As the Messenger Mountain News prepared for launch at the beginning of the year, the founders knew it needed a motto—a credo, if you will—to both express its aspirations and react to the temper of the times, which were distinctly unfriendly to a robust free press.
Donald Trump was then basking in the glory of having beaten the odds and gotten elected president through one of the most intellectually arid, dishonest, and hateful campaigns in American history. Among his many campaign targets had been foreigners generally and Mexicans in particular, Muslims of all nationalities, a reporter with a disability, female politicians and women generally, foreign heads of state, the mayor of London, a Gold Star family, a former Venezuelan beauty queen, fellow Republicans like John McCain, who was tortured as a POW in Vietnam while Trump enjoyed five draft deferments, and countless others.
Like many politicians, he holds journalists in special contempt, insulting them collectively as dishonest, liars, “enemies of the people,” “sleazy,” and individually in crude and insulting terms previously unheard in a presidential campaign (notoriously asserting that Fox news anchor Megyn Kelly was so upset while grilling him in one presidential debate that there was “blood coming out of her wherever.”)
Nor were relations with the Fourth Estate likely to improve in what then seemed the unlikely event that he got elected. Trump brusquely dismissed the idea, telling CNN in June of last year after an especially harsh attack on the press, “Yeah, it is going to be like this,” when asked how he would treat the press should he become president. “You think I’m gonna change?” he added, as if it wasn’t clear enough, “I’m not gonna change.”
His upset victory, and the opposition that quickly mobilized, only sent Trump into new paroxysms of bitter fury. As his threats and insults escalated, there was only one possible response: Taking Maya Angelou’s words to heart—“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”—we quickly settled on a simple, bold declaration: “First Amendment Forever!”
Since Trump assumed office, things have only worsened—not just for the press, but also for other individuals and activities protected under the First Amendment. In February, protesters forced the cancellation of a Berkeley appearance by alt-Right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos (and to be clear, they were wrong to do so.) Trump responded predictably (and unconstitutionally) by threatening to withhold federal funding from UC Berkeley based on the university’s alleged coddling of the violent protesters. As usual, Trump was wildly off base on his facts: the administration had strongly defended Milo’s right to speak and only reluctantly cancelled due to escalating violence.
Trump’s twisted id was on full display throughout the summer when he retweeted alt-Right memes showing him knocking down and punching out a figure with a CNN logo for a head, and another one depicting a speeding “Trump Train” crashing into a person with a CNN head.
Recently, of course, Trump infamously conflated the neo-Nazi and Confederate nostalgists of Charlottesville with those peacefully protesting the rallies, blaming “both sides” for the subsequent violence and praising the “very fine people” among the white supremacists gathered to honor the champions of slavery and secession. More recently still, he has attacked professional athletes protesting racial injustice by impugning their loyalty, yearning wistfully for a team owner to respond by saying, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired.”
More worrisome still is the corrosive trickle-down effect such attitudes have: the Brookings Institution recently published a nationwide survey of college students that found pluralities erroneously believe hate speech is not protected, with majorities agreeing that it may legally be shouted down by protesters. At least 20% of those surveyed even support violence to silence offending speakers.
Just as a healthy democracy depends on robust public debate, nurturing a free and independent press depends on public support. While others try to drag us down, together let us lift each other up. We have our work cut out for us.
First Amendment Forever!
