Is Trump intent on eliminating free speech in America?

[spidermike007]

To many of us it would appear to be the case, his lack of tolerance for dissent is quite remarkable, and I don't believe I've witnessed anything quite like it in my lifetime.

 

It reminds me a bit of Leninist and Stalinist Russia, and to some extent it reminds me of current day Russia under Putin, or even China under Xi. Not a good look. 

 

Sending the armed forces into Los Angeles to stop the protests against radical ICE agent behavior, roughing up Senator Padilla for questioning Kristy Noam, the list goes on and on. 

 

On Monday, President Donald Trump endorsed the arrest of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who irked him by criticizing his militarized response to Los Angeles protests against his administration’s immigration raids. Just four days earlier, Trump had suggested that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, his former ally, could lose his government contracts for going public with concerns about the president’s fiscal recklessness.

 

It’s not clear whether Trump was serious in either case, whether he intends to follow through on his threats, or exactly how that would work. But the authoritarian intolerance of dissent reflected in those comments is consistent with the various ways Trump already has used the powers of his office to punish people whose views offend him. Then again, maybe not. No such excuse is available for Trump’s plainly serious crusades against foreign students, lawyers, universities, and news outlets he portrays as enemies of democracy and American values.

 

By deporting students who criticize the Israeli government, Trump says, he is fighting antisemitism and protecting U.S. foreign policy interests. The goal, he explains, is to make students think twice before they open their mouths.

“Any student that protests,” Trump said during his 2024 campaign, “I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”

 

To justify his executive orders against disfavored law firms — which aimed to ruin them by revoking their security clearances, restricting their access to federal officials and buildings, canceling their government contracts, and threatening other contractors with ties to them — Trump likewise cited their support for causes and clients he abhors. Federal judges therefore had no difficulty concluding that the orders violated the First Amendment.

 

Trump’s conflict with Harvard, framed as an attempt to enforce federal civil rights laws, extends far beyond that goal. The administration has said the university cannot regain access to federal research grants unless it surrenders academic freedom by implementing a litany of hiring, admission, administrative, curricular, and disciplinary reforms.

 

Trump is still pursuing his legal vendetta against CBS News, which he absurdly claims committed consumer fraud by editing a pre-election “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris in a way that made her seem slightly more cogent. In February, he upped the ante by raising his already risible estimate of the damages inflicted by that interview from $10 billion to $20 billion.

 

Given this track record, it may not be safe to assume that Trump is only kidding when he threatens government retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.

 

https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/06/12/donald-trump-threats-immigration-protests-gavin-newsom-israel-univserities-elon-musk-jacob-sullum

 

 

[ThreeCardMonte]

Hopefully, only yours.

[worgeordie]

Free Speech,certain books ,even though he cannot read , and he seems to be cracking down

on anyone that criticizes him ,he's a thinned skin dictator, see him Saturday reviewing the

troops in his Fascist ,Dictator parade ,first time in USA , but popular in Russia ,N,Korea ,China.

 

regards Worgeordie

[spidermike007]

5 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Free Speech,certain books ,even though he cannot read , and he seems to be cracking down

on anyone that criticizes him ,he's a thinned skin dictator, see him Saturday reviewing the

troops in his Fascist ,Dictator parade ,first time in USA , but popular in Russia ,N,Korea ,China.

 

regards Worgeordie

And his extremely thin skin, and his near total intolerance for criticism makes him a potentially very dangerous man. The American people are speaking up and his response is to send in storm troops. 

[EVENKEEL]

Someone call 911  An poster has gone nuts   

[ThreeCardMonte]

5 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Someone call 911  An poster has gone nuts   

He’s been nuts all along.  

[save the frogs]

11 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

To many of us it would appear to be the case, his lack of tolerance for dissent is quite remarkable, and I don't believe I've witnessed anything quite like it in my lifetime.

 

The media is so full of spin and lies, you can't tell fact from fiction.

 

And if you believe you haven't been manipulated, you're delusional.

 

Pick your poison: Eliminate free speech vs Free speech full of lies

 

It's not that obvious which is worse. It's debatable. 

 

Maybe he'd be putting people out of their misery by shutting down CNN and Fox. 

 

[TorquayFan]

Thanks Mike. Good post !

 

Myself I doubt that Trump is bright or sane enough to have any clear strategy on anything, BUT the effect of his lunatic thrashing around will undoubtedly result in the curtailing of free speech.

 

He is clearly unfit to be POTUS. I hope the amazing USA

can eject him and his barmy Pals before too long . . . . .

 

.

[Yagoda]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

On Monday, President Donald Trump endorsed the arrest of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who irked him by criticizing his militarized response to Los Angeles protests against his administration’s immigration raids. Just four days earlier, Trump had suggested that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, his former ally, could lose his government contracts for going public with concerns about the president’s fiscal recklessness.

Quoted only as an example. Stolen  from the Chicago Sun Times. Plagiarism and theft of intellectual property.

 

https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/06/12/donald-trump-threats-immigration-protests-gavin-newsom-israel-univserities-elon-musk-jacob-sullum

[SunnyinBangrak]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

To many of us it would appear to be the case, his lack of tolerance for dissent is quite remarkable, and I don't believe I've witnessed anything quite like it in my lifetime.

