So hard to keep up. So many insta-classics. This one, from today:

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

A few apt reddit comments:

Any Gold Star families out there with a spare copy of the Constitution for the Prez? Prolly time for him to read it.

Came here to post this. We have a president who just declared war on the First Amendment.

Let that sink in. It’s the First Amendment. Literally the number one thing the Founding Fathers thought we needed to survive and flourish as a country. And our president declared war on it.

Twice.

1. Totally not a fascist. The media is the enemy of the American people? Jesus. He just declared war on the first amendment, again.
2. My favorite part is that he deleted it so that he could add CBS and ABC and retweet it. He didn’t delete it because he realized it was a deranged thing to say. He had to make sure those orgs were included.
3. Here is the tweet in all its “glory.”
   

   Freedom of the press in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This clause is generally understood as a means to prevent the government from interfering with the distribution of information and opinions.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press_in_the_United_States

   • Register and vote. Local, state, national
     November 7, 2017
     November 6, 2018
     November 5, 2019
     November 3, 2020
   • Who is my Representative?

A few good watches:

Waylon, on how to “consume” journalism:

Watch the movie:

A quick brush-up on the importance of our First Amendment:

A legendary journalist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3eaRo61ZH4

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Whether we are a fan of the President-elect of the United States or not, we can all agree that he has a mouth on him—and it won’t stop spewing the most interesting things.

Who knew that 2016 was going to bring so much change into our lives—including President-elect Donald J. Trump now leading the way, not just for the political arena of our country but also as a social media icon.

With his endless torrent of tweeting, he now has over 18 million followers…that’s six million more people then the population of Ireland, Wales and Scotland combined.

But instead of focusing on what someone writes (we all know writers are the first to contradict themselves), let’s draw our attention to some of the most entertaining mutterings from the lips of this inaugural leader in the past year.

If nothing else, may the bold words of Donald Trump move something in us. Whether this will be a spark of anger, activism or worship remains to be seen.

Let’s take a moment and allow these quotes speak for themselves:

1. “Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?” (Reportedly Donald Trump.)

2. “I’m also honored to have the greatest temperament that anybody has.”

3. “What do I know about it? All I know is what’s on the internet.”

4. “Nobody respects women more than me.” (At the third presidential debate. Three minutes later he commented: “Such a nasty woman.”)

5. “That makes me smart.” (Responding to Hillary Clinton’s allegation of federal tax evasion.)

6. “I’m building a wall. I’m trying to keep business out of Mexico. Mexico’s fine.”

7. “And once I get in, I will do my thing that I do very well. And I figure it is probably, maybe the only way I’m going to get to heaven.”

8. “Iraq and Iran were very similar militarily, and they’d fight, fight, fight, and then they’d rest. They’d fight, fight, fight, and then Saddam Hussein would do the gas, and somebody else would do something else, and they’d rest.” (Speaking on foreign policy.)

9. “We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.”

10. “There may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously…I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.”

11. “They don’t write good. They have people over there…they don’t—they don’t write good. They don’t know how to write good.” (Attacking the New York Times.)

12. “I’ve had a beautiful, I’ve had a flawless campaign. You’ll be writing books about this campaign.”

13. “You know what I wanted to. I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard. I would have hit them. No, no. I was going to hit them, I was all set and then I got a call from a highly respected governor…” (Reacting to the Democratic National Convention.)

14. “I alone can fix it.” (Speech at the Republican National Convention.)

15. “I think I am, actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.”

16. “The LGBT community, the gay community, the lesbian community—they are so much in favor of what I’ve been saying… Ask the gays what they think and what they do, in, not only Saudi Arabia, but many of these countries, and then you tell me—who’s your friend, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?”

17. “I’ve been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage. I’m building a wall, okay?”

18. “Look at my African American over here!” (At a campaign rally.)

19. “From a moral standpoint, I believe in it. But you also have to get elected. And there’s no way a Republican is going to beat a Democrat when the Republican is saying, ‘We’re going to cut your Social Security’ and the Democrat is saying, ‘We’re going to keep it and give you more.'”

20. “I think the only card she has is the women’s card. She has got nothing else going. Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she would get five percent of the vote. And the beautiful thing is women don’t like her, okay?”

21. “Who knows?” (Asked if he would start a war with China.)

22. “We should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump.” (At a rally in Toledo.)

23. “You can get that baby out of here. Don’t worry, I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I’m speaking.” (Shaming a mother and baby at a rally. Moments before the above statement: “I love babies.”)

24. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible.” 

25. “New Hampshire has a tremendous drug epidemic. I am going to create borders. No drugs are coming in. We’re going to build a wall.”

26. “I might lie to you like Hillary does all the time, but I’ll never lie to Giacomo, okay?” (Admits to lying to voters, but assures us he would never do so to an 18-year-old cancer patient in the audience.)

27. “I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense, okay?”

28. “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” (Responding to accusations of an alleged sexual assault.)

As 2016 closes, we have seen a slightly more conservative Trump emerge. One who, compared to his year of cringe-worthy quotables, seems to be curtailing his speech into a marginally more edited, if still regularly offensive, language.

Perhaps, just like us, Trump is changing (or at least his advisers are). But, maybe the radicalness of 2016 has succeeded in softening him slightly, as it has softened many of us.

Next year, let’s hope for a little less crazy and a little more love.

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Author: Sarah Norrad

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Editor: Toby Israel

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