The freedom of speech is a right of all Americans established by the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The amendment prohibits Congress from creating any law that takes away an individual’s right to speak freely. Recently, a particular individual by the name of Donald J. Trump has been exercising this right via Twitter to voice his opinions over matters occurring in the nation’s government. While under normal circumstances there is no issue in him doing this, the circumstance is altered slightly in that he is the president.
President Barack Obama was the first president to take to Twitter, with the @POTUS account. This @POTUS account was archived after President Trump took office. A new Twitter account was then created for President Trump as the new @POTUS account. This account is currently under the management of Assistant to the President and Director of Social Media at the White House Dan Scavino Jr. Tweets by the president from this account are signed –DJT if they come directly from President Trump. This account is mainly dedicated to advertising the events occurring in the presidency rather than the opinions of the president.
However, just as Obama did, Trump has continued to maintain a personal Twitter account, where the tweets are often controversial to the point of concern for many Americans. For the past several days, Trump has been calling out major media outlets such as The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and CNN for allegedly not reporting the events of the White House truthfully. In one tweet, the president claimed, “The FAKE NEWS media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People.” While tearing down accredited news companies, Trump also quoted Rush Limbaugh, a conservative radio host and political commentator, for praising Trump’s press conference. Along with Fox and Friends, Limbaugh seems to be among the only news sources approved by Trump.
The argument for Trump’s Twitter rampages comes from the first amendment, where freedom of speech is promised to every individual, even the president. The irony of the issue is that as Trump exercises his first amendment right, he attacks the accredited news sources and endangers their freedom of the press, their first amendment right. A freedom that empowers the people with information and makes writing articles, such as this one, possible.
Trump has also tweeted, “Any negative polls are fake news.” This absolute statement, by Trump’s opinion, discredits any and all news sources who publish negative content about the president, whether they are factually true or not.
The biggest concern with Trump’s Twitter feud with the press is that he is using a widely read platform to actively turn the American people against their main sources of information about the things occurring in their government. If Americans can’t trust those news sources, then that leaves very few news sources left to obtain news from in a time when it is so important to stay informed.
Trump’s attacks on Twitter are not only limited to the press. He has also attacked several individuals and organizations including Mark Cuban, who was tweeted about this month. The tweet said, “I know Mark Cuban well. He backed me big-time but I wasn’t interested in taking all of his calls. He’s not smart enough to run for president!”
Mark Cuban later tweeted in a reply to a tweet, asking why Trump was targeting Cuban suddenly: “I don’t know. But isn’t it better for all of us that he is tweeting rather than trying to govern?”
While Cuban’s rhetorical question is debatable, Trump’s tweet does seem inappropriate, as it randomly attacks an individual, regardless of celebrity status. While he constitutionally has the right to do this, his power and influence makes this kind of behavior unacceptable.
Twitter rampages such as Trump’s are, unfortunately, not uncommon. Many users often lack the self-control required to not say something in the heat of emotion that may be hurtful, irrational or simply untrue. And as long as the content being produced does not inhibit the rights of another human being as stated by the U.S. Constitution, they have the right to say it. The difference is that Trump is not a regular user. He is a user who has access to the nuclear codes. He is a user who can make executive orders. He is a user who is the most powerful individual in the United States, which is one of the most powerful countries in the world. What this man says on Twitter is being seen by the world. So what he says cannot be written off as someone on a Twitter tangent. It is taken seriously by Americans, citizens of other nations and world leaders. One tweet made in anger could lead to dire consequences.
– Mattie Alexander, staff writer
