No Winners Here

The press may have think it found some winning point against Donald Trump in the sordid situation about his campaign manager's arrest for "battery," but the reality is that no one - Trump, Lewandowski, Michelle Fields, the press generally, or the police- comes out of this looking particularly well.

Yes, Trump is standing by his campaign manager after sort of denying the incident. In his defense, it now appears that Trump is denying that the incident is more serious than it is (which is true).

Should Lewandowski grabbed a reporter's arm? No. Should he be arrested for it? No, even though I understand the strict definition of "battery" supports the charge.

Michelle Fields filed a police report after having her arm grabbed. She said she did it to seek the truth after Trump denied it. If only all reporters went after the truth about campaign tax plans and policy proposals with the same tenacity and intensity. 

As per usual, the Washington Post editorial page wrote about the issue, characterizing her as being "manhandled," "roughly grabbed," and "yanked down." Her arm was grabbed and she almost - almost - lost her balance. She was not pulled down and never left her feet. And if a single "grab" is being manhandled then I guess I don't understand the term. Certainly, Fields can hardly be called a "brave" or intrepid reporter in the mold of war correspondents of yore like the deeply missed David Halberstam. Also, way to make yourself part of the story and insert yourself into the presidential campaign. So much for being a disinterested observer.

I suppose the police had no choice but to file the charge after Field insisted pursuing it. It is scary that what Lewandowski did could land him a year in jail according to Florida sentencing guidelines for simple battery. Wow - talk about overcriminalizing boorish behavior. But I doubt we'll be reading a Post editorial about that public policy issue any time soon.