 

It reminds me a bit of Leninist and Stalinist Russia, and to some extent it reminds me of current day Russia under Putin, or even China under Xi. Not a good look. 

 

Sending the armed forces into Los Angeles to stop the protests against radical ICE agent behavior, roughing up Senator Padilla for questioning Kristy Noam, the list goes on and on. 

 

On Monday, President Donald Trump endorsed the arrest of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who irked him by criticizing his militarized response to Los Angeles protests against his administration’s immigration raids. Just four days earlier, Trump had suggested that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, his former ally, could lose his government contracts for going public with concerns about the president’s fiscal recklessness.

 

It’s not clear whether Trump was serious in either case, whether he intends to follow through on his threats, or exactly how that would work. But the authoritarian intolerance of dissent reflected in those comments is consistent with the various ways Trump already has used the powers of his office to punish people whose views offend him. Then again, maybe not. No such excuse is available for Trump’s plainly serious crusades against foreign students, lawyers, universities, and news outlets he portrays as enemies of democracy and American values.

 

By deporting students who criticize the Israeli government, Trump says, he is fighting antisemitism and protecting U.S. foreign policy interests. The goal, he explains, is to make students think twice before they open their mouths.

“Any student that protests,” Trump said during his 2024 campaign, “I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”

 

To justify his executive orders against disfavored law firms — which aimed to ruin them by revoking their security clearances, restricting their access to federal officials and buildings, canceling their government contracts, and threatening other contractors with ties to them — Trump likewise cited their support for causes and clients he abhors. Federal judges therefore had no difficulty concluding that the orders violated the First Amendment.

 

Trump’s conflict with Harvard, framed as an attempt to enforce federal civil rights laws, extends far beyond that goal. The administration has said the university cannot regain access to federal research grants unless it surrenders academic freedom by implementing a litany of hiring, admission, administrative, curricular, and disciplinary reforms.

 

Trump is still pursuing his legal vendetta against CBS News, which he absurdly claims committed consumer fraud by editing a pre-election “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris in a way that made her seem slightly more cogent. In February, he upped the ante by raising his already risible estimate of the damages inflicted by that interview from $10 billion to $20 billion.

 

Given this track record, it may not be safe to assume that Trump is only kidding when he threatens government retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.

 

https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2025/06/12/donald-trump-threats-immigration-protests-gavin-newsom-israel-univserities-elon-musk-jacob-sullum

 

 

So, censoring your political opponents is a bad thing again?🤣

 

Was only recently you were all in on censoring mention of the corruption laptop or facts surrounding the flu from Wuhan. Was that "good" censorship even though you censored fact to allow lies favorable to democrats to spread and gain traction?

 

Pure clown show.

[frank83628]

No doubt no cares were given by the OP when twitter, facebook, youtube were censoring conservative or right leaning  voices regarding politics or covidcon

[ThreeCardMonte]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

And his extremely thin skin, and his near total intolerance for criticism makes him a potentially very dangerous man. The American people are speaking up and his response is to send in storm troops. 

I thought you libtards were screaming Trump was going to take away freedom of speech in 2016.  
 

 

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

So, censoring your political opponents is a bad thing again?🤣

 

Was only recently you were all in on censoring mention of the corruption laptop or facts surrounding the flu from Wuhan. Was that "good" censorship even though you censored fact to allow lies favorable to democrats to spread and gain traction?

 

Pure clown show.

Huh? Feel free to go ahead and cite when and where I did that. I think your imagination is becoming a bit overactive. If you recall I was never a supporter of the covid narrative, you're confusing politics with sensibility, and assuming that all Democrats are woke, and that we are all PC, and we all buy into fake narratives.

 

You cannot possibly be more wrong. 

[JimHuaHin]

Short answer - yes.

 

Trump is looking more and more like Hitler with each passing day.

 

I expect the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, etc will soon be remade into a new SS.

[ThreeCardMonte]

9 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

Short answer - yes.

 

Trump is looking more and more like Hitler with each passing day.

 

I expect the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, etc will soon be remade into a new SS.

“I expect the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, etc will soon be remade into a new SS”

 

I don’t think so.  Appears the leftists of the homosexual community have that organization covered.

Notice the distinct similarities.

 

 

 

 

[josephbloggs]

34 minutes ago, ThreeCardMonte said:

 

 

I don’t think so.  Appears the leftists of the homosexual community have that organization covered.

 

 

Never had you down as a leftist, but you do seem to be very familiar with what the homosexual community is up to. It's OK in this day and age so just be yourself and enjoy whatever you enjoy.

[ThreeCardMonte]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Never had you down as a leftist, but you do seem to be very familiar with what the homosexual community is up to. It's OK in this day and age so just be yourself and enjoy whatever you enjoy.

For some reason I knew you would be attracted to those people.  Birds of a feather…

 

BTW, no proud boys, oath keepers etc rioting in LA.

 

All leftists.  Are you proud of them?

[Hummin]

When they start shooting democrats, it will change the climate and make people scared. 
 

I guess the news will be updated soon on the forum

 

Two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota shot in their separate homes

Governor Tim Walz was briefed on ‘ongoing situation’ in which Minneapolis-area state senator and representative were attacked

 

source Fox 9 and the Guardian