Ominous Move to Strip Americans of First Amendment Rights
A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump indicated that he
would allow the Trump administration to bar from the White House press room the
nonprofit Associate Press, one of the country’s largest news organizations.
The AP was blocked because it does not use language that
Donald Trump demands that all Americans use or risk government punishment,
calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
This could be seen as a petty dispute, but I see it as a
window into Trump’s continuing efforts to consolidate power as our de
facto dictator, which in large part requires bringing the press to
heel so Americans learn only the official Trump version of events, not some
pesky independent reporting.
Telling journalists what language to use contradicts
the free speech and free press rights all Americans enjoy under our
Constitution’s First Amendment. But Trump knows that this will have a
visceral impact only on the minority of Americans who understand, care about,
and will fight for our Constitutional rights.
Most Go Along
The social experiments by Stanley
Milgram and Philip Zimbardo on inflicting pain and
running a faux prison showed that only one in six people will resist or reject
orders to harm others. Zimbardo, a Stanford University professor whose
experiment I wrote about at the time, insisted to his dying day that he had no
interest in those who wouldn’t go along, only those who complied.
Donald has a long history of showing his utter lack of
regard for our Constitution when he finds it inconvenient. In this his
obsequiously loyal ally is Vice President JD Vance, a Yale-educated lawyer who
knows better, but favors demonstrating his fealty to Trump above his oath of
office to protect and defend our constitution against all enemies foreign and
domestic.
Now Trump appears to have another ally in U.S. District
Judge Trevor McFadden, a 2017 Trump appointee.
In that Monday’s hearing, judge McFadden declined to direct
the Trump administration to let Associated Press reporters into the White House
press room.
“I can’t say the AP has shown a likelihood of success here,”
Judge McFadden said.
McFadden called the AP ban “problematic” and advised the
government that “case law in this circuit is uniformly unhelpful to the White
House.” He then ordered a hearing in March. without any relief for AP until
then.
The judge also critiqued AP for waiting five days to file
its case, saying it showed that AP didn’t consider this an emergency.
It’s hard to imagine a clearer First Amendment violation.
Trump is punishing the Associated Press for exercising a Constitutional right,
namely, to choose the words it thinks are proper and appropriate in news
articles. That Judge McFadden is trying to weasel out of his duty to uphold
Constitutional rights is another sign of obeisance to our dictator’s demands.
Trump made clear last week that unless AP writes the news as
he demands, using his fictional Gulf of America in relevant articles, it will
not be reinstated.
“We’re going to keep them out until such time that they
agree it’s the Gulf of America,” Trump said.
The AP sued over what it says is “an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case refusing to change its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.”
“The press and all people in the United States have
the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the
government,” AP’s complaint declared.
AP sued Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, her
deputy Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
In what looks like a foretelling of more restrictions on
independent journalism, Brian Hudak, the chief civil lawyer in U.S. Attorney’s
office for the District of Columbia, said that “if tomorrow the White House
decides to abolish the White House press pool, they can do that… I don’t think
that offends the Constitution.”
As a matter of law, Hudak is right about that. But that
seems less likely than what Trump and his minions have already started doing,
which is giving preferential treatment to pro-Trump propaganda outlets posing
as news organizations.
Squeezing News Organizations
The White House and the Pentagon have started squeezing out
news organizations with solid reputations for factual accuracy in favor of faux
news organizations, like Fox, OAN, and Breitbart. Don’t be surprised if Trump
eventually gives favorable treatment to some future correspondent for his own
website, the badly misnamed Truth Social.
Equally ominous was how U.S. Attorney for the nation’s
capital described his role – as Trump’s personal lawyer, another ominous sign
of Trump consolidating power as a dictator by appointing to powerful positions
people who regard themselves as his loyal subjects first, last, so and always.
“As President Trump’s lawyers, we are proud to fight to
protect his leadership as our President and we are vigilant in standing against
entities like the AP that refuse to put America first,” Martin wrote.
You will look long and hard trying to find that quote in
Tuesdays reports by our major news organizations, which continue to treat trump
as a political oddity, not a career white-collar crime boss, convicted felon,
and enemy of our Constitution.
Trump has long said that it should be against the law to
write things about him unless he approves, one of his many public statements
demonstrating his belief that he holds dictatorial powers.
Trump Praises Violence
As president in 2018 Trump praised a violent attack on
a news reporter by Republican politician Greg Gianforte of Montana, his favored
candidate for one of two House seats.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have called for CBS to
lose its broadcasting license and imprisoning 60 Minutes journalists involved
in a fall 2024 interview with Kamala Harris. (Trump was offered the same kind
of interview but declined.)
Trump sued CBS seeking $10 billion in damages claiming 60
Minutes manipulated Harris; comments. When CBS took the extraordinary step of
releasing transcripts of its full interview Trump’s complaint was shown to be
nonsense.
Instead of folding his case, Trump responded by doubling his
demand to $20 billion.
It’s not just journalists Trump wants to gag. During his
first term Trump forced White House staff—even interns—to sign unconstitutional
non-disclosure agreements.
In 2018, Trump proposed that protests be made illegal, citing dictators
who have crushed dissent. Peaceful protests and assemblies are protected under
the First Amendment.
Trump has made it very clear that he doesn’t stand for the
freedom of the press. Rather he sees them as sources of personal enrichment
through lawsuits like the one against CBS.
ABC, owned by Disney, already knuckled under with $16
million to Trump lawyers and his future presidential library over a case so
frivolous that First Amendment lawyers virtually all say Disney would have
prevailed.
Abusing Presidential Power
Why did Disney back down? Because Trump has many levers with
which to punish the film, amusement park, and cruise ship company—as well as
its executives and directors— if it stands up for itself and our freedoms.
As a presidential candidate, Donald told supporters he would sue
journalists and get richer doing so.
Eight years ago at a Ft. Worth rally Trump said, “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,” We’re going to open up those libel laws.
So, when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or
when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece,
we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because
they’re totally protected.”
While Trump often claims that news articles aren’t accurate,
he almost always makes naked claims.
Trump’s Threats
In the past 36 years he has threatened many times to sue me.
I always politely respond that “if you have a case, Donald, you should bring
it.” Trump never has because he knows that I have the facts and that in
litigation he would have to answer questions under oath during the discovery
phase.
But his actions here are not about facts or truth. They are
about suppressing facts that he wants to hide.
As a private citizen his threats were just bullying. It
worked on many journalists, especially soft spined editors and producers
fearful of litigation. As president he can now bring the government’s resources
to savage our First Amendment rights – your rights.
David Cay Johnston co-founded DCReport. He is a best-selling author and investigative journalist who for 13 years reported for The New York Times. Johnston is a specialist in economics and tax issues. He won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize. He is a professor of practice teaching law, public policy, and journalism at Rochester Institute of Technology.
