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"I am thankful we have a president who celebrates the First Amendment," Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
Let's look at some of the ways President Trump "celebrates" basic First Amendment rights [Thread...]
!["I am thankful we have a president who celebrates the First Amendment," Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.Let's look at some of the ways President Trump "celebrates" basic First Amendment rights [Thread...]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYtpn3QWoAA1D5H.jpg "\"I am thankful we have a president who celebrates the First Amendment,\" Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.Let's look at some of the ways President Trump \"celebrates\" basic First Amendment rights [Thread...]")
Let's look at some of the ways President Trump "celebrates" basic First Amendment rights [Thread...]
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by campaigning on "opening up libel laws," making it easier to successfully sue people and media outlets that cover public figures. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/10/577100238/trump-again-blasts-libel-laws-calling-them-as-a-sham (2/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by instituting what he repeatedly called a "Muslim ban," discriminating against people based on their religion. https://www.cato.org/blog/dozen-times-trump-equated-travel-ban-muslim-ban (3/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by blocking people from viewing or petitioning the Twitter account he uses as a public forum, despite two courts telling him it violates the 1A right to access. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/trump-cannot-block-critics-on-twitter-federal-court-affirms-in-ruling/2020/03/23/83ac302c-6d0b-11ea-a3ec-70d7479d83f0_story.html (4/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by seeking to jail and strip the citizenship of people who burn the American flag - symbolic expression the Supreme Court held is protected. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/803567993036754944 (5/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by using strategic lawsuits against public participation to chill the speech of journalists and political adversaries. https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/trump-campaign-sues-wisconsin-tv-station-over-critical-ad/article_79733268-8433-539e-b4eb-f4308a2a5b50.html (6/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by calling the press the "enemy of the American people," and denying press pool access to journalists he doesn't like. https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/25/media/white-house-kaitlan-collins-press-pool/index.html (7/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by wanting to revoke the FCC license of broadcasters he believes are "fake news," even though the 1A freedom of press prohibits the FCC from doing that. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/918112884630093825 (8/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by prodding the FCC to... make a news network fire a host? Or maybe it's the license thing again. Either way, the FCC can't do that. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1259675040314003459 (9/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by threatening to take Saturday Night Live to court for being unfair to him. The Fairness Doctrine hasn't been around for 3 decades & even the FCC realized it was unconstitutional. Also, jokes. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1074302851906707457 (10/)
President Trump celebrates the First Amendment by trying to impose regulations on the content you see and share on social media because of an "anti-conservative bias," even though the 1A & the Communications Decency Act says the gov't can't do this. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/9/20798759/trump-social-media-regulation-fcc-ftc-conservative-bias (11/)
Now, Trump has been friendly to some First Amendment issues via two executive orders and rule tweaks at gov't agencies. But he smothers them in grievances against "the left," not rights for all people. Despite what he says, they largely maintain a status quo. [Threadception!]
President Trump signed an executive order threatening to withhold federal funding from universities that don't embrace free speech on "rigid, far-left" campuses. Public universities are already required to comply with the First Amendment. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/21/trump-free-speech-college-1286517 (13/)
President Trump signed a much-ballyhooed executive order protecting religious freedom promising to address a wish list from evangelical Christians. But it didn't do anything. https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/332017-what-does-trumps-religious-freedom-order-actually-do (14/)
President Trump updated guidance on school prayer, referencing Christmas in a gesture to his evangelical base, but the ACLU called it "nearly identical" to existing policy. https://apnews.com/897f550e2d5b809acaeffdf489aa62c9 (15/)
To recap, when Trump celebrates the First Amendment, it's in a way that celebrates himself and his aggrieved base, but doesn't actually bolster protections. And when he doesn't like the 1st, he ignores it. (16/)
Some of you made it this far because you're angry reading. Another one of those leftist hacks, am I right? Here's my take on the last guy... https://twitter.com/voiceofD/status/1038125824434741249 (17/)
As always, Mr. President, there is an open seat in my Media Law class next semester if you'd like to sign up. [END]
