"We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president -- a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings." This bit of fiction is what Fox wrote to start it all. It's a beautifully acerbic bit of writing and whether Roger Ailes or one of his lackeys wrote it or not is irrelevant. It was perfectly timed and not only reflected Trump's rather sophomoric sense of fairness, but his painfully superficial approach to the serious business of governance. But the King of Mock wasn't going to stand for being mocked himself since only the mocker and not the mockee has that privilege. So, this is how Donny responded: "You have to stick up for your rights. When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights," Trump told the crowd. "We have to stick up for ourselves as people and we have to stick up for our country if we're being mistreated." "I was treated very unfairly by Fox. Since then they've been excellent, they've been very nice, but it's too late," Trump told CNN's Brianna Keilar in an interview Thursday night aboard Trump's private plane.
One can dismiss, as he often does, the plethora of people he has heretofore treated badly at one time or another during his quest to become the Twitter President of the United States (i.e. Latinos [esp. Mexicans]; military veterans; women [esp. Rosie O'Donnell and Megyn Kelly]; all other journalists, the majority of which he'd "kill" if he could; Muslims; Jews; Iowans; Obama; almost all fellow Republicans [his anti-Reagan discourse]; even his own family [i.e. dating his daughter] ad astra) and try to enlighten Donny about the difference between "satire" and "sarcasm" since even though he appeared on SNL it appears it's something about which he's still not clear.
Throughout his political journey, what's become increasingly paramount in Donny's world is being treated "fairly." I guess one could go back to the 16th century origins of the word "fair" which simply meant "respectful" something that clearly is not in Donny's discourse if not his world view when it comes to dealing with other human beings. But being fair and being treated fairly is certainly a subjective thing and depends on the context. Clearly, if Donny is not in control of things and clearly if Donny can't have his way about things, then most anything would be "unfair" to him.
Which leads us to the words "sarcasm" which, according to the OED, is "a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter gibe or taunt" and "Satire" which is "a poem or (in later use) a novel, film, or other work of art which uses humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize prevailing immorality or foolishness, esp. as a form of social or political commentary." There may be a fine line between the use of sarcasm and satire, but in either case, for Donny, either word, used in one manner or another against him, would be patently "unfair" and as such is, as he's said, the use of which would be an infringement on his "rights." One has to question what "rights" are being infringed upon given the fact the First Amendment "prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances." Perhaps, Donny would like to delete the line "abridging the freedom of speech" since, in fact, any demagogue would like to do that.
To say this entire Fox kerfuffle is all "ironic" (another word that Donny needs to learn) would be a major understatement since Donny never thinks of the rights of others relative to notions of "fairness," but only as it applies to himself and he's brilliant at manufacturing alleged unfairness whenever it seems to encroach on the "personal"; however, his reactions to these notions of unfairness, apparent or not, say a great deal about how he handles what he perceives as unfairness.
The Fox fiction, certainly worthy of being part of an SNL skit or even one for Monty Python, expertly shows how frightfully "thin skinned" Trump is. This notion of "fair play," presumably gleaned from the playgrounds of his youth when, more likely than not, whatever ball they were using was his, doesn't hold up on the global, political stage and one has to wonder how a President Trump would respond to global criticism of his policies and his approach to governance from enemy and ally alike. Except in the instance of the now infamous Megyn Kelly question on the verbal abuse of women, the questions he's been asked in the debates have been relatively soft and his cowardly excuse not to attend the last Fox debate only augments his fragile ego regardless of his posturing as the Mike Tyson of U.S. politics. Fox really wasn't that far off when they suggested that a President Trump would replace his cabinet (except for Secretary of Energy Sarah Palin) with his Twitter followers since his "cutting edge" approach to political campaigning cum reality show posturing would only be complemented by cabinet meetings attended by Twitter followers.
More than anything else, his decision not to "compete" at the last GOP debate based upon the manufactured fiction that he was somehow "hurt" by Fox and that even an apology by Fox wasn't enough to get him back on stage only validates how utterly incompetent he would be not only as President, but as the resident GOP bully. One only has to remember that for every Mike Tyson there may be there's always a Buster Douglas. Just ask Mike.