Donald Trump didn’t invent Republican hypocrisy. But as you can see from this excerpt from his second inaugural address, he’s perfected it:
After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I also will sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.
Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again.
Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.”
Who other than the Kaiser of Chaos could tell such a string of blatant lies? These lies, however, are protected political speech under the First Amendment. I believe in free speech. Trump and his MAGA acolytes do not. They only believe in free speech for those who agree with them. That’s not free speech, it’s fascism.
While he was out of office, the Insult Comedian posed as a free speech champion. He claimed that “woke lunatics” were conducting a reign of terror with their cancel culture. The most charitable way to characterize those comments is to call it projection. Trump is most strident about things that actually describe him. He’s ramped up his efforts to use the Justice Department as a tool of retribution against his enemies, telling Pam Bondi to effectively piss or get off the pot. That pisses me off, but then again everything about Team MAGA pisses me off.
The featured image is of the late Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black who went from an unenthusiastic Klansman to an enthusiastic champion of free speech. Black was the leading First Amendment absolutist on the court. His stance on free speech was unwavering:
Justice Black was human, so he got things wrong, but he meant what he said about the First Amendment: No law means no law. I agree. President Pennywise gets everything wrong but he has the right to spout bluster and bullshit. He does not, however, have the right to use the power of the presidency to crack down on critics exercising their free speech rights. The First Amendment is a two-way street, MAGA wants to turn it into a cul-de-sac where only their speech is protected.
Black was skeptical that conduct constituted free speech. I disagree but I defend his right to be wrong. That’s what America is supposed to be about, not jawboning corporate suits into firing critics of the MAGA cult. Trump and his supporters want everyone to be on the same page and never utter a discouraging word about them while they savage their opponents. That’s fascism, not Americanism. It should be opposed at every opportunity.
Repeat after me: Appeasement never works, free speech does.
Let’s close on an upbeat note. The last word goes to The Rascals followed by Keb Mo: