The very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution right here was ratified on December 17th, 1791.

It's been around for a while and subject to evolving interpretations. But there is, once again,

today, and particularly in the last few weeks, growing confusion and

misconception about this most fundamental right that Americans hold, free speech. You know it's

important because it's among the first amendments. It's called the first one, but it was ratified

with a number of other amendments. And we need to start by ridding ourselves of the notion that

many on today's political

right actually care that much about free speech. Here's how you can tell. The same people who once

posed as champions of free speech during the years when Donald Trump wasn't president are now

demanding government sanction, criminal penalties, firings, and surveillance of those who criticize them.

First Amendment scholar Marianne Franks warns that Donald Trump has unleashed the greatest

assault on free speech since the Red Scare, all while simultaneously claiming to defend it.

It's like if you say free speech often enough, the public might not notice that you're actually

stripping it away. Here's how this is playing out. We've seen broadcast licenses threatened when

networks aired speech that the ruling party doesn't like. We're in a wave of media mergers and

deregulation of the media that is consolidating pro-Trump gatekeepers across platforms from

broadcast airwaves to social media.

We're experiencing censorship by proxy where government officials lean on private entities

to suppress dissent and the encouragement of ad hoc blacklisting.

For example, when officials like Vice President J.D. Vance urge Americans to report their

neighbors to employers for certain types of

online speech. And of course, they claim all of this is being done in the name of free speech,

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