David French Says Trump Is the Worst Free-Speech President of His Lifetime
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
The French framing treats “free speech” like a purity test, where every hard-edged move gets counted as censorship. That’s an easy lens for cable hits, but it ignores what voters actually saw: a presidency trying to navigate Silicon Valley gatekeepers, hostile legacy institutions, and a public square already tilted by elite discretion. Where that critique falls short is its selective outrage.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
We're normally on board with FIRE, the free speech organization, but executive vice president Nico Perrino seems to have slept
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
The French framing treats “free speech” like a purity test, where every hard-edged move gets counted as censorship. That’s an easy lens for cable hits, but it ignores what voters actually saw: a presidency trying to navigate Silicon Valley gatekeepers, hostile legacy institutions, and a public square already tilted by elite discretion.
Where that critique falls short is its selective outrage. When bureaucracies, universities, and platforms quietly collude to throttle dissent, the same commentators suddenly discover nuance. Conservatives care about viewpoint neutrality in practice, not lectures about etiquette while the rules are enforced one-way.
The real standard is rule of law and public trust. Government should not punish speech, but it also shouldn’t outsource speech control to unaccountable intermediaries and then wash its hands.
At stake is institutional stability and a free society where power cannot launder censorship through “private” partners.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.