, Gene Tierney, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak, Jayne Mansfield, Marlene Dietrich, and Angie Dickinson. JFK’s successor, LBJ, claimed to have had more women accidently than Kennedy had intentionally. President Clinton not only cheated in the White House, but then committee perjury about it. They say the President is acting uncouth, whereas more is expected of him as President. As to couth behavior, let’s look to some of our elected representatives. Senator Kristian Gillibrand at a New York conference asked if President Trump had kept his promises. She answered her own question with a resounding “F (expletive deleted) … No.” She had one F word, two “f…in” words, one “BulllS….” word, one “pissed off” and one “that sucks” in her presentation. Children were present in the audience. Senator Kamala Harris of California also used the F word in discussing healthcare at a San Francisco event: “What the f..k is that?” Outgoing California Democratic State Committee Chair John Burton led the delegates in a “F..k Trump” chant. Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez said Republicans don’t “give a s..t about people.” He used the S word several times. And of course we have Vice President Joe Biden saying the passage of ObamaCare was “a big f..king deal.” The mainstream media’s goal is to destroy the Trump Administration. CNN has been caught using fake news. They will attack him regardless of what he tweets. If he were to tweet Happy Easter or Merry Christmas, they would jump on him for violating the separation of Church and State. The media attacked him a few weeks ago for his tweets criticizing the Mayor of London after the terrorist attacks. President Trump is a New York streetfighter. He will fight back, giving as good as he receives. The media also asserts the President should spend less time tweeting and more time running the country, which is precisely the one thing they don’t want him to do. MSNBC issued a statement: “It’s a sad day when the president spends his time bullying, lying, and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job.” Perhaps, instead of tweeting he could engage in the dalliances of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, or emulate President Clinton’s oral sex in the White House. Then we have President Obama who spent an excessive amount of his eight years out of the White House campaigning and fundraising, golfing, and vacationing. Despite the constant negative media barrage, President trump is governing and his Administration continues to pare back the Obama “Legacy.”