Petulant Politics

The quickest way to get your name in the paper is to try to keep it out. -- Editor Pug Mahoney

"If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen." -- Harry S. Truman

To suppress disagreement equals dictatorship.

   Candidate Donald Trump has threatened to leave the Republican Party if its leaders don't treat him "fairly." He has called for weaker libel laws so he can more easily sue news outlets that publish critical accounts of him. He has disavowed any knowledge of David Duke, the former chief of the Ku Klux Klan who had high praise for the candidate. This even though there have been numerous published reports of his past contacts and comments about the KKK leader.
   Selective memory is a useful strategy if and when it works. But when you're a public figure and your comments and actions are duly recorded and published, it quickly backfires. Reporters and editors have long memories, as well as extensive files in print and video about who and what they cover.
   To deny having said or done things when there are volumes of historic records to the contrary shows either pettiness or incompetence.
   The candidate has a long record of viciously attacking anyone who dares to disagree with him on anything, anywhere, any time, any how, and threatening to pick up his marbles and go home if he doesn't get his way in everything.
   But this is America, where all are free to express opinions and disagree over policies and actions in government or anywhere else. To suppress disagreement equals dictatorship.
   Moreover, libel laws are different when you choose to be a public figure. It's called the doctrine of fair comment. To say nasty things about your neighbor is one thing, and can bring a lawsuit for damaging someone's reputation. But for those in the public eye, such as a candidate for president, debate and disagreement are essential in a democracy.
   And in case the candidate hasn't noticed, there is the First Amendment guarantee of free speech and a free press. Stifling comments just because you disagree with them doesn't work.
    Moreover, it's one thing to file a lawsuit. It's quite another to win a judgement, and still another to collect any monetary punishment.
  So if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Pick up your marbles (if you have any left) and go home, like the petulant schoolyard bully you have shown yourself to be since childhood.