Chris Murphy 🟧@ChrisMurphyCT · Feb 14, 2025

What frightening bullshit. Trump and Vance have done more to smash free speech in America than any other…

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Summary

The thread argues that Trump and Vance are systematically dismantling free speech through multiple tactics including pardoning January 6 rioters, firing inspector generals, threatening critics through law enforcement, investigating opposition media, weaponizing federal spending, and controlling press access. The author calls for increased public activism and visibility as resistance.

Summarized by ThreadOut AI from the full thread. May miss nuance — read the thread below.

#1
What frightening bullshit. Trump and Vance have done more to smash free speech in America than any other Administration in our lifetime. It's their plan. They know it. So they lie to cover it up. 1/ Here's their plan in a short 🧵and what we do about it.
Sky News@SkyNews · Feb 14, 2025
'In Britain and across Europe free speech, I fear, is in retreat' US Vice President JD Vance spoke at the Munich security conference and took a swipe at Brussels, Germany, Sweden and the UK. trib.al/xWlxDwz 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube
#2
2/ First, they pardoned all the Jan 6th rioters. This was done to protect violence when it's used to target Trump critics (remember, the rioters were there to kill Pence and Democrats). Every despot uses the threat of violence to silence its opposition. npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-…
#3
3/ Then they fired the government inspector generals, put a gag order on federal employees and required them to make loyalty pledges. All designed to throw darkness over Trump and Musk's illegal actions and purge independent thinking from government. blog.ucsusa.org/dminovi/what-t…
#4
4/ Next, their US Attorney started trolling Trump critics online, threatening one with arrest. He sent a letter to Musk saying he would investigate anyone Musk alleged was "interfering" with DOGE. Law enforcement is now part of the plan to crush dissent.newsweek.com/trump-us-attor…
#5
5/ The FCC jumped in too. They announced an investigation into a radio station owned by a prominent Trump critic just because it reported on a local ICE raid. No other local station who reported on the raid was targeted. Classic harassment of opponents. msnbc.com/the-reidout/re…
#6
6/ Another part of the plan is the seizure of spending power. Trump will release spending for friends and withhold spending from opponents. A tried and true tactic of monarchs who control speech by using the treasury to reward allies and punish enemies. aclu.org/news/civil-lib…
#7
7/ And then, just this week, the Associated Press was kicked out of the White House because they refused to use the term "Gulf of America". No press will be able to cover the White House unless their content and terms are approved by the regime. Same as Stalin or Mussolini. apnews.com/article/ap-whi…
#8
8/ Our response? They only win if their tactics convince us to stay silent. We have power in numbers and solidarity. If we respond by getting LOUDER, instead of going silent like they want, we send a clear message that they can't win. Show up more. Organize more. Post more.