Why we need a new free speech movement
Friends,
The Trump regime is actively suppressing speech at major American universities.
Trump’s recent executive orders bar diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at all educational institutions that receive federal funds.
Last week, Trump threatened in a social media post to punish any university that permits “illegal” protests but did not define what he meant by illegal protests.
On Friday he cancelled hundreds of millions in grants and contracts with Columbia University for allowing peaceful protests the regime dislikes.
On Saturday, Trump’s immigration officials arrested a Columbia graduate student — who is a permanent resident of the United States with a green card and an American wife — and sent him to a prison in Louisiana. Why? He did not engage in criminal activity. The graduate student peacefully expressed political views that the regime dislikes.
Then on Monday, the Trump regime warned 60 universities that they could face penalties for allowing peaceful demonstrations and speech that the administration dislikes.
And on Tuesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, told reporters that Columbia had refused to help the regime identify people engaged in speech the regime found objectionable, and warned, “We expect all America’s colleges and universities to comply with this administration’s policy.”
The particular objectionable speech that the regime is using as a pretext for its crackdown on free speech on university campuses is the student-led protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government for its bombardment of Gaza.
Trump has turned those protests into accusations of antisemitism. Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, described the graduate student who was arrested and whose green card was voided as a “national security threat.”
But let’s be clear: Peaceful protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza are not the same as antisemitism. (As I’ve said repeatedly in this letter, I’m Jewish, I am not antisemitic, and I am disgusted and appalled by what Netanyahu has done to Palestinians in Gaza.) Nor does a peaceful protest turn someone into a national security threat.
And let’s be clear about another thing: The Trump regime is using antisemitism as an excuse for cracking down on free speech on university campuses.
Trump used the same accusation against Democrats during his presidential campaign — blaming the alleged rise in antisemitism on “the leadership of this country,” but conveniently ignoring the fact that the rise in reported antisemitic acts began during Trump’s first term.
Trump also conveniently disregarded prominent Republicans who have engaged in antisemitic behavior — such as North Carolina’s then nominee for governor, Mark Robinson, who called himself a “black NAZI” on a pornographic website, and Trump ally Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made a string of antisemitic remarks, including blaming Jews for killing Jesus to explain her vote against a bill meant to address antisemitism.
The real reason Trump and the Republican Party are cracking down on universities is their belief that universities are dominated by the left.
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If I were in charge of any of the 60 American universities that Trump has just threatened for allowing “illegal” protests, I’d join together with the heads of the others and sue the Trump regime for violating the First Amendment rights of those universities and their students.Robert Reich explains perfectly that Tyrant 47’s war on free speech on college campuses has NOTHING to do with “combatting antisemitism”, but everything to do clamping down on speech the Trump Regime disfavors.
amhrancas 