It hurts when they boo–the art of hypocrisy

Great news friends, we live in a post-truth world. Honestly, I thought it would feel more freeing than this, but really I just feel like Mugatu (played expertly by Will Ferrell in Zoolander):  “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. I INVENTED THE PIANO KEY NECKTIE!!!”

Donald Trump made a name for himself in the presidential campaign by taking a subtle, yet effective, scorched-earth approach. Anyone and everyone who dared speak out was open game in the new world of slash-and-burn Trumpian politics. (And “speak out” of course means anything other than complete and immediate agreement with whatever position Trump believed in that day.)  Many people loved him because in their view he wasn’t politically correct, he had “big balls” (but tiny hands), and was going to Make America Great Again, but Trump never had any intention of reciprocity. It would be one thing if because the Donald says what he thinks everyone can do so, and apparently if you are a white, angry, “marginalized,” man that is true.  But for everyone else, be ready to endure the midnight Twitter assaults of an over-grown man-baby.  Indeed, it seems the biggest offense one can commit in Trump’s eyes is questioning dear leader.

He can say anything he wants without a second thought, but to anyone who dares speak out against him in ANY manner, he lashes out, calls them mean and nasty, demands boycotts, apologies, equal time (which by the way only applies to campaign coverage, and guess what, you’re not campaigning anymore), and the loosening of libel laws (against everyone except him, I assume). All of this is insane to be sure, but it also reveals a deeper problem which is that he honestly believes he is above reproach. When you’re the President of the United States, criticism is part of the game, and if Donald Trump can’t handle the idea of the drama club asking his administration to consider them whole and actual people, the country is going to have real problems when a foreign government criticizes a policy choice.  Consider some of the heated political fights in recent memory, debates about deploying our armed forces or the shut down of the federal government over the debt ceiling.  Now imagine those heated and tense debates with Trump at the center…honestly, I don’t want to consider the pointless, hurtful ad hominem attacks that are coming—all in 140 characters or less.

You’d like to believe that by the time you are a rich, white, 70 year-old man, who is the literal President of the United States, you’d stop giving critics enough space in your brain that you have to take to Twitter to defend your honor every time anyone said something you didn’t like.  But that is not how Trump ran his campaign (or his business and personal life before) nor it is how he is running his transition.  The consequences for free speech, the right to seek redress from the government, freedom of association, a free press (you know amendments other than Second Amendment) are looking dire. And if you’re not worried, you’re not paying attention.