Trump fumbles Ist Amendment football

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Someone, please find Donald Trump a copy of the Constitution — preferably a simplified version with pictures and charts.  Once he absorbs what it says, perhaps he will stop trying to tear it apart.

Trump is angry at athletes for exercising their right to speech; but his anger did not begin there. Last February, at a campaign rally in Texas, Donald Trump spoke of "open(ing) up libel laws." He never explained exactly what he meant but clearly is fed up with the First Amendment, which prohibits denying freedom of speech and the press.

Athletes and journalists are not his only targets. Last November, Trump suggested imprisoning people or revoking their citizenship if they burned an American flag. Never mind that the Supreme Court has already come down on the other side of that issue. “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable ... The way to preserve the flag's special role is not to punish those who feel differently about these matters. It is to persuade them that they are wrong,” wrote Justice William Brennan in his majority opinion in 1989. The following year, the Court rejected a federal “flag protection” act, declaring, “Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered, and worth revering.”

As other players have joined Karpernick’s protest, Trump’s anger has grown. “Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners ... say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He's fired,” roared Trump at a rally.  On Twitter, Trump attacked Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors for his reluctance to visit the Trump White House. “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!” tweeted Trump. Lebron James reacted with a tweet of his own: "Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up.”

Trump's amen corner, of course, backed him up. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said players should "do free speech on their own time." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders snidely suggested the athletes protest the police protecting them. What Trump and his salaried sycophants refuse to understand is that they don’t get to dictate how or whether other people protest. The First Amendment does not say, “Only presidentially approved protests allowed.”

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