Trump Has a Split Personality on Free Speech Rights, Experts Slam ‘Hypocrisy’
The president has practically no power to change libel laws anyway
Susan Seager | May 2, 2017 @ 9:29 AM
Last Updated: May 2, 2017 @ 9:56 AM
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President Donald Trump is all cozy with the First Amendment when he’s facing down a lawsuit filed against him for his tweets and tough talk.
Trump cited his own free speech rights to win dismissal in January of a $4-million libel lawsuit over his tweets. He’s claiming a First Amendment right to shout “get ‘em out of here” at campaign rallies to avoid being held responsible for inciting violence against protesters in a Kentucky lawsuit.
But sometimes the White House gets free-speech amnesia. Like this weekend, when Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said that the Trump administration is taking “a look at” weakening speech and press rights. Or when Trump tweeted on March 30, “The failing New York Times has disgraced the media world, gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change the libel laws.”
Trump’s split personality on free speech rights — they should apply to me but not to you — is hypocritical and ill-informed, lawyers say.
“Of course he’s constantly saying outrageous things and maybe he doesn’t realize that much of what he says doesn’t end up in a lawsuit is because of the First Amendment protections that are out there,” Gregg Leslie, legal defense director of the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press, told TheWrap.
Attorney Jay Butterman, who is fighting against Trump in a New York libel case, agreed.
“It is, of course, offensive to watch Donald Trump cower behind the very libel laws he decries,” Butterman told TheWrap. “But hypocrisy, unlike defamation, is not remedial in a court of law,”
Butterman is representing Cheri Jacobus, a longtime political consultant who filed a $4-million libel suit against Trump in April 2016 after he tweeted that she “begged” for a job for the campaign and had “zero credibility” and was a “major loser.”
The judge ruled that no one would give Trump’s personal Twitter account “serious consideration” because his tweets were “rife with vague and simplistic insults such as ‘loser’ or ‘total loser’ or ‘totally biased loser,’ ‘dummy’ or ‘dope’ or ‘dumb,’ ‘zero/no credibility,’ ‘crazy’ or ‘wacko’ and ‘disaster.'”
Media attorneys also dismissed Trump’s pledge to “change” or “open up” libel laws as an empty threat, pointing out that libel laws are enacted by state legislatures, and the Supreme Court is unlikely to reverse decades of decisions providing strong First Amendment protections for the press and public in libel cases.
“The President can’t change the law, certainly not constitutional law that has been in place for over 50 years; only the Supreme Court can do that,” said George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center.
Leslie of the Reporter’s Committee said, “It’s probably like health care and the presidency itself — he doesn’t realize how difficult it is until he gets into it.”
Trump could seek a constitutional amendment to the First Amendment. But it is extremely unlikely that such an amendment would get off the ground in Congress or in the states.
A constitutional amendment would require two-thirds of the vote in both the Senate and Congress, plus ratification by three-quarters of the state legislatures (38 states) or two-thirds of the states meeting at a ratification convention (34 states).
“This would require an extremely unlikely scenario of madness engulfing the nation in the form of a mass desire to eliminate the First Amendment, so it does not seem that any effort in that direction on a national level would be more than a waste of time,” attorney Butterman said.
“If that were at all possible, we would have probably already entered the world of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and have even greater problems to contend with,” he said.
“The man who tweets everything that enters his head refuses to acknoweldge the amendment that allows him to do it,” Minhaj said. “And that’s his right. And I’m proud that all of us are here tonight to defend that right, even if the man in the White House never would.”
'SNL': The 25 Very Best Sketches of Season 42, Ranked (Photos)
"Saturday Night Live" is like a comedy fire hose. Some "SNL" sketches are hilarious and memorable; others don't really land. And still others get overshadowed, with audiences not realizing how great a sketch was until later, or maybe never. With plenty more "SNL" 42 to go, we've compiled the very best sketches of the season so far, and we'll keep it updated from week to week.
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25. “Jingle Barack” (Host: Casey Affleck, Dec. 17, 2016) Invoking Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis,” this wound up being a pretty catchy song about the possibility of this being the last Christmas ever. The song celebrates (kind of) Barack Obama during his last Christmas in office, but the person who really gets honored is Joe Biden, thanks to Leslie Jones’ verse about how attracted to him she is. Watch it here.
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24. "Rap Song" (Host: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, May 20) What started out as a goofy premise for a sketch -- Keenan Thompson is a rapper introducing guest acts for his latest track, but the cast list gets out of control -- turned into a stealth return of fan-favorite Tom Hanks character David S. Pumpkins. It was weird in a perfect way, and just enough Pumpkins to make the joke work without overselling it. Watch the sketch here.
