Trump vs WE THE PEOPLE

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

Da trumpeter has now begun blocking people who disagree with him or criticize him from his Twitter account @realDonaldTrump.  This has Constitutional law scholars pondering and debating the constitutionality of such a move.

Although he has likely blocked others, The Washington Post reported this morning on two specific individuals who were blocked:

Holly O’Reilly tweeted a GIF at the end of May to President Trump on his @realDonaldTrump account. The image displayed an awkward-looking moment between the president and Pope Francis with the caption, “This is pretty much how the whole world sees you.”

Joe Papp had a similar experience about a week later, when he tweeted a question to Trump. “Why didn’t you attend your #PittsburghNotParis rally in DC, Sir?” he asked, adding “#fakeleader.”

Both were blocked from Trump’s account within minutes of sending their tweets.  Once blocked, they were neither able to see his tweets nor any related comments.  Now, you may wonder what the big deal is.  Well, Twitter is, for the most part, the only source Trump uses to communicate to the public.  I personally do not follow his Twitter account, but have been known to dash off a 140-character tweet to him on occasion.  I have sent him links to some of my posts, and critiqued some of his more absurd statements and actions.  As a citizen, taxpayer, and voter, that is my right.  I call it 1st Amendment right to free speech.

To add fuel to the fire, just yesterday White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that Trump’s tweets are “considered official statements by the president of the United States.” Spicer is an authorized representative in speaking on behalf of Donald Trump.  And We The People have the right to hear (read) what the person we elected is saying about issues that concern us and our lives.  So …. Is it a matter of constitutionality or not?

Most legal scholars agree that it would be a tough case to make, mainly because @realDonaldTrump is Trump’s personal account, not the official @POTUS account.  In fact, he posts only a small portion of his tweets on the official account which, it appears, is actually managed by his staff.

Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sent a letter to Trump reading, in part …

“Your account constitutes a designated public forum. It is a forum for expression in which you share information and opinions relating to government policy with the public at large and in which members of the public can engage you, engage one another, and sometimes elicit responses from you. Your Twitter account is a designated public forum for essentially the same reasons that open city council meetings and school board meetings are.”

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh views both sides of the issue, saying …

“On the one hand, my sense is that the @RealDonaldTrump account — though run by Trump on government time and from government property — is the work of Trump-the-man … just as it was before November, and not Trump-the-president. His decisions about that account are therefore not constrained by the First Amendment. [But] what if I’m mistaken, and it’s viewed as run by Trump in his capacity as a government actor, and thus subject to the First Amendment? Can he then block users?”

Okay, so it’s a thorny issue and not one that is likely to be pursued at length based on Trump’s blocking of a handful of citizens.  But it is not without relevance and I think needs to be monitored.  My take is that no user who chooses to view his account should be blocked.  My reasoning is simple … it is his main venue for communicating public policy.  Just this morning we found out that he has nominated Christopher Wray for the position of FBI director.  He did not hold a press conference to announce this decision, he tweeted it from his ‘personal’ account, @realDonaldTrump.

If he wishes to retain the right to block people from his personal account, then he must use it as a personal account, not a public forum.  He has access to the official public forum Twitter account, and that is the appropriate place for him to make public announcements.  It is rather a shame that the press and citizens must get their information from a Twitter account at any rate, but to have information withheld because we do not agree with him is a disgrace.  Either his account is a public forum, in which case he cannot block a single user, or it is private, in which case he must learn the meaning of the word ‘private’.

Interestingly, the @POTUS account has only 18.6 million followers, while his @realDonaldTrump account has 31.5 million … more than 10% of the entire population of the country!  As I said, I refuse to become a ‘follower’, but nearly every journalist in the country is … they have to be, as that is the only forum from which they can get information directly from him.  And what happens if he decides to start blocking reporters from his account?  Then it becomes, I think, a very slippery slope indeed. This is not a major issue, but it is one more straw on the camel’s back, one more instance of Trump vs. We The People.

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30 thoughts on “Trump vs WE THE PEOPLE”

  1. OOOooh big mistake. Cutting yourself off in a democracy. Lose touch. Things go wrong. Ask Mrs May.

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  2. Dear Jill,
    Since DDT just loves lawsuits, there ought to be a “class action suit” against his being able to block those who comment negatively but reasonably on his twitter account.
    But this type of action could impede DDT’s desire to tweet.

    Hugs, Gronda
    I am tweeting your post to @tribelaw for Laurence Tribe.

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  4. In my opinion, social media is an in appropriate way to communicate as President of the country. To hide from direct public scrutiny this way is cowardly at the least.

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  5. It is disturbing, but fits the picture: the man is totally unable to face criticism of any kind. Again reminding my of a two-years-old… On the other hand, being shut out from the trumpet’s twitter account might be very good for a person’s mental health…

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  7. Pingback: Trump vs WE THE PEOPLE – The Militant Negro™

  9. Is it the “President’s” twitter feed or not? That is all that matters as far as I’m concerned. If he is tweeting AS the President, and if the Spice-Man says it contains his official statements (although I know the Spice-man and the Hexenbeast…er, I mean Kellyanne – that was disrespectful…I apologize to all hexenbeasts – can’t seam to stick to one story about Drumpf and his tweets), then the argument should be either a) he CAN’T block people because that is a violation of the constitution OR b) he needs to be forced to tweet on the POTUS account and have his own shut down. Period. Only one of many things Drumpf and his cronies should not be able to have both ways…sigh…

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    • Ah yes … you and I see it as a fairly simple matter, but … if challenged in the courts, millions, nay billions … will be spent debating the issue! Simpler to dump the trump, don’t you think? 😀

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  10. I’m a Canadian, so it matter little to me whether or not he has a Twitter account. Ever since Twitter became mainstream, I have not cared for the platform. It is banal. The whole surmise we are just little birds with our morning songs? I like birds. I wish their habitats were looked after more.

    What I am curious about was how Barack Obama communicated with the people? Or for that matter, William and Hillary Clinton? As a Canadian, I am more curious about all the rhetoric. I mean Mr. Trump does have support and not all of it is mean-spirited or misogynistic? One supposes.

    In the political sense, Conservatives do not conserve and Liberals are not so liberal, when it comes down to it?

    Over my small lifetime, there have some real …. and I use word loosely, some real peaches? Little wonder we have gone from a society that supports free speech. To one where we expect the speech to reflect our own values, it seems. Cheers Jamie

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    • Yes, I had heard that some portion of his ‘followers’ were fake, but did not realize it was that high! Every time I jump on to leave him a contentious tweet, it tells me I have 10 friends who are following him, and all are journalists. They follow his tweets because they cannot believe a word Spicer says.

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