Last week, President Donald Trump said late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel "should be immediately fired" for making a "really shocking" joke about him. The next day, the Justice Department charged another prominent Trump critic, former FBI Director James Comey, with committing two federal felonies by posting a photograph of seashells arranged in the sand to form the message "86 47"—a ubiquitous statement of opposition to the current president.
Those back-to-back expressions of presidential wrath underlined a striking difference between Trump and most of his predecessors. Although presidents have never enjoyed criticism, Trump is unusual in routinely and openly using the influence and power of his office to retaliate against people who say things that offend him—a habit that blatantly contradicts his avowed commitment to freedom of speech.
