In the last week, American conservatives have dropped their professed commitment to free speech over the previous decade.
“There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday in response to a podcast host’s question about public reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. “And there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie,” for the latter. “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
As she should know, hate speech is not a legal category of speech in the United States. Our legal system prohibits incitements to immediate violence and other narrow infractions, but “hate speech” is a fungible term that has always put free-speech advocates on high alert for politically motivated censorship.
By “hate speech,” in this instance, Bondi presumably means social media posts celebrating Kirk’s death, which have become an obsession of the Right since he was murdered last Wednesday.
“There is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” said Vice President J. D. Vance. “When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out,” Vance elaborated on Monday. “And hell, call their employer.”
For the past decade, the Right has claimed to be the champions of free speech against a censorious Left. It doesn’t look like they meant it.
“We do not censor and silence disfavored viewpoints,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. Americans “are allowed to say crazy things,” but “if I’m an employer or I’m a government agency, and I have someone in my employ who is online celebrating . . . I can make the decision that they don’t deserve to work for me.” In…
Auteur: Ben Burgis
