Trump vs. The First Amendment

Last year if you asked me if I would be sitting here writing an article about Twitter and Trump, the answer would be yes. The man loves his Tweets more than he loves (allegedly) sexually harassing women. This man tweets more than Democrats ask for money in an email. At three in the morning when a normal person is sleeping, he is up tweeting about Hillary (seriously he has an unhealthy obsession with his former friend/rival) or the goings-ons at a morning show, that nobody knew existed until he started talking about them. Now he is being sued for his favorite late night activity and it brings up some interesting questions.

The first one that springs to mind is: Does Donald Trump hate The Constitution? The answer is unclear but I lean towards believing he does. He hates that the judges can block his excessive amount of executive orders from taking effect. The Muslim ban was a particular issue for him. Another big issue for him is the media. Once upon a time, he loved them and they loved him. Ever since he announced his candidacy though, the mainstream media has turned on him and scrutinizes every step he takes. Or in other words, they do their jobs. He doesn't like that. Any outlet that has run a negative story about him has been labeled "fake news" by his administration and on his Twitter account. We won't even get started on religion because that could be a whole other article/book/television series that runs for 20 years and still has fresh ideas. But he doesn't hate it all.

Trump, honest to goodness, likes those things when they are in his favor. Just ask Fox News. He also loves Tweeting out his opinion on everything, especially when he can congratulate himself on something passing that he had very little to do with. *Neil Gorsuch* However, when someone says something negative about him, he and his team go into overdrive to call that person unAmerican or a traitor or block them on Twitter. Here's where he landed himself in some hot water. Some of those people that were blocked on Twitter, didn't take kindly to that. Since Sean Spicer, KellyAnne "Alternative Facts" Conway and others have said that Trump's Twitter account is, in fact, an official account. Of course, these people don't know the truth from Spicer in the bushes, but their words can be easily verified by YouTube or any news station. When someone says something bad about him though, he doesn't say anything back. He hits the block button and that person disappears into nothingness. Then Trump can lounge back and enjoy what he perceives as positivity all around him.

Except for that back in the real world, nearly everyone doesn't think he's doing a good job or that he's equipped to handle his position. 66% of people think that he needs to be removed from office. Let that sink in for a minute, while we get back to talking about Twitter. When you're an elected official, you can't stop people from talking about you. Which in terms of social media would equate to you blocking them. That being said, Trump and co. believe that they are above the law (It's for the poor, not for the corporations that run the country!). So he or someone who helps with his account has gone ahead and blocked people.

Which brings us to the lawsuit. Some of those whom Trump has blocked initiated a lawsuit saying that he violated their First Amendment rights by blocking them. A group from Columbia University has joined them in the lawsuit. The Knight First Amendment Institute says that even though they have yet to be blocked, Trump has violated their rights by blocking others and not allowing a discourse to happen. There are some who say that this is a private account and that if Trump doesn't like what is being said, he has every right to block the people. I wonder if those saying that would have had the same attitude if Obama had done the same thing. Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't. We won't know because Obama did not use his own "personal" Twitter account, he used the one designated for the POTUS.

The question becomes how do you separate POTUS from the ordinary man. The answer is you don't. People can comment and yell and scream at me all they want but if you are a public figure, you are a public figure all the way through. We are not talking about some dumb reality star here or a singer who shows their cooter. We are talking about the person who is in charge of this country. That is not a job you get a break from when it gets too tough. If you accept the job, put your hand on the Bible, you live, breathe, and eat the job until the day you give it up. So if Trump wants to have a private account again, then he needs to resign and go back to ordinary life.

And that is not just my opinion.