Free speech is under direct attack

This one really matters

The news is overwhelming. The attacks on democracy are relentless. It’s impossible to keep track of them all.

You might feel like there’s nothing you can really do about most of it, so it’s best to go on with a life that’s as close to normal as possible. Daily worrying about everything is really stressful. People need a break.

All of this is true.

But please hear me out on one issue that we aren’t discussing enough that affects every single person in America (except perhaps Donald Trump).

It’s about free speech.

In a bunch of his executive orders, Trump is directly going after what courts refer to as “disfavored expression.”

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The topics that amount to “disfavored expression” under Trump’s executive orders include diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental justice; so-called “ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex;” “anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities;” and speech involving “the weaponization of government” by having legally represented his “political opponents in the 2016 and 2020 elections.”

The First Amendment explicitly bans on federal government from using its almost limitless financial, investigative, and law enforcement powers “to punish or suppress disfavored expression.” This should be alarming to everyone. Even if you are not “vocal” on political issues right now, if others in America feel unsafe to speak, that chilling effect will change your life, too.

Freedom to freedom to speak means freedom to think. Freedom to think is what makes us human.

Here’s Benjamin Franklin in 1722:

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.”

I wrote about all of this in a recent article for The Hill.

What speech does Trump’s executive orders target?

There is a whole list of views that Trump has essentially categorized as “anti-American” and therefore “off-limits” in his eyes: DEI, climate, gender, LGBTQ+, the plight of Palestinians, people who reject the Big Lie about the 2020 election, and his political “enemies” in general.

Trump has also singled out two individuals for their disfavored speech: Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs.