Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, has always been ranked as one of the top five presidents in U.S. history. He understood that free speech, individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where the people are themselves free. In the U.S., our government is the servant of the free people. In a country where the government is the master of the people, those people are not free.
“The president is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.” —Theodore Roosevelt (The Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918)
We need to take minute and think about what we want the future of America to be or not to be.
Within just his first 100 days back in our White House, Trump’s retribution and threats against people who have criticized him, whether recently or years ago, has come quickly and harshly.
He has demanded a public apology from a bishop who, during her sermon, simply asked him to have mercy on frightened Americans. He has demanded public apologies from numerous journalists simply doing their jobs by reporting truth. Trump is revoking the security clearances of his own former administration members simply for disagreeing with him. He is demanding the shutdown of news media outlets simply because they have been critical of him. He is suing lawyers for simply doing their jobs of representing their clients. He is threatening judges simply because they have not ruled in his favor. He has threatened to use the U.S. military to shut down our constitutional right to peacefully protest simply because he doesn’t like it.
Simply put, the second coming of Trump was never about governing but rather is his personal revenge tour and while he’s embarked on it for these next four years, no one better speak or write anything critical of him, even if it’s the truth. He doesn’t care that freedom of speech and our rights as U.S. citizens protect each one of us from his personal wrath.
He will continue to bludgeon his way through our constitutional rights until they lay in sharp shards at his feet, simply for his own deranged desire to punish others for criticizing him in some way, whether fictional or not. The level of seriousness of his demands and threats and lawsuits doesn’t matter to him in the least because for him, every one of these things he does makes him feel better about himself, which is a level of patheticness I have yet to unlock.
Here’s the thing, though. For now, at least, this is still our America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. We must continue to freely and bravely criticize Trump’s speech and actions every time he’s wrong.
He can’t throw us all in jail. Can he?
That being said, I also believe that we must also acknowledge Trump when he’s right or his behavior warrants praise. I learned in a long-ago training class for my puppy, which actually was more for me than the dog, that positive reinforcement and yummy treats work much better than threats and a negative attitude. Unfortunately, Trump never learned this. But we have no control over that as you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
What we can control, however, is how we continue to push back on his administration’s intentional destruction of our freedom to express ourselves. We still have our Constitution backing us up on that. Trump does not. And we can use that to our advantage. Δ
Margie Slivinske writes from Arroyo Grande. Send a comment to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Mar 27 – Apr 6, 2025.
I thank God every day Congress is divided. If not, people on your side of the aisle would recreate the show trials of McCarthy’s HUAC committee and attempt to get Trump and any other person, partisan or not, on record stating that they stand opposed to whatever ideological or personal enemy you can dream up.
Although no fan of the Trump administration, I stand for the principle of him rejecting the Democratic party’s Stalinist insistence on ideological conformity. I stand for the Trump regime’s total rejection of your party’s definition of American “values.” Your party’s hands are just as dirty as his.
Fly_meet_ointment – thanks again for taking the time to read my letter. You have yourself a great day ✌🏼
Thank You for your great commentary Margie Slivinske! It is spot on, and is the truth.
We must all protect our Free Speech Rights, and all of our Constitutional Rights.
Thank You again for speaking the Truth!
Thank You Margie Slivinske for your excellent commentary. We must all speak up and protect our First Amendment Free Speech rights, and all of our Constitutional rights, and never obey in advance, as Timothy Snyder suggests.
I tried sharing on Facebook, but it won’t go past , something about the App ? Anyways thoroughly enjoyed the easy and honest explanation.