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David Remnick
Editor, The New Yorker
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Back in January,
during his Inaugural Address, Donald Trump declared that “after years
and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict
free expression,” he would issue an executive order “to immediately stop
all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.” There
was, as always, reason to be skeptical. (In fact, his very next line
was “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to
persecute political opponents,” which, based on last night’s indictment
of James Comey, is especially striking.) The months that followed
revealed the hollowness of this order, which was so clearly at odds with
the President’s own disposition. In recent months, the Trump
Administration has engaged in a relentless attack against press outlets,
law firms, universities, museums, and other institutions not to its
liking. Others in the Party have taken his lead. Recently, Senator
Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, responded to the F.C.C.
chairman Brendan Carr’s threats against Jimmy Kimmel and Disney, by
telling Semafor, “Under normal times, in normal circumstances, I
tend to think that the First Amendment should always be sort of the
ultimate right. And that there should be almost no checks and balances
on it. I don’t feel that way anymore.”
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