Adam Serwer goes easy on Trump when he says the president “doesn’t see any disconnect” between his free-speech promises and his war on the press. Trump has lost at least 75 First Amendment rulings in federal court. After that many corrections, confusion isn’t the problem. Trump even admitted to reporters that “we’re repressive also.” Serwer has the facts right but is too polite. Trump sees the hypocrisy just fine. He just doesn’t care.
Speak at Your Own Risk
Donald Trump’s attacks on the First Amendment
On the first day of his second term in the White House, President Trump signed an executive order on free speech stating that his administration would ensure that “no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” He has gone on to violate that order many times.
Trump announced today on his social-media network, Truth Social, that he is banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House in retaliation for their reporting, and complained that “outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America.” In other words, if media outlets publish stories that Trump does not like, he will punish them.
