On Saturday morning, before getting out of bed, I read the news on an app called Flipboard. Like dozens of other sites, Flipboard collects “news” from various sources and publishes it in a magazine corresponding to the interests or tastes of the reader. For good or ill, I read a lot about President Trump. As a result, Flipboard serves up several articles about Trump each day. Some are positive. Others, less so.
The first article on Saturday was a picture of President Trump stuffing his mouth full of spaghetti while King Charles III was speaking. The image showed Trump oblivious to the King and the King looking down at Trump while Trump struggled with the spaghetti.
I immediately doubted the authenticity of the photo, but others had not. The article included a series of social media posts condemning the President for his eating habits and declaring him to be an embarrassment to the United States.
Later on Saturday, I confirmed the image was fake. Honestly, I should have known that immediately (as opposed to suspecting it). President Trump may be many things, but it is hard to imagine that he never learned to eat spaghetti.
Hopefully, the media will cover what I will call the Spaghetti Picture and report that Trump is the victim of a hoax. What I am wondering, however, is whether the President will direct Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to find the party (poor choice of words here) responsible for posting the photo and prosecute him or her.
Is ridiculing the President with a doctored photo a crime? Of course not. I remember doctored photos of President Carter being attacked by a giant rabbit while fishing. I remember multiple pictures of Richard Nixon that elongated his ski-jump shaped nose.
President Reagan also was subject to the publication of photos of him with his one-time co-star, Bonzo, a chimpanzee. Those photos were real—Reagan actually starred in a film with Bonzo as his co-star. The photo was a publicity shot. Reagan never threatened anyone who published it during his political career.
More importantly, do images of this type, especially the Spaghetti Picture, constitute “hate speech?” There isn’t, of course, a clear legal definition of hate speech and words and images that don’t incite violence are legal. (I hope that, after reflection, Pam Bondi might even agree.) So, should the Spaghetti Picture go without punishment?
President Trump in recent weeks has exploded, repeatedly, at the media, especially comedians, who ridicule him. Colbert was fired by CBS and Kimmel joined him, before ABC relented in the face of a boycott of ABC’s parent, Disney.
The President is threatening to revoke broadcast licenses to stem negative coverage of his administration and its handiwork. Will Trump order the prosecution of the creator of the Spaghetti Picture? Will he sue whoever asked AI to create it for $15 billion? Will he ask Pam Bondi if AI can be sued?
Let’s hope not, but Trump’s now-dismissed $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times and the chilling words of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who exploded after Jimmy Kimmel commented on the murder of Charlie Kirk suggest otherwise. Carr called Kimmel’s remarks (intentionally not repeated here) “the sickest comments possible.”
Carr went on to say, “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney [the owner of ABC, the network that broadcasted Jimmy Kimmel Live!]. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Carr’s comments were condemned by—surprise–Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who described Carr’s comments as “dangerous as hell.”
I agree with Ted Cruz. I also hope he might advise President Trump to not to overreact to the Spaghetti picture.
I am sure President Trump is angry about the image. I do not blame him for that. But I will blame him if he does anything about it.
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.
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