Trump's Very First Tweet As President Elect Basically Shits On The First Amendment

from the off-to-the-races dept

Since being declared the winner of the Presidential election, Donald Trump has actually played the part of an actual President-elect quite well. His victory speech was quite gracious and welcoming. His meeting with President Obama appeared to go well. Of course, anyone who's watched him during the campaign knew it couldn't last, but perhaps, maybe, he'd actually be presidential for a few weeks or (could we dare?) a few months? But, nope. All it took was about 48 hours and the man who four years ago demanded that people "march on Washington" because President Obama was re-elected, used his very first tweet as the President elect to shit all over the First Amendment. Compare that to his tweet from four years ago: It's true that there are lots of protests going on, some of which have turned violent. It's also true that there's been a wave of attacks on minorities across the US by Trump supporters. An actual leader would seek to tell his supporters that's not how Americans should act. But that's not what we got.

We noted that one of the big fears with a Trump presidency is what it would mean for the First Amendment, and kicking it off by attacking both the freedom of the press and the right of assembly in one go (also, with the bizarre claim of "professional protestors" -- which, you know, if it were true, wouldn't need "inciting" by the press) should be deeply concerning to anyone who supports the First Amendment. There were going to be protests no matter how this election turned out. That was a given. A President who was truly focused on bringing the country together would recognize the concerns and grievances, not attack them and deny their rights.

As (of all people?!?) Ryan Adams correctly noted to Trump in a response tweet: "you work for them now. You're hired. You work for all Americans now [and] your JOB is to DEFEND their RIGHT to protest." He's absolutely right. In particular, the oath that Donald Trump will take in a few months is that he will "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He talked a lot about the 2nd Amendment on the campaign trail. He should familiarize himself with the 1st.

Filed Under: donald trump, first amendment, free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, leadership, protesters