No one likes to be told that what they are doing is wrong or unpopular. This is especially true of politicians in a democracy. Yet without the freedom to criticize and point out flaws in government policy, democracy turns into a hollow shell. That means that political leaders must cultivate a “civic sensibility” in which they learn to accept, if not welcome, criticism.

Displaying that sensibility has never been one of President Trump’s strong suits. In fact, he seems to treat almost every criticism, no matter how tepid, as a thermonuclear attack or as a sign of disorder.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in his desire to quell protests against immigration policies in places like Los Angeles or Chicago. To justify such action, his administration has regularly exaggerated the threat that those protests pose to public safety or to federal facilities and personnel.

Typical was what the Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court in asking it to allow the administration to go forward with its plan to deploy the National Guard in Chicago. Sauer described what he called "prolonged, coordinated, violent resistance that threatens their lives and safety and systematically interferes with their ability to enforce federal law."

Such

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