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23. “Walking Dead Chappelle’s Show” (Host: Dave Chappelle, Nov. 12, 2016) It’s just a series of callbacks to “Chappelle’s Show” characters who were funny a decade ago. Still, Chappelle playing almost every role in this “Walking Dead” send-up is a good reminder of how funny that show was. Watch the sketch here.
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22. "Shud the Mermaid" (Host: Scarlett Johansson, March 11) This one is mostly makeup and gross innuendo, as Kate McKinnon and Scarlett Johansson play mermaids who are more fish than maiden. McKinnon and Johansson’s commitment to being totally nasty really sells the joke though. Watch the sketch here.
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21. "Trump People's Court" (Host: Alec Baldwin, Feb. 11) "SNL" made good on Trump's all-caps "SEE YOU IN COURT" tweet by taking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to "The People's Court." But Judge Milian hassling Trump about his travel ban was a bit too short to really take off. Watch the sketch here.
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20. “Stranger Things” (Host: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oct. 8) “SNL” answers a very important question of “Where is Lucas’ family in ‘Stranger Things?’” When they show up looking for their son, they turn out to be the only sane people in the whole supernatural Midwestern story. The standout of this one is Melissa Villaseñor’s Winona Ryder impression. You can watch the sketch here.
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19. “Haunted Elevator (featuring David S. Pumpkins)” (Host: Tom Hanks, Oct. 22) Of everything that aired during Tom Hanks’ ninth episode hosting “SNL,” his David S. Pumpkins character resonated the most for some reason. The dancing skeletons gag can’t sustain laughs for as long as it’s dragged out, until the final punchline redeems the whole thing. You can watch the sketch here.
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18. “The Librarian” (Host: Margot Robbie, Oct. 1) Margot Robbie is Ms. Dalton, the sexy librarian all the high school guys oogle. And then Yello’s “Oh Yeah” kicks on and you think it’s going to be some crazy adolescent fantasy — except it becomes horrifying. Robbie as the gross, hairless, murdering librarian continually tops herself as the sketch goes on. You can watch the sketch here.
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17. “Live Report” (Host: Margot Robbie, Oct. 1) At first, a newscast where Kenan Thompson can’t believe Mikey Day’s nerdy guy is married to Margot Robbie draws a light chuckle. Then Leslie Jones gets in on the act and suddenly it’s a multi-pronged conspiracy like investigation. And then Thompson drives it home when he realizes Matt Shatt is wearing crocks with socks. You can watch the sketch here.
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16. "Jeff Sessions Gump" (Host: Octavia Spencer, March 4) Kate McKinnon's Jeff Sessions tells random strangers on a park bench about the rough week he's been having. McKinnon slays the impression of both Sessions and Forrest Gump, and her reference to Kellyanne Conway's #Couchgate gaff through the lens of Gump was a standout moment. Watch the sketch here.
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15. “Whiskers R’ We with Kristen Wiig” (Host: Kristen Wiig, Nov. 19) It’s the Thanksgiving for “Whiskers R’ We,” so Kate McKinnon’s "SNL" cat lady Barbara DeDrew is joined by Furonica — a cat-lover more intense than she is. Kristen Wiig and McKinnon are hilarious together here. It would be worth it for the descriptions of the cats, but Barbara and Furonica’s implied attraction adds its own great layer. You can watch the sketch here.
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14. “Trump vs. Clinton: Round 2” (Host: Emily Blunt, Oct. 15) The weirdest debate made for the funniest "SNL" debate sketch. Moments like Alec Baldwin’s Trump fidgeting in the background and his scary flyby when Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon) has her back turned perfectly capture the actual event. It’s been tough to make election jokes that were funnier than what actually happened in real life, but this sketch manages. You can watch the sketch here.
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13. “Pizza Town” (Host: Aziz Ansari, Jan. 21) Cops discover a suspect in a closed kids pizza restaurant, where the animatronics keep switching on. Aziz Ansari absolutely kills as the Chuck E. Cheez-esque character, but everyone in the sketch is hilariously convincing as the stilted, incredibly unfun-looking robot band. You can watch the sketch here.
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12. "Welcome Video" (Host: Kristen Stewart, Feb. 4) "SNL" did a phenomenal job dismantling Trump's first travel ban with this heavily edited US immigration video. Beck Bennett's ruthless tone as the editor adds a particular level of hilarity. Watch the sketch here.
