How Free Press Frees Minds
Reflections on Censorship, Anxiety, Hope, and Resistance
Early last month, Donald Trump delivered a campaign-style speech at the Department of Justice (DOJ). He aired his grievances over prior investigations into him and vowed retribution against political foes. Trump presented his plan to use the department for retribution, not justice. But one of myriad scary themes, Trump railed against the media—a foundational freedom enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Trump’s rant revealed incompetence, narcissism, and the threat to the global order— raising anxiety in people around the world. Referring to the media’s coverage of the various legal cases against him, Trump told the gathering of US Attorneys:
Even during the trials, we had to take tremendous abuse [from news reports]… They're not legitimate people there [in the media]. They're horrible people. They're scum and you have to know that. You just can't let it happen… I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me … [are]… really corrupt and they're illegal. What they do is illegal.
Contrary to this presentation to a group well-trained in law, the mass media—per the first amendment—is entirely free to report on Trump’s legal troubles. They are equally free to publish opinion pieces critical or complimentary of him.
Referring to critiques of decisions rendered by Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump continued:
And the New York Times will write whatever these people [the critics] say, and the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, and MSDNC and the fake news, CNN and ABC, CBS and NBC, and they'll write whatever they say. It's totally illegal what they do. I just hope you can all watch for it, but it's totally illegal.
Here again, Trump presents a foundational untruth to professionals with far more legal expertise than him. The irony is rich. His proclaiming normal press activities as “illegal” further validates his frank incompetence to lead our country.
Trump’s speech also reveals the malignant narcissism discussed in prior newsletters. He calls reporters “scum,” “corrupt,” and “criminal” because they dare to print something negative about him. According to the International Classification of Diseases - 11 (ICD-11) (WHO, 2019), individuals with narcissistic personality disorders display “excessive self-love, egocentrism, grandiosity, exhibitionism, excessive needs for attention, and sensitivity to criticism.” The latter criteria was abundantly on display.
The threat to us inhabitants of the planet Earth arises directly from Trump’s efforts to silence the media and his narcissism. Trump seeks, like autocrats across the world, to silence public critiques of his policies or of him; his pervasive self-interest prevents him from authentically caring for American citizens. Persons with narcissistic disorders display “arrogant behavior together with an overwhelming need for admiration and a lack of empathy for (and even exploitation of) others.”
In essence, Trump’s behaviors in these first two months in office may be understood as a projection of his own narcissism. The “make America great again” results from him, an American, wanting to be (overwhelmingly) admired. It also begs the question: Was it not great before? The tariffs Trump proposes as a way to bring manufacturing back to America will fail while quite possibly threatening the stability of the global financial system. Similar tariffs triggered the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Trump’s repetitive promises to “drill, drill, drill” strives “to make America great” by producing its own petrochemicals. It disregards the empirically proved environmental damage caused by repeatedly and explosively boring into the Earth. Hydrocarbon production has a disastrous effect on the climate we all share.
Everyone makes mistakes, and the American populace is hardly immune from them. However, it appears that the slim majority that elected Trump are beginning to realize their error. Polls show a significant decline in Trump’s popularity. A March 2025 Yahoo News/YouGov survey found that most Americans characterize Trump's presidency as worsening. Of 1,200 US adults surveyed, 54% have an unfavorable view compared to 42% favorable. His approval ratings will continue to drop as economic instability increases, as allies become alienated, and as the Trump-Musk partnership wreaks havoc on our government.
The negative trend bolsters the wishes of many, like me, who believe the MAGA movement will find itself opposed by individuals—from left, right, and center—who think we global citizens have to consider our collective futures, not just those of the wealthy. Many who viscerally experienced the horrors of World War II believed that a universal solidarity, rather than tribalism, could prevent the war’s tragedies from recurring.
While the embers of the devastation of World War II still glowed red, the French existentialist writer Albert Camus called for such harmony in a March 1946 speech delivered at Columbia University. He said:
People can only really live if they believe they have something in common, something that brings them together. If they address someone humanely they expect a human response.
Here, Camus highlights a universal wish for community and even—a virtue losing steam of late—a desire to behave graciously. He continued:
This attitude means creating a universalism in which all people of good will can come together. To leave solitude behind we must speak. But we must always speak frankly and on all occasions never lie and always say everything we know to be true.
The universalism and good will of which Camus speaks runs counter to ideas like blocking free speech, gobbling up Canada and Greenland, or handicapping previously cooperative trading partners with ever-changing tariffs. Trump represents tribalism par exellence, the opposite of solidarity.
Elaborating on this theme, Camus added:
The freedom we must finally win is the freedom not to lie.
The freedom to tell the truth takes us right back to Trump’s DOJ speech. Trump wishes to promote his truth, a blatantly egocentric one, and one intended to imprison rather than liberate minds.
The world needs more constructive dialogue and less bullying proclamations. I predict the MAGA dominance will dissolve as people, in ever increasing numbers, realize its “us versus them” thinking and its antipathy to authentic dialogue. They will start rebelling the way Camus, freshly injured by the horrors of WWII himself, anticipated. In addition to the poll numbers cited above, hints of a Hegelian (1807/1977) antithesis emerging in opposition to the MAGA thesis appear in the headlines of major international media outlets.
Despite Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos kissing the Trumpian royal ring, two of its recent headlines read: “As Trump Mayhem Spreads, MAGA Unity Cracks” and “The Beginning of the End of the Trump Era.” Headlines from the UK’s Guardian include, “Just Like McCarthy, Trump Spreads Fear Everywhere Before Picking Off His Targets.” The Economist featured this headline: “Trump’s Tariff Pain: The Growing Evidence.” Another one from the New York Times reads, “Elise Stefanik Is The First Casualty Of the Great Trump Disillusionment.” Even headlines from the typically conservative Wall Street Journal show increasing disdain for Trump era, including these two: “Liberal Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Race In Rebuke of Trump/Musk” and “Trump Breaks His Promise To Lower Prices.”
As I completed the final edits of this week’s essay, the New York Times reported that Trump is “not joking” about a possible third time. The statement is almost laughable. As his popularity declines and opposition to his rule grows, Trump will—like any stressed narcissist—begin to disintegrate. He claims that “methods” exist for a third term. However, and much like his ignorance of the first amendment, Trump has no clue about any such methodology.
The delusional proclamation confirms, instead, the beginning of the dismantling of his personhood. Why “joke” about a third term when, in only two months, the American public turns on you, our allies tremble with fear, and individuals around the world begin boycotting American products? Americans need truth, not lies—just as Camus noted. A free press brings us truth. And, truth will empower us to begin standing up to the injustices the Trump regime heralds.
In his record-setting speech before the US Senate yesterday, Cory Booker cited Rosa Parks who said:
We need to find a way to get in the way, to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.
Feeling powerlessness and anxious in the Trump era? Get as much good, clear information as you can and use it to speak out against the injustices plaguing our nation. You will be far from alone.
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References
Camus, C. (1946). The Human Crisis ("La Crise de l'homme"). Speech delivered at Columbia University on March 28, 1946.
Hegel, G.W.F. (1807/1977). Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A.V. Miller. Cambridge, UK: Oxford University Press.
World Health Organization (2019). International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. (11th ed.)