Yesterday President Trump announced he would designate Antifa as a “major” terrorist organization.
He called the group a “sick, dangerous radical left disaster”.
An accurate description.
POTUS said he would recommend that Antifa’s funders be “thoroughly investigated”.
The right celebrated on social media, joking about George Soros being perp-walked like Hannibal Lecter.
Everyone on the right despises Antifa. So it felt like victory.
But there was a growing pit in my stomach.
Something felt… off.
A Crackdown on ‘Hate Speech’?
The reason something felt off is that earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi set off a firestorm by making the following comments in an interview:
“There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech. And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything, and that’s across the aisle.”
This type of talk makes me uneasy. Blurring the lines between free speech and hate speech is a slippery slope.
Besides, it’s quite clear that Charlie Kirk wouldn’t have wanted anything of this sort to be justified in his name:
Source: X.com
Tucker Carlson, a close friend of Kirk’s, went so far as to call for civil disobedience if hate speech laws are passed.
We saw the dangers of government crackdowns on free speech during COVID, when big tech worked with the Biden administration to censor anyone who dared question the official narrative.
COVID skeptics have been vindicated in the years since. But those who lost jobs, friends, and family find little solace in this hollow victory.
It is of the utmost importance that we uphold freedom of speech in the U.S. It, along with the 2nd Amendment, form the foundation of our great country.
The Path Forward
Hopefully our political leaders will resist the urge to attempt a crackdown on speech.
And regarding Antifa, it IS a dangerous group. Trump is certainly right there. Even when they get arrested, its members have gotten off easy thanks to “progressive” District Attorneys, many of whom were installed by nefarious political actors.
We saw this clearly during the BLM riots of 2020 following the death of George Floyd. Rioters who burned down buildings and looted were given slaps on the wrists. For more on this, see the WSJ’s 2016 article “Billionaire Soros Funds Local Prosecutor Races”, and Trump’s recent call for RICO charges against Soros for his alleged support of violent protests.
I fully support any efforts by Trump to enforce existing laws to punish bad actors. And if they can make a case against those funding Antifa, have at it.
But a crackdown on hate speech? It’s not needed. Private companies are making the choice to fire workers who publicly disparaged Charlie Kirk after his passing.
The right is already winning this culture war. The free market of ideas works. We don’t need the government involved in policing speech.
After all, there WILL be another leftist President eventually. Do we want them to be armed with the ability to crack down on our speech?
Now, some will say “they already did crack down on our speech” (during COVID). And there’s truth there.
But we must not stoop to their level. There’s simply too much risk involved with restricting speech. It can easily be abused by powerful forces within our political system.
No matter how tempting it is, we can’t give in. Freedom of speech is priceless, but fragile. Once it starts to erode, the risk is that it slips away completely.
This is already happening in the U.K., where thousands of people have been arrested for offensive social media posts.
We must avoid a future like that at all cost.