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11. “Through Donald’s Eyes” (Host: John Cena, Dec. 10) A first-person look at how Donald Trump sees the world is funny in a goofy way, as he watches super-simplified news reports or Kellyanne Conway runs in to calm him. But then it turns the corner into hilarious as Trump looks in a mirror — and what he sees is John Cena. You can watch the sketch here.
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10. “A Day Off” (Host: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oct. 8) During the election, it seemed like Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway couldn’t catch a break. Even on her day off, Conway (Kate McKinnon) is explaining way the ridiculous things Trump has said. Everything here is great, from Conway’s increasingly care-free activities to the nonsense on-the-fly explanations she gives for Trump’s comments. You can watch the sketch here.
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9. “Donald Trump Press Conference” (Host: Felicity Jones, Jan. 14) Right after the infamous, unverified memo supposedly including compromising information about Trump from Russian intelligence, we get Trump’s first press conference. It was ridiculous in real life but insane with Alec Baldwin playing Trump and delivering a beautifully fast succession the repeated line “You’re in.” You can watch the sketch here.
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8. "Trump sings 'Hallelujah" (Host: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, May 20) In a perfect callback to its post-election episode, in which Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," "SNL" gathered its whole Trump administration cast together for one last hurrah. Scarlett Johansson even returned as her "Complicit" sketch version of Ivanka Trump. It was a elegantly simple comment on the most scandal-filled week of the Trump presidency. Watch it here.
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7. "Donald Trump Calls World Leaders" (Host: Kristen Stewart, Feb. 4) With two weeks of executive actions and plenty of news, "SNL" channels everything (and animosity toward Steve Bannon) in one sketch. And it manages to exceed reality as Baldwin's Trump goes off the rails calling world leaders, and even channeling Hitler. You can watch the sketch here.
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6. “Five Stars” (Host: Aziz Ansari, Jan. 21) Riffing on an episode of “Black Mirror,” Aziz Ansari and his Uber driver (Bobby Moynihan) are both struggling in increasingly ridiculous ways to impress the other to earn a five-star rating. The best “SNL” sketches are the ones that feel a shade away from real life and this one taps something fundamental about the social media-infused world. Also, Moynihan gives Ansari a foot rub on the highway. You can watch the sketch here.
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5. "Lester Holt Cold Open" (Host: Melissa McCarthy, May 13) Alec Baldwin let loose on Donald Trump with his funniest turn in the role as he gave an interview to Lester Holt. Highlights include explaining what "prime the pump" means and channeling Richard Nixon. Watch the sketch here.
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4. "White House Press Briefing 2 (Host: Alec Baldwin, Feb. 11) Returning for a second spin as Sean Spicer, Melissa McCarthy riffed on her own best moments from her first turn a week earlier. The sketch's high point was when Spicer used a doll of Disney's Moana as a visual aid, saying the Trump Administration would send her to Guantanamo Bay. That is, until McCarthy as Spicer started chasing the White House press corps around on a fully motorized podium. You can watch the sketch here.
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3. “Black Jeopardy” (Host: Tom Hanks, Oct. 22) In a charged national moment approaching the election, this sketch gets at an essential truth: We’re all a lot more similar than we are different. More than that, every answer in “Black Jeopardy” is hilarious and feels spot-on. Doug’s right, giving Apple your fingerprint is how they get you. You can watch the sketch here.
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2. "Easter Message from Sean Spicer" (Host: Jimmy Fallon, April 15) After White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made comments comparing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hilter, Melissa McCarthy appeared on "SNL" as Sean Spicer to apologize. Donning an Easter Bunny costume, Spicer wrongly explained the story of Passover and made a few more Assad-related gaffes. Watch the sketch here.
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1. "White House Press Briefing" (Host: Kristen Stewart, Feb. 4) Melissa McCarthy made a surprise guest appearance as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and absolutely killed it. Yelling at reporters, spraying them with Super Soakers, pulling out stuffed animals as visual aids -- it was all hilarious. And then Spicer rushed the press with the podium. You can watch it here.
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From the Trump vs. Hillary to Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, these are the best of SNL 42
"Saturday Night Live" is like a comedy fire hose. Some "SNL" sketches are hilarious and memorable; others don't really land. And still others get overshadowed, with audiences not realizing how great a sketch was until later, or maybe never. With plenty more "SNL" 42 to go, we've compiled the very best sketches of the season so far, and we'll keep it updated from week to week.
NBC
NBC
