Free Speech Nonsense

 One weird cudgel the Rightist forces in America keep swinging around recklessly is a warped idea of free speech. As a refresher, free speech is about limiting the government's ability to police and ban political speech. Threats, for instance, are not considered legitimate political speech, despite making up the bulk of Trump's campaign speeches.

Anyhoo, one of the reasons that Elon Musk lit $44,000,000,000 on fire was to insure that Twitter remained a "free speech zone." Now, Musk is suing Media Matters for reporting on his various fuckery as being, in fact, his various fuckery. Musk did what all Rightists do and filed his suit in the Kangaroo Kourts district of North Texas. Meanwhile, Trump is doing something similar, suing media companies for reporting what is undoubtedly the truth about the cash problems of Truth Social.

I have never been entirely on board with the online criticism of the New York Times, but holy shitballs, this is terrible. Here's a sample graph:

In 2016, he was a long-shot candidate with little to lose, and his broadsides were often paired with schoolyard taunts that drew laughs from his audiences. Four years later, Mr. Trump’s approach became angrier as he sought to cling to power, and his term ended in a deadly riot by his supporters at the Capitol.

OK, he was the same malevolent authoritarian in 2016 that he is today. The only thing that's changed is that he lost the 2020 election, creating a narcissistic wound that he is compensating for with increasingly unhinged language. The reality is that he ran against "the media" in 2016, but now he realizes that should he reacquire power in 2024, he will need to truly stamp out any media criticism. He has always been an authoritarian goon, but he realizes that he missed an opportunity to crush American democracy on January 6th and he's all in.

The idea that "Wow, this is a new Trump" is kinda deranged. It feeds into the criticism of the Times that they just don't get Trump. What's more, some of the first people up against the wall if he wins will be the reporters for the Times and the Post. 

I guess we should be glad they are awakening to the threat now rather than next fall.