The Trump administration directive (leaked today) that a number of federal agencies can no longer give interviews with mainstream or social media, distribute press releases or answer telephone inquiries actually may not be a violation of the first amendment, as companies (and probably government agencies) have the right to control these activities as they see fit.

But, in many instances, the information now prohibited includes instructions for signing up for healthcare; updates on drug approval discussions; and information about crop safety and pest control. In other words, the ban of external communications means that the flow of important information to the people of this country will halt, and that’s not going to make America great.

Transparency in government is the sunshine that kills the bacteria. Trump wants us all to have pneumonia, while he stymies the honest efforts of good public servants to attend to the common weal.

No president in my lifetime (and I admit that goes back to Eisenhower) has ever attempted such a clamp-down. But Putin has. Xi Jinping has. Kim Jong-un has.

Such great company you are keeping, Donny.