Friday Talking Points -- Real Censorship, Not Fake [View all]

[ChrisWeigant]

It's hard, as each new week goes by, not to get distracted by all of the chaos emanating from Washington. This week, we're going to begin by connecting a few dots that really need connecting, and (so far) haven't gotten enough attention (in our humble opinion).

Before Donald Trump became president again, both he and his MAGA choir spent a lot of time decrying "censorship" and wailing about their "free speech" being somehow suppressed. This was largely due to social media sites policing their allowable content, and occasionally removing objectionable or flat-out false posts and even kicking people off their platforms.

This is not "censorship," as both we and many others pointed out, at the time. A social media company is a private entity, and what they allow or don't allow on their sites is their own business, plain and simple. Twitter was not "the public square," period. No First Amendment rights were being trampled upon by any of it.

Let's review, shall we? Here is the First Amendment, in full:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

You'll note that the key word in this is the first one: Congress. In other words, the government. Doesn't say one word about what a private company can or cannot do, unless you count the fact that it guarantees the freedom of "the press" -- which is, in fact, the only mention of any private industry in the entire Constitution.

Twitter policing its own site isn't covered by any of it, to put this another way. If you wanted to change the policing practices of Twitter, you could always just buy the company and institute those changes. Coincidentally enough, Elon Musk did just that. And for all his supposed reverence for free speech, he can now just squelch anyone (or kick them off) for any speech he doesn't personally like.

Which is all completely fine, because none of it is covered by the First Amendment. What Trump and all the rest of them were annoyed about wasn't censorship, it was a made-up interpretation -- which is why we write it as "censorship," to denote that it truly isn't.

Real censorship comes when the government tries to police free speech. Which is what is happening now. As usual with Trump, the things he complains the loudest about are exactly the things he wants to do himself.

So let's review what has been happening, just in the past week. Early on, many government webpages simply disappeared. They just yanked them, because Trump disapproved of certain things they said -- mostly having to do with pointing out the existence of transgender people or any other kind of diversity (especially racial). This included even medical studies. Later in the week, a federal judge had to order the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. to restore these webpages.

The Trump White House has now kicked out the reporter from the Associated Press from their briefings and events, because the century-old organization has not changed their official style sheet to direct editors to always use "Gulf of America," rather than "Gulf of Mexico" (as everyone on the planet has been calling it for the past four hundred years). This violates both the free speech clause and the freedom of the press in the First Amendment, because it equates to the government dictating editorial policy to a press organization. One article, reporting on the decision, wrote that the press secretary "might as well have been stomping on a copy of the Bill of Rights under the lectern" while she tried to justify the White House's position.

A medical C.D.C. report was delayed (although it finally did get released) that documented new information about the spread of bird flu. This is rather ominous, because bird flu has the potential to become the next pandemic, and this seems to be a harbinger of how the White House is going to handle it: stomp on any bad news so people don't know what is going on. This isn't all that surprising, after watching Trump's anger at people like Dr. Anthony Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic (for telling the public the truth rather than Trump's personal false beliefs).

Linda McMahon, Trump's nominee to be the secretary of Education, could not say during her Senate confirmation hearing whether schools would be allowed to teach lessons about Black History Month. Alongside making trans people disappear in government documents, they've also been scrubbing any mention of race they can find. And, obviously, teaching a Black History Month lesson is going to discuss race, in some way or another. So she wasn't sure it that would be allowed.

Donald Trump kicked everyone he didn't like off the board of the Kennedy Center, and then named himself their new head. This is all so he can decide what artists are allowed to perform and which aren't. Nothing quite says government censorship like the president of the United States deciding whether artists praise their Dear Leader enough, eh? And we certainly can't have any representations of gay people or any diversity whatsoever. This move was just stunning for its pettiness, really.

All mentions of a $400 million contract with Tesla (to build armored vehicles for the military) were scrubbed from a State Department document. Hmmm... wonder if Elon Musk had anything to do with that, after reporters have been asking him about conflicts of interest....

Massive databases from the U.S. Census disappeared online briefly, before also being restored. This is data about the public that is used in countless ways by all sorts of organizations (both governmental and private), and sent a shock of fear throughout those who rely on it. Here's how the Washington Post started their article reporting on this worrisome development:

For a few days this month, some of the most valuable datasets in human history vanished from U.S. government websites, often without warning and with no guidance about what would happen next.

To those of us who have gone on record describing the Census Bureau's American Community Survey as a wonder of the modern world, watching its files disappear from a federal FTP server felt like watching the Library of Alexandria go up in smoke.

