Three weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term last year, Vice President JD Vance infamously lectured Europe about its free speech abuses. He also made a promise.
“Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite,” Vance said in Munich, Germany. “And I hope that we can work together on that. In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town.”
Ever since then, though, the Trump administration has appeared bent on making Vance eat those words. It has taken a remarkably dim view of free speech rights, at least where Trump’s foes and other disfavored groups are concerned.
And perhaps no day has driven that home like Tuesday did.
Early on, we learned that the Federal Communications Commission was taking the remarkable step of challenging ABC’s station licenses – as Trump once again is calling for the network to punish talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for a joke. Soon after, we learned the administration had secured an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey for conduct that, much like Kimmel’s joke, appears very likely to be constitutionally protected speech.
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