# Donald Trump Doesn't Like Being Criticized (and Here's What He Can Do about That) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 19, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142 "2025-01-19T23:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/61 "2025-02-19T10:30:11Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Anyone betting that a month from now we will be able to post our true opinions of Trump, here or anywhere else, is …quite the optimist. It’s been a month. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/62 "2025-02-19T11:13:57Z")
That’s because we’re not journalists. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/63 "2025-02-19T14:26:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I suppose we can compare notes a month from now, then. If either of us have been thrown in gulag for speaking ill of Dear Leader, I owe you a Coke. Are these guys still free? Also, fuck trump, take Elmo and cram him up trump’s ass, and shove Vance in there for good measure. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/64 "2025-02-19T14:50:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > cram him up trump’s ass You’ll have to take care to work Elmo’s ego-bloated cabeza past Trump’s own head up there. Could be tricky. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/65 "2025-02-19T22:24:34Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Anyone betting that a month from now we will be able to post our true opinions of Trump, here or anywhere else, is …quite the optimist. Well, it’s been a month and I’m still free to say that Trump is a fascist and a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/66 "2025-02-19T23:01:08Z")
I think the only way he knows he’s criticized is when reporters ask him questions, or a statement from another leader is publicized. He doesn’t read, he has no connection with the general public. Does he ever read anything on X besides Elon’s praises? (Probably doesn’t read that either.) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/67 "2025-02-19T23:25:32Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > > > Anyone betting that a month from now we will be able to post our true opinions of Trump, here or anywhere else, is …quite the optimist. > > Well, it’s been a month and I’m still free to say that Trump is a fascist and a moron. Optimism wins out! We are now completely safe from any sort of censorship of the Internet, forever and ever! Thank heavens! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/68 "2025-02-19T23:39:25Z")
Alright, Chicken Little, if either of is in gulag another month from now I’ll owe you TWO Cokes. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/69 "2025-02-19T23:49:05Z")
I feel like some here are guilty of focusing on _weather_ and maybe deemphasizing _climate._ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/70 "2025-02-20T02:23:39Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > he has no connection with the general public. Obama regularly (daily?) had his staff cull a sampling of the letters citizens mailed to the White House; the good, the bad, and the crazy. He thought it was good to get a pulse reading on the nation. Not only does trump not read, I bet the letters are sent where letters to Santa end up. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/71 "2025-02-20T09:10:36Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Anyone betting that a month from now we will be able to post our true opinions of Trump, here or anywhere else, is …quite the optimist. Hey moron: I think TFG is the worst thing that has ever happened to this country. He’s a narcissistic man-child with no concern with anything but his own ego. He’s a fascist wannabe who tried to forcibly overthrow democracy and the results of an election that he lost. He was also, amazingly, actually reelected despite being the biggest danger to the constitution and democracy in this country at least since the US Civil War, if not ever. His policies, both foreign and domestic are insane and a danger to democratic rule of law both here and abroad. He’s managed to pervert the Republican party from being the ones you could always count on to oppose Russian expansionism and to compare every geopolitical situation to Munich 1938 and appeasement regardless of its applicability to being the ones in favor of Russian expansionism and making his personal recreation of Munich 1938 by holding unilateral peace talks with Russia **while excluding Ukraine from the talks** in which he plans to negotiate how much of Ukraine has to be handed over to Russia in exchange for declaring ‘Peace in our Time’ and assuring us all Russia now has no more territorial claims in Europe. The Republican part has become such a MAGA infested cult of personality that they write bills authorizing him to take over Greenland from our ally and renaming it “RedWhiteandBlueLand”. He’s made me consider calling the Republican party fascist not to be absurd hyperbole for the first time in my life. He’s made me consider George W Bush to be not such an evil man after all in comparison. He’s singularly the worst thing that has ever happened to this country in my lifetime. There you go, it’s been a month, and I’ve posted my true opinion of him here, and have no problems doing it anywhere else. I’m waiting to be dragged off to the gulag. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/72 "2025-02-20T23:21:04Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > I feel like some here are guilty of focusing on _weather_ and maybe deemphasizing _climate._ (I agree with you fully, but adopting the voice of sarcasm:) Oh, not at all! You see, a poster said “I predict this thing will definitely happen by such-and-such date, and people who do this thing will be sent to gulags”\* and by that date Everything Was Wonderful, and no one was sent to a gulag— clearly guaranteeing that It Can’t Happen Here! And Nothing Bad Can Happen Because That Definite Prediction That Gulags Would Happen By a Certain Date\*\* Didn’t Come True by the Predicted Date\*\*\*! So all is well and nothing bad can happen! At all! **It’s _guaranteed_.** . . . . \* Except that didn’t happen. \*\* Or that, either. \*\*\* You guessed it: a claim that something was definitely going to happen by a definite date, didn’t happen. But the whole thing lived rent-free in a couple or three noggins for a month, anyway … so that’s … rather sad for them. Back in the real world, where climate _does_ matter as much as weather: > [@](#): > > The top Department of Justice prosecutor in Washington D.C. is now sending letters to elected officials who criticize President Donald [Trump](https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) and his administration that include ominous ultimatums. > > That’s according to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who posted the full text of a letter he received from Edward Martin — the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin’s letter is just one of several he sent to Democrats who publicly criticized both Trump and centibillionaire Elon Musk. … > **['I will not be silenced': Congressman posts letter Trump DOJ sent him for...](https://www.alternet.org/congressman-letter-trump-doj/)** > > The top Department of Justice prosecutor in Washington D.C. is now sending letters to elected officials who criticize President Donald Trump and his administration that include ominous ultimatums.That's according to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who... Obviously there’s NOTHING TO SEE HERE! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/73 "2025-02-20T23:36:03Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > You guessed it: a claim that something was definitely going to happen by a definite date, didn’t happen. But the whole thing lived rent-free in a couple or three noggins for a month, anyway … so that’s … rather sad for them. ::shrugs:: If you feel like making a claim right now that something will happen, well, then, I’ll walk and chew gum at the same time and keep track of it; it’s as easy as, uh, shrugging. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/74 "2025-02-20T23:40:31Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > You see, a poster said “I predict this thing will definitely happen by such-and-such date That person being you, in the OP. > [@Sherrerd](#): > > Anyone betting that a month from now we will be able to post our true opinions of Trump, here or anywhere else, is …quite the optimist. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/75 "2025-02-20T23:44:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > If you feel like making another false claim that something will happen, If you mean “make a FIRST false claim”—no, I don’t care to. If you mean “another” then you’re going to have to link to whatever you’re asserting was a false claim. Of course the claim I actually made was about the mindset (optimism) involved in thinking that we’d be able to post criticism. I thought that would end this week, but it does look as though it may be some small period of time later than this week. But my prediction was not “this will happen by such a date” but that the mindset of those confident they’d always be able to speak their minds, was overly optimistic. It’s very clear to any competent reader: > [@Sherrerd](#): > > Anyone betting that a month from now we will be able to post our true opinions of Trump, here or anywhere else, is …quite the optimist. Go ahead, show me where I made a claim that all free speech would end by February 19. Show me where I claimed that people will be sent to gulags starting February 19. Show me where I said anything _other_ than that faith in continued rule-of-law was limited to optimists. **By the way, how do you explain away today’s news of the DOJ letters threatening members of Congress? You want to claim that they’re all lying? Or what?** ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/76 "2025-02-20T23:47:16Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > But my prediction was not “this will happen by such a date” If only we could harness the energy created by this amount of spin we could bankrupt Big Oil overnight. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/77 "2025-02-20T23:49:49Z")
Anybody picking this particular nit truly owes it to themselves to read that linked AlterNet article. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/78 "2025-02-20T23:53:04Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Of course the claim I actually made was about the mindset (optimism) involved in thinking that we’d be able to post criticism. I thought that would end this week, but it does look as though it may be some small period of time later than this week. Oh? So, what “small period of time” do you now think “it does look as though it may be”, then? You thought that being able to post criticism “would end this week” — do you now think it will end _next_ week, or next _month?_ If it’s still just as easy to do a year from now, will “some small period of time” still not yet have elapsed? When will we know whether you’ve read the situation wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/79 "2025-02-21T00:10:41Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142/80 "2025-02-21T04:39:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If only we could harness the energy created by this amount of spin we could bankrupt Big Oil overnight. Don’t pay any attention to what I actually wrote, pay attention to what I meant to write! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-doesnt-like-being-criticized-and-heres-what-he-can-do-about-that/1013142.md?page=5)