Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Leonard Pitts Jr. excoriated President Donald Trump in a scathing editorial published Tuesday,
The columnist started his piece by referring to Trump as “Mr. So-Called President,” a reference to Trump’s smearing of a federal judge who temporarily blocked his executive order on travel and immigration.
Pitts, speaking of senior policy adviser Stephen Miller’s disastrous appearances on Sunday news shows on which he said Trump’s authority “will not be questioned,” responded:
What you do ‘will not be questioned?’ Lord, have mercy. That’s the kind of statement that, in another time and place, would have been greeted with an out-thrust palm and a hearty “Sieg heil!” Here in this time and place, however, it demands a different response:
Just who the hell do you think you are?
Meaning you and all the other trolls you have brought clambering up from under their bridges. Maybe you didn’t notice, but this is the United States of America. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Nation of laws, not of individuals? First Amendment? Freedom of the press? Any of that ringing a bell?
Pitts, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is the author of a syndicated column and several books. Just before the inauguration, Pitts wrote that he “refused to accept” Trump as “the new normal.”
A Twitter user told Pitts his latest column was “spot on” and “harsh.” Pitts replied:
Another Twitter user criticized the writer for attacking Trump.