By The Daily Caller (Opinion) | Created at 2025-03-12 21:08:07 | Updated at 2025-03-13 22:18:58
1 day ago
The party of censorship suddenly cares about free speech.
The reverse is true of Republicans who want to censor or else deport left-wingers who are anti-American but who are nevertheless protected by the First Amendment to voice those noxious opinions. But let’s focus on Democrats for now. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)
Democrats have long pushed to censor conservatives, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when, in the highest reaches of the Biden administration, government officials worked to nuke conservatives off social media platforms for their dissenting views on, among other things, the virus’s origin. House and Senate Democrats, of course, cheered on the White House’s gross overreach while long using the guise of “misinformation” and “disinformation” to quash politically inconvenient facts or narratives.
But now, in the wake of pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest at the hands of the Trump administration, numerous high-profile Democrats have become staunch defenders of free speech, despite their long history of advocating for censorship. It’s politics, after all.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 11: Protestors gather at Gracie Manion to protest NYC Mayor Eric Adams holding Iftar the fast breaking meal of Muslims during ramadan and to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil on March 11, 2025 in New York City. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and pro-Palestinian activist arrested by immigration officers on Saturday, received a temporary reprieve from deportation when a federal judge in New York blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport him until a conference on Wednesday. According to his lawyer, Khalil is a lawful resident holding a U.S. green card. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer emphasized that he despises Khalil’s views on Palestine and Israel while also invoking the First Amendment.
I abhor many of the opinions and policies that Mahmoud Khalil holds and supports, and have made my criticism of the antisemitic actions at Columbia loudly known. Mr. Khalil is also legal permanent resident here, and his wife, who is 8-months pregnant, is an American citizen.…
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 11, 2025
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a similar statement, saying that absent a crime committed by Khalil, the Trump administration’s actions are “wildly inconsistent with the United States Constitution.”
Meanwhile, several ‘squad’ members and left-wing lawmakers didn’t dance around the issue of Khalil’s innocence as much as Schumer and Jeffries, but also came out strongly — suddenly — as fierce First Amendment advocates. (RELATED: Trump’s Latest Legal Move Is Driving Massive Wedge Between Democrats)
“We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalize political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country,” 14 House Democrats said in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
There is also an irony in all the left-wingers who claim speech is equivalent to violence, then those same activists go on to vandalize property on college campuses across the country and claim their violence is actually free speech.
It’s all a bit maddening, but par for the course in national politics, where every elected representative is a reflexive cheerleader, adopting principles or else abandoning them when it’s convenient to score points against the other side.
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