Press Freedoms Are Under Attack
This edition critiques the escalating threats to the First Amendment and democracy amid political rhetoric.
The attacks on the First Amendment went up by way more than a notch during what could otherwise be described as a campaign-style political speech at the Department of Justice on Friday. It’s not an understatement to refer to the speech as being fascist.
I usually don’t publish newsletters on Sunday but I have a lot to say after returning back online following Shabbos.
One, he went after MSNBC and CNN:
“I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat party, and in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal.”
Two, he went after a number of attorneys and the Special Counsel that investigated him following January 6. The fact that he said that his opponents should go to jail is something that should be seriously disturbing to anyone who believes in American democracy. If House and Senate Republicans cannot grow a backbone, the presidency will be allowed to turn into a fascist dictatorship without as much of a challenge. Nothing about this is normal!
Oh yeah, he keeps referring to seditious traitors who attacked the U.S. Capitol as “hostages.” No, they were criminals. Referring to them as hostages does a disservice to Israelis who have been and currently are being held hostage by Hamas, PIJ, and others in Gaza.
In case anyone needs a reminder, here is what the First Amendment says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
All that is to say that once again, the convicted felon is treating any press he disagrees with as an enemy of the state. In short, any attempt to shut down a cable news network because he disagrees with their commentary is, well, unconstitutional.
The convicted felon decided to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up mass deportations. The act has only been used during wartime and at the moment, America is currently engaged in a trade war with our allies, not a traditional war by any means. A federal judge has placed a temporary block to use the act to deport people at the moment, expanding the block to include “all non-citizens in U.S. custody.”
The Voice of America is another federal agency being gutted through executive order. It was joined by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, and the Minority Business Development Agency.
They aren’t doing this to cut the budget. They are doing this to attack anything that they don't believe in. The convicted felon attacked VOA during his first term so it’s not surprising to see him target it during his second term.
Gutting the Institute of Museum and Library Services is going to hurt—their 2023 budget cost less than the new Russo brothers movie now streaming on Netflix and they only have 70 employees. They support museums and libraries in all 50 states and U.S. territories. One of their initiatives is Museums for All—this allows people receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) to gain free or reduced admission to more than 1,400 museums throughout the United States.
Regarding the CR keeping the government funded through September: it is a terrible CR. At the end of the day, most of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted against it. Ten Democrats did join all but one Republican in voting for cloture. I’ve read Sen. Schumer’s op-ed in The New York Times. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t lose-lose situation. Had the government shut down, it would have meant courts staying open for 2-3 weeks at best. At the moment, the courts are the only real way of stopping the admin since, again, the House and Senate Republicans have shown they have zero backbone.
The GSA selected a location in Maryland for the new FBI headquarters back in 2023. The convicted felon would rather renege on that and build the headquarters in DC. Also, 15 miles is somehow 3 hours away from DC.
The trade war with Canada is going to benefit the Liberal Party rather than the Conservative Party.
The hypocrisy! Working from Mar-a-Lago qualifies as working from home.
I don’t know what will be left of American democracy come January 20, 2029 or if we’ll even have a democracy remaining. What I do know is that it’s going to take a lot of work to undo his damage and rebuild the federal workforce.