The kerfuffle over former President Donald Trump’s joke about becoming a dictator only on day one of his second term of office reminds me of a reality that became clear very early in his first term. It is no secret that Trump often makes ill-advised remarks. It is a characteristic that even his supporters have acknowledged.

But the way the media has constantly overreacted to his comments typically ends up being worse than his original statement. It appears that this is still a reality in 2023.

Chris Quinn, editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, published an op-ed on Dec. 9 explaining why the news outlet did not run a piece commemorating Pearl Harbor Day on the front page in 2023, even though it is a given that most news outlets at least mention the atrocity that occurred on that day in 1941.

Quinn mentions that this year, the Plain Dealer only received two complaints for not running a piece on Pearl Harbor. One of the complaints seems to have struck a nerve with the editor due to the perceived political affiliation of the person who sent it.

It read: “What nothing about pearl harbor woke paper no wonder your circulation down nobody wants to read the rag.”

Apparently, the use of the word “woke” tipped Quinn off to the author’s political persuasion.

I should note two things. We didn’t have Pearl Harbor on page 1 last year, either. (We did in 2021 and 2020.) I remember receiving some complaints, but I get so many emails that I have to delete them quickly to keep my mailbox from clogging. I don’t have them, anymore, but to get just two complaints this year is notable. And, we did carry an interesting wire story about Pearl Harbor inside The Plain Dealer on Friday.

Here’s where I change gears.

I am close to 100 percent certain that the person who wrote this year’s first email is a Donald Trump supporter. I say that because I receive a good bit of email from Trump supporters. They generally contain the same tone and approach as the email about Pearl Harbor. Calling us woke is a hallmark of the Trump supporters.

If I’m right, we have an emailer who is offended because we did not commemorate Pearl Harbor, which put us into a war that halted a dictator, yet our emailer likely supports a candidate for president who openly espouses becoming a dictator.

Yes, that’s right, folks. Quinn was set off by the fact that a supposed Trump supporter complained about the lack of a Pearl Harbor piece because he supports a presidential candidate who wants to be the type of dictator that America fought to defeat during World War II. It’s the type of logic one would expect to hear from a child.

The editor was referring to comments Trump made during an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity in which he joked about only being a dictator on day one of his second term in office.

Hannity: Now, just to be clear, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody, right?

Trump: Except for day 1. After that, I'm not a dictator pic.twitter.com/jOFrA0MCDx

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 6, 2023

The editor went on to indicate that he is not only speaking about Trump when it comes to authoritarianism, but also state and local governments, particularly an incident during a city council meeting in which the officials turned off the microphone of a public commenter who was highlighting corruption.

Quinn ended the piece by insinuating that the best way to commemorate Pearl Harbor is to make sure our government does not become more like Hitler. Because Trump is basically Hitler, or something.

Of course, the problem with the editor’s arguments is that they are not only goofy, but they betray a distinct lack of principles. It is the same issue surrounding Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) insistence that he has ruled out supporting Trump because of his comment while ignoring the authoritarian actions President Joe Biden has taken while he’s been in office. The reality is that neither Quinn nor Romney care about authoritarianism. They only have a problem with it when it is exhibited by those whose politics they disagree with.