Free Speech in the Trump 2.0 Era

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The new Trump presidency has led to pressure on the First Amendment, and the lines between free expression and political enforcement are blurring. Those who say speech is now freer argue that his actions are restoring viewpoint diversity. Those who argue it’s more restricted argue it’s a crackdown on speech that doesn’t align with the administration’s views, especially in Harvard’s case. In partnership with the Cascades PBS Ideas Festival, we debate free speech’s evolution in the Trump 2.0 era. Nadine Strossen, Senior Fellow at FIRE; Former President of the ACLU Brandi Kruse, Host of "unDivided with Brandi Kruse” Nick Gillespie, Editor-at-Large at Reason, is the guest moderator. Visit OpentoDebate.org to watch more insightful debates. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed on our curated weekly debates, dynamic live events, and educational initiatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Open to Debate. Hi, everybody. I'm John Donvan, your moderator in chief.
0:04.9	And as fans of our program know, we have covered free speech issues many times over the years.
0:10.5	And it has been an evolving question. This week, we wanted to take a beat to see how it is evolving yet again under a second Trump presidency.
0:19.3	So for this one, over to Nick Gillespie, our good friend here at
0:22.3	Open to Debate. He's also a reason's editor at large. And he moderated this fascinating and timely
0:27.5	conversation at PBS Cascades Ideas Festival. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Cascade PBS
0:34.1	Ideas Festival. I'm Nick Gillespie, guest moderator for Open to Debate, the nation's only nonpartisan
0:42.8	debate organization.
0:44.4	Usually we run Oxford-style debates, but instead we're going to have a debatee conversation
0:50.1	today about something making headlines that's important to all of us, free speech, specifically
0:56.1	free speech in the age of the second Trump presidency. The Trump administration has threatened
1:02.2	social media companies, sued news networks, universities, and placed restrictions on press access
1:07.8	to White House events. Trust in the media has hit historic lows,
1:12.3	but my job today is to moderate today's speakers on these topics.
1:16.4	Please help me in welcoming our speakers,
1:18.9	Brandy Cruz and Nadine Strasset.
1:23.6	Brandy Cruz is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and political commentator who now hosts her
1:28.8	independent show undivided. She frequently takes on the fourth estate on her program.
1:35.6	And then Nadine Strauss, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression,
1:41.3	she was named one of America's 100 most influential lawyers by National Law Journal.
1:46.6	She was national president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and she is the author of, among
1:51.7	other books, hate why we should resist it with free speech and free speech, what everyone needs to know.
	...

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