And finally -- and perhaps most egregiously -- transgender people were sent down the memory hole by the National Park Service, on their site for the Stonewall Uprising National Monument. Which is more than a little problematic, since trans activists were leading the uprising. As the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative wrote, condemning the erasure:

Let us be clear: Stonewall is transgender history. Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals fought bravely, and often at great personal risk, to push back against oppressive systems. Their courage, sacrifice, and leadership were central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.... [We] will not rest until this grave injustice is corrected.

Remember all the angst from Trump and his followers about "liberals rewriting history" by taking Confederate heroes' names off of things like U.S. military bases? Remember them insisting: "It is part of our history -- you can't just erase it!"? Well, turns out erasing things from history is just fine, at least in some instances. They've even tried to erase them from the acronym, in fact:

"The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969 is a milestone in the quest for LGB civil rights and provided momentum for a movement," the [Stonewall National Monument] site read on Thursday after the letters for "transgender" and "queer" were removed.

Demonstrators emphasized the explicitly trans history of the landmark, commemorating the riots led by transgender activists including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who revolted against police amid an attempted raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar.

"Stonewall would not be Stonewall without the T," trans demonstrator Chloe Elentari told Salon.

Demonstrators gathered today at the site with signs saying things like: "You can't spell history without a T."

Twitter kicking an objectionable post or a user off their site is not censorship. This is censorship, plain and simple (and quite Orwellian). "We don't approve of you, so we are just going to erase you from history." Couldn't get any plainer, really. It is (for now) still allowable to mention "L.G.B. civil rights" (even though nobody uses this truncated acronym), but who knows? Tomorrow we might just decide to get rid of one more letter from it. After all, when you start throwing things from history down the memory hole, it's easy to get carried away.

This has all happened in the past week, mind you. And it doesn't even count things like the Trump administration pulling funding from schools because they have COVID vaccine mandates (which is a different sort of censorship, and also puts the lie to the claim that Republicans revere local control of schools above all else).

This isn't the only way they're going to do exactly what they've been upset about for decades, now. Here's another reaction (which also points out the Orwellian nature of all this) to the upcoming changes at the Department of Education (emphasis in original):

One presidential order titled "Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government" calls for weaponizing the federal government against itself. Another titled "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling" demands that "patriotic education" be taught to children.

"Forced patriotism is indoctrination -- those words are synonyms," said Lee Rowland, a First Amendment attorney and the executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to free speech. She said that the education executive order "is a perfect encapsulation of what we are seeing out of this administration so far, which is to diminish rights while claiming as a matter of pure rhetoric that they are increasing them."

No explanation has been given as to how the Department of Education is now going to police patriotic education and vaccine schedules if it completely disappears -- which is a stated goal of the Trump administration as well. They'll cross that bridge when they blow it up, we suppose.

Speaking of doing things they once hated, Trump and his followers have been ranting about how liberals force everybody to use idiotic terms, but that "Gulf of Mexico" idiocy apparently didn't go far enough for some. One enterprising Republican has now introduced a bill to Congress to rename "Greenland" as "Red, White, And Blueland." You just couldn't make this stuff up if you tried, folks.

Trump has been getting more and more pushback from federal judges, who have been issuing stays and other rulings blocking some of the worst things Trump has attempted to do. In the past week alone, here is what federal judges have done:

Blocked Elon Musk's minions from sensitive Treasury Department files and computer systems.

Slapped down Trump's attempts to ignore a previous order ending Trump's freeze on all federal grants and payments (also upheld by an appeals court ruling, signifying this one might get to the Supreme Court first).

Blocked (yet again, as multiple judges have now done so) Trump's rewriting of the birthright citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Blocked slashing funding for the N.I.H.

Ordered the CDC and the FDA to restore websites with valuable medical information.

Blocked Trump's trans healthcare bans for children.

Reinstated a government watchdog who had been summarily fired by Trump.

This last one included a sharp message from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who wrote of the illegal firing of Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel (an "agency that enforces whistleblower protections and political corruption laws" ) the following:

There are no facts to suggest that an order maintaining Dellinger in the role he occupied for the past year would have a "disruptive" effect on any administrative process; if anything, it would be his removal that is disruptive, as he suggests.

. . .

[A]ny disruption to the work of the agency was occasioned by the White House. It's as if the bull in the china shop looked back over his shoulder and said, "What a mess!"

The Washington Post has a page up now that tracks the current status of key lawsuits against the Trump administration, but it doesn't list all of them.

Things have gotten so bad that the American Bar Association posted a statement titled: "The ABA Supports The Rule Of Law." It does not mince words denouncing what has been going on:

It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform.

Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity.

We have seen attempts at wholesale dismantling of departments and entities created by Congress without seeking the required congressional approval to change the law. There are efforts to dismiss employees with little regard for the law and protections they merit, and social media announcements that disparage and appear to be motivated by a desire to inflame without any stated factual basis. This is chaotic. It may appeal to a few. But it is wrong. And most Americans recognize it is wrong. It is also contrary to the rule of law.

As if to prove their point, this week Trump directed the halt of all enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and told New York City Mayor Eric Adams he wouldn't have to go to trial before the next election. Making bribery great again! Woo hoo!





Senator Chris Murphy has never exactly been our idea of a firebrand. He's one of those politicians who usually is pretty calm and restrained in what he says, meaning he's also a senator most people have never even heard of. But this week, he was a lot more visible and a lot more intense in his tone, and for that -- for being out there fighting the good fight, one might say -- Murphy is the winner of this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award.

Murphy appeared on the Sunday political shows (and made other television appearances) and strongly stood up for how dangerous the concept of Trump ignoring the rule of law truly is. This was after several hints from Trump, Elon Musk, and Vice President JD Vance that the easiest thing for them to do might be to just ignore court rulings that they don't like.

Murphy pushed back, hard:

"This isn't hyperbole to say that we are staring the death of democracy in the eyes right now. The centerpiece of our democracy is that we observe court rulings," [Senator Chris Murphy] said. "No one is above the law, and whether we like it or not, the courts interpret the law."

. . .

"If the president isn't bound by our laws and the Constitution, then why would anybody else be bound by our laws and the Constitution?" Murphy asked. "This is a really dire moment."

In a separate interview with the Washington Post, Murphy encouraged other Democrats to start naming names instead of just vaguely speaking of "billionaires."

"I don't think economic populism really sells to anybody unless you're naming names. When you engage in sort of just general critiques of billionaires or special interests, I think that falls flat," [Senator Chris] Murphy said. "Donald Trump is really good at naming enemies, particular individuals or particular groups."

Now, less than three weeks into Trump's second term, Murphy is pushing Democrats to adopt a more aggressive approach that specifically targets the president's infatuation with billionaire CEOs. The top villain should be Elon Musk, given his role in trying to slash the bureaucracy.

"I don't think you can avoid him. And he is a proxy for the broader corruption, which is the handover of our government to billionaires and the theft of wealth and resources from ordinary Americans to make the billionaires happier," Murphy said during a 40-minute interview Thursday in his Senate office.

While many other Democratic politicians have been notable mainly for being completely absent from the conversation over what is happening, Murphy seems to have stepped up (and in a big way). Since we would sincerely like to encourage some other Democrats to do so as well, Murphy is our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week.

[Congratulate Senator Chris Murphy on his Senate contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]





Um... all the Democrats who haven't been giving interviews on television?

(Sigh.)

Snark aside, we have to give the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Adams is now about as compromised as a politician can get. He was facing charges of bribery, but these charges were then dropped by Attorney General Pam Bondi -- which caused the resignation of multiple people in the prosecutors' office as a direct result. These are the first of what is likely to be many such resignations, in the face of Trump and Bondi doing exactly what they said they hated: weaponizing the Department of Justice against their political enemies.

Adams, of course, is a Democrat. But he has been saying nice things about Trump pretty much ever since he was charged with bribery, and it paid off. But now he will be forced to knuckle under to Trump's crackdown on immigration, or face the charges suddenly being revived (they were dismissed "without prejudice," meaning the case can start up again at any time).

Almost immediately, Team Trump yanked back over $80 million that had already been deposited in N.Y.C.'s bank accounts, because it was supposed to pay for the housing of immigrants.

So what is Adams going to do? Fight back? Hardly. He is now under the thumb of Trump and (as we said) about as compromised as a politician can get.

Which is why he's also our winner for the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week. He could have easily avoided all of this, as the prosecutors did: by resigning, rather than participating in a nakedly partisan manipulation of the legal system, but he didn't. He stuck around, and now he will forever be seen as nothing more than a Trump lackey for doing so.

[Contact New York City Mayor Eric Adams on his official contact page, to let him know what you think of his actions.]




Volume 783 (2/14/25)

Another mixed bag of a week, and that's without even commenting on all the censorship detailed at the start of this column.

We did throw in the most amusing thing we've heard in quite a while at the end, just to leave everyone with a smile on their faces. Enjoy!



Trump looks small next to President Elon

This was just bizarre, when you get right down to it.

