Friday, January 5, 2018

Donald Trump's Attempt To Stop The Publication Of 'Fire And Fury' Makes News

I didn't even realize (until this morning) that there was a new nonfiction book coming out about Donald Trump titled, 'Fire And Fury'. 

I discovered this bit of news in an article published this morning on Bustle's website titled, Donald Trump's Attempt To Stop The Publication Of 'Fire And Fury' Should Concern Anyone Who Believes In The First Amendment by Kristian Wilson. 

In the article, Kristian Wilson wrote the following:
The letter sent to Wolff and Henry Holt & Co. by Trump's lawyer demands that the author and publisher "immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book," on the grounds that it is a work of "actual malice": a legal term defined by the Supreme Court of the U.S. as a piece of journalism that is either known by the author to be false at the time of publication, or one that was written and published with "reckless disregard for the truth." In order for a public figure to win a libel suit against a reporter, they must prove that the report in question meets the above criteria, but that's difficult to do. If Jerry Falwell couldn't bring a successful libel suit against Hustler for saying that he committed incest with his mother in an outhouse, it's unlikely that Trump will be able to take down Fire and Fury by the same means.

What's more concerning here is that Trump attempted to exercise prior restraint against the press, an action that has long been held in conflict with the First Amendment, and has been rejected numerous times by the Supreme Court. Trump's cease-and-desist letter smacks of a similar route taken by then-President Richard Nixon in 1971, when he tried to halt the publication of the Pentagon Papers — an insider's look at the harsh realities of the Vietnam War — in The New York Times and The Washington Post. SCOTUS ruled against Nixon, and the Papers went public on June 30 of that year.
If Michael Wolff, the author of 'Fire And Fury', has in fact "based the book on over 200 insider interviews with Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and other White House staffers", then I do not understand why/how Trump can even attempt to ban 'Fire And Fury' if the book is based on physical interviews?

No surprise, but 'Fire And Fury' is the #1 Best Seller in books on Amazon right now! 

I've already hear/read enough news for free about Donald Trump through various media news sources, so reading an entire book on Donald Trump is very unappealing to me. I do not need further convincing that he is unfit to run our nation.

2 comments:

  1. I too have heard/read enough about that guy for free! Well said.

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    1. Thank you!! It seems like so many of us have already heard/read quite enough about Trump.

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