Trump’s Speech-Chilling Lawsuits
And a pledge to blog more in 2023.
Dear faithful subscribers,
When I launched “Calling Balls and Strikes” a little more than a year ago, I entertained fantasies of weekly columns, the occasional long-form essay, and some light-hearted blogging sprinkled throughout.
It hasn’t, thus far, worked out that way.
And yet, I can’t complain about the reasons why I’ve lacked the time to concentrate on regularly delivering you the content you deserve.
I’ve got a great job running the opinion desk at The Daily Beast—which also happens to get first dibs on my writing. I’ve got three healthy, vibrant kids living very busy post-pandemic lives—which means I’m living many post-pandemic lives as a softball coach, chauffeur, math tutor, line editor, short order cook, psychotherapist, and other various unpaid internships.
What I don’t have is free time. Like, any at all.
And while I’ve written hundreds of columns over the past few years, I’m very much out of practice in the early 2000s art form of blogging. The simplest difference between the two, in my understanding, is a good column should be able to last forever. A good blog can, as well, it just doesn’t need to.
Perhaps I’ve been a bit too precious with my writing, but I can’t really say I regret trying to hold myself to certain standards. Regardless, I’ve been dissatisfied with my level of output, and this is something I hope to remedy, beginning now.
I’m not big on making promises I’m not certain I can (and will) keep, but it is my aspiration to write more regularly here at Calling Balls and Strikes in 2023. And the biggest inspiration to do so is…you.
All of you who have tweeted, DM’d, emailed, and contributed to let me know you like my words (you really like them!)—you’re my people. And for you, I’ll now drop the excuses and get back to work.
So thanks for your continued patience and support. Here’s to 2023, year of the blog.
Trump Will Never Stop Reminding Us That He Hates Free Speech
My latest column for The Daily Beast is on former President Donald Trump’s stupid, pointless, but ultimately dangerous lawsuit against Bob Woodward and his publisher, Simon and Schuster:
“Trump claims that by publishing audio of interviews he gave to Woodward in the audio version of Woodward’s book (as opposed to the print version), the writer is in violation of copyright law.
Do you follow that logic? Me neither.
Many legal experts have said the case is complete nonsense and stands almost no chance of success in court, but that’s beside the point.”
It’s just the latest instance of what one judge described as Trump’s “using the courts as a stage set for political theater and grievance.”
When speaking about losing a lawsuit against a journalist who accurately reported that the former proprietor of Trump Steaks isn’t worth nearly as much as he’s claimed, Trump himself said, “I spent a couple of bucks on legal fees, and they spent a whole lot more. I did it to make his life miserable, which I’m happy about.”
My take: Sure, Trump hates the media (when he’s not acting as an anonymous source or planting stories about himself).
But his real aversion is to free expression itself:
Trump has long advocated for “opening up libel laws” to make it easier to sue people who write unfavorable things about him. He’s advocated for criminalizing flag burning and suggested a year in prison or stripping a person of citizenship as a fair penance. He’s called for stripping TV networks of their licenses. And, of course, the guru of the anti-cancel culture movement has called for innumerable people’s firings for their expression.
Trump and his MAGA movement might cloak themselves as devotees of the First Amendment, but that’s a transparent scam. In fact, by championing their own rights to free expression, while deeming other ideas irredeemably “divisive,” “unpatriotic” or “dangerous”—it’s fair to describe their position as one of hyper-political correctness (snowflakey, even).
Read the whole thing at The Daily Beast.
And I’ll be back in your inbox soon!