"Donald Trump got miffed that Time magazine ran a cover showing Elon Musk behind the presidential Resolute desk. So he held a press conference with Musk, where Trump was pointedly sitting behind the desk while Elon stood a few steps in the background. But the whole thing just backfired on Trump, because it was 'President Musk' who did most of the talking to the press, and Trump just sat there looking small and weak, while Musk's young son picked his nose in front of him. If Trump is smart, he won't stage this sort of thing again, because all it did was reinforce the fact that Elon is truly the one in charge in the Oval Office."



Inflation is up

OK, sure -- the January numbers aren't quite fair, since Joe Biden was president for two-thirds of the month. Nevertheless, this drum needs beating as relentlessly as Democrats can manage, so why not start now?

"Did you see that inflation is going up again? Prices are up for gas, for groceries, and for used cars. The price of eggs went up by over 15 percent in one month -- which all American consumers are seeing at the grocery store. And what has Trump done to get prices down? Absolutely nothing. He promised he'd bring everyone's prices down starting on Day One, but here we are almost a month out and he still hasn't lifted a finger -- because he has no idea what to do. His only answer is to threaten the rest of the world with tariffs -- which will do nothing more than drive prices even higher for American consumers. When Trump told the voters he'd bring prices down, it was nothing more than a big fat lie, folks."



;$500 million in food rotting away

This should really be universally condemned.

"Trump likes to talk about 'waste' in government spending, but he is currently overseeing almost half a billion dollars in food rotting away in warehouses rather than being given to starving people worldwide -- right after firing the guy that had the temerity to point this massive waste out to the public. Because President Musk decided to attack U.S.A.I.D., all of these shipments have been halted. This has left tons and tons of food just wasting away inside warehouses worldwide. While people starve. Because the food can't be distributed to them. This isn't just waste -- it is downright inhumane and cruel. But that's what Trump wanted, so that's what he got. This is food paid for by your tax dollars, folks, and it should be criminal how Trump is just wasting it all."



Screwing farmers and consumers

We wrote about what's been going on with farmers (and what Democrats should say about it) at length earlier this week, if anyone's interested.

"President Elon and Donald Trump are not stopping waste, fraud, and abuse -- instead they are busy screwing over farmers and consumers. Farmers are not getting payments they had been promised, and Musk hasn't even gotten around to gutting the Department of Agriculture yet. Maybe he'll just halt all farm subsidies, on a whim -- who knows? At this point it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Meanwhile, President Musk wants to turn his social media site into a bank, so he eviscerated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- the agency that protects people from banks and bank fees and banking scams. So rather than getting rid of 'waste, fraud, and abuse,' Musk is instead eliminating those who police the waste, fraud, and abuse of American consumers. All so he can make a buck, without any oversight at all. Bring on the fraud and abuse, because there is no cop on that beat anymore, thanks to Elon Musk."



Screwing the poor and working class

This is going to be a bigger deal in the next few weeks, but why not start early?

"Republicans in Congress are finally putting together their budget ideas. They can be summed up as 'screw the poor, screw the working class, screw the middle class -- because we've got to give tons and tons of tax breaks to the ultra-rich.' They like to talk about 'fiscal responsibility' but their tax cutting plans are going to blow a gigantic hole in the deficit and national debt. They're going to try to paper this over with pretend math, but don't get fooled. To pay for some of it, they're going to attack Medicaid and other programs that are a lifeline to working class families. Millions of people who voted for Trump are about to get paid back by having their healthcare snatched away from them -- all so Elon Musk can get a big tax break."



About as well as you'd expect

Speaking of giving things away....

"Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have entered into negotiations with Russia's Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, and it's going about as well as you'd expect. Which is to say, they're already caving to Russian demands -- before the negotiations even begin. Trump couldn't even say if Ukraine should be involved in the talks when asked about it this week. He's just going to sit down with his buddy Putin and give him everything he wants. Hegseth went even further, telling Putin it's really just a matter of how much Ukrainian territory Russia will wind up with. Which, as I said, is pretty much exactly what everyone expected was going to happen, with Trump being in Putin's pocket."



Where do we sign?!?

And finally, a bit of comic relief to end on here.

"There's a petition in Denmark with over 250,000 signatures on it already, for their country to go ahead and buy California for a trillion dollars. As they put it in their petition: 'Most people say we have the best freedom. Colossal freedom.' Sounds pretty good, right? This is in response to Trump coveting Greenland, of course, but speaking as a Californian, I have to say: Where do we sign? They're offering universal healthcare for all, 'fact based politics,' and a lifetime supply of Danish pastries to boot! I mean, what's not to love?!?"




Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com
Follow Chris on Twitter: ChrisWeigant
Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com