Earlier this morning, I wrote an article covering disgraced neocon David Frum and how he missed 'the good old days' at Twitter. What Frum meant, of course, was that he missed the old Twitter ownership that would suspend, censor, and deboost any opinions that didn't fit the official narrative.
Yes, Frum is every bit as awful as that sounds and I had a good time mocking his wrong opinion.
But Twitchy covered another story recently that I thought hit home the point that Twitter today is EXACTLY where people should be going for information, debate, and conversation.
This story involved J.D. Vance and his position on President-elect Donald Trump pardoning citizens who were unjustly caught up in the January 6 political persecutions. Here is the article, in case you missed it, and below is a tweet that shows Vance's comments yesterday on Fox News Sunday:
🚨 NEW: JD Vance lays out criteria for Trump pardoning Jan. 6ers
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 12, 2025
"If you protested peacefully on Jan. 6th, and you had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member - you should be pardoned."
"If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you should… pic.twitter.com/ESGCUXFZ3K
I am not going to write extensively about whether I think Vance is correct here or not. It is a somewhat nuanced statement. On the one hand, there were a handful of people on January 6 who did cross the line and maybe don't deserve a pardon. But on the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, not pardoning ALL of the J6ers might lend credence to the idea that ANY of the prosecutions were justifiable when all of those prosecutions stripped Americans of their rights.
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So, yes, Vance got himself into some hot water with many of the more ardent Trump supporters. Some made intelligent, law-based arguments like Townhall's Kurt Schlichter (who will be happy to remind you that he is the only lawyer on Twitter you should trust, LOL).
Every trial of a J6er in Washington DC was prima facie unjust and unfair. None of the convictions for any alleged crime should be recognized as valid. Every single J6 political prisoner must be pardoned, not have his sentence commuted, and then we need to begin settling their… https://t.co/Mn2LHM7e3z
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) January 12, 2025
The tweet concludes, '... settling their civil rights claims. I believe that @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance will not back down or equivocate and will pardon them all.'
Others made less cogent, but more threatening comebacks.
MAGA gonna turn on @JDVance faster than we turned on Mike Pence if they only pardon some J6ers and not all
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) January 12, 2025
pic.twitter.com/RGQ9GBsHD9
Personally, I am not a big fan of the empty threat tweet, and it doesn't seem like Vance is either as he shot back at the Hodgetwins with both barrels.
First of all, I donated to the to the J6 political prisoner fund and got ROASTED for it during my senate race. I've been defending these guys for years.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 12, 2025
Second, there were federal informants in the crowd. Do they get a pardon? I don't think so. The president saying he'll look at… https://t.co/MDUWkd37fP
Here is the rest of the tweet:
... The president saying he'll look at each case (and me saying the same) is not some walkback.
I assure you, we care about people unjustly locked up. Yes, that includes people provoked and it includes people who got a garbage trial.
One of the biggest champions on social media for the unjust imprisonment of the January 6 protesters is Nick Searcy. He was initially vehemently offended by what Vance said on Fox.
This times 1000.
— Nick Searcy, INSURRECTIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) January 13, 2025
THE "violent" offenders charge is a lie from the government. They charged people putting their hands up to ward off baton blows with "assault." https://t.co/vEnbw4OW9A
This is accurate and Searcy was right to be suspicious of Vance's words.
But after Vance shot back on social media, Searcy, Hodgetwins, and others took time to thank Vance for clarifying his quite rational position about the issue, while still holding firm to their positions.
We just glad he replied and clarified his statement 👍
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) January 12, 2025
ALL J6 political prisoners should be pardoned, not just the ones they say are non violent https://t.co/YtiriEWrdT
Thank you. We have faith that you guys will do the right thing.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 12, 2025
This back-and-forth is fair. It is legitimate debate (OK, maybe not the 'we'll turn on you' part, but the rest of it is).
And a memo to David Frum? Twitter is one of the ONLY public squares where we can have a debate like this. (Maybe Facebook soon too if Mark Zuckerberg follows through on his new direction to allow MORE speech, not less.)
You won't hear this debate on CNN, MSNBC, or network news. Because those outlets only have one position: all January 6 protesters are 'evil MAGA fascists' who deserve NO civil rights and life in prison, if not worse.
That sounds like an exaggeration until you tune into one of those networks and realize I am UNDERSELLING their rhetoric about this event and these people.
And they certainly do not allow spirited debate on the subject. Anyone who would even bring up the possibility that these citizens were railroaded is denounced also as a 'fascist' and not invited on their air.
On Twitter, everyone gets air time and the network pundits can't stop it. That's why they hate it.
Look, I am not naive enough to believe that many debates on Twitter will follow along these lines. Much of the discourse, yes, even from conservatives, often devolves quickly into insults. But even hurling insults at each other is preferable to the dead legacy media model which is that they tell everyone what to think and we shut up and take it or they will cancel us.
Whether you think Vance is right or wrong, and whether you think that accounts like Hodgetwins were right or wrong to go after him so vehemently, they had it out. With harmless words. In public. For everyone to see.
That's a wonderful thing.
Moreover, you don't have to agree with Vance's position to be able to see that he came out of this looking fine. He stated and clarified his position clearly, but forcefully.
The true measure of Vance and Trump will be the ACTIONS they take pertaining to the January 6 prisoners, not anything they may say on Twitter. Still, I can't help but respect Vance for engaging with his constituents on social media and not simply ignoring their quite legitimate concerns about what he said.
These are the politicians and pundits of our future. The ones who are NOT afraid of free speech, but encourage it, even when they disagree with it (or it disagrees with them).
And Twitter, much to the consternation of autocratic, archaic pundits like David Frum, is where that free speech happens.
There is no sane world in which this is not a good thing. It can only be considered bad in the dead world of legacy media.
That's why the world is leaving them behind.
