In late September, Donald Trump took his broader offensive against the First Amendment to a new level, arguing that journalists who “take a great story and … make it bad” are doing something “really illegal.” Two days later, the president added that ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s comedy might also be “illegal.”
Six weeks later, the list is still growing.
During Trump’s Asia trip, he spoke to U.S. troops stationed in Japan, where the Republican delivered some odd and unscripted comments about the use of steam for catapults onboard warships. A few days later, NBC’s “Late Night” host Seth Meyers had a little fun at the president’s expense, joking, “This guy spends more time thinking about catapults than Wile E. Coyote.”
Meyers added, “Next, he’s gonna start complaining about how our troops don’t tie themselves to rockets anymore.”
The president apparently was not impressed. This was the entirety of the message he published to his social media platform:
Seth Meyers of NBC may be the least talented person to ‘perform’ live in the history of television. In fact, he may be the WORST to perform, live or otherwise. I watched his show the other night for the first time in years. In it he talked endlessly about electric catapults on aircraft carriers which I complain about as not being as good as much less expensive steam catapults. On and on he went, a truly deranged lunatic. Why does NBC waste its time and money on a guy like this??? — NO TALENT, NO RATINGS, 100% ANTI TRUMP, WHICH IS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!!!
For now, let’s skip over the irony of Trump whining about someone else going “on and on,” to the point of sounding like a “deranged lunatic.” Instead, it was those final words in his online rant that stood out.
To hear the incumbent American president tell it, Meyers’ comedy is “probably illegal” because the late-night host has criticized Trump.
As the president really ought to understand by now, that’s not how free speech is supposed to work in this country.
It’s tempting to shrug this off, since the Republican tends to define “illegal” as “stuff Trump doesn’t like.” But it was just a couple of months ago when a Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission played a role in temporarily forcing Kimmel from the air, so First Amendment proponents no longer have the luxury of assuming presidential nonsense is inconsequential.
Just as notable is how pitiful Trump appears every time a comedian upsets his delicate sensibilities.
Soon after he left office, Lyndon Johnson was asked about the mockery he received from the Smothers Brothers, who hosted a popular comedy show on CBS at the time. “It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists,” LBJ said, adding, “May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.” Other presidents adopt similar postures under similar circumstances. John F. Kennedy joked about Vaughn Meader’s impression of him. Gerald Ford was mocked mercilessly on “SNL,” but he was a good sport about it. George H.W. Bush actually became friends with Dana Carvey after seeing the comedic actor’s unflattering impression of him. They each seemed to understand a simple truth: Being president of the United States not only makes a person one of the highest-profile individuals on the planet, it also makes him or her the target of jokes. Trump may hate the idea of becoming the subject of public ridicule, but it’s simply part of the job. After almost five years in the White House, he still hasn’t accepted this. Indeed, from Kimmel to Stephen Colbert, “Saturday Night Live” to “South Park,” the president chooses to act like a snowflake in response to comedy that hurts his feelings. Whether he appreciates the implications or not, the more the president and his team are rattled by satire, comedians and cartoons, the more they appear weak and pathetic. For all of Trump’s efforts to convince the world that he’s some kind of strong colossus, his whining about comedy makes him look tiny. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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