As Twitchy told you earlier, former TIME editor and Obama State Department official Richard Stengel penned an impressively terrible argument in favor of hate speech laws, because he’s “all for protecting “thought that we hate,” but not speech that incites hate.”
Well, it will no doubt shock you that Stengel has come a long way, baby. As tweeter @back_ttys found, Stengel wasn’t always so averse to free speech. You know, as long as it’s convenient for his own political purposes:
Why even invite a president who dishonors the First Amendment to an event that is meant to celebrate it? https://t.co/0885XS8g9d
— Richard Stengel (@stengel) April 2, 2018
Penalizing players for exercising their First Amendment free speech rights is unAmerican. What unites us, @vp, is the freedom to express our views —that’s what the military protects and the Anthem honors. https://t.co/tUSk16RLKw
— Richard Stengel (@stengel) May 23, 2018
What exactly is the White House Correspondents Association for if not to organize a collective protest and/or boycott of the White House for violating the First Amendment rights of one of its reporters? And please don’t tell me it’s to organize that dreadful dinner.
— Richard Stengel (@stengel) November 8, 2018
Fake News = Anything @Potus regards as critical. 1st Amendment protects not just free speech but press as an industry. Autocrat's playbook. https://t.co/3Y8lA9hgx0
— Richard Stengel (@stengel) October 11, 2017
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And now, Stengel thinks that the federal government (you know, the one with Trump in the Executive Branch) should pass laws restricting our First Amendment right to free speech.
Thank goodness we have these brave defenders of the first amendment to look out for us. pic.twitter.com/14vwI6zgYx
— BT (@back_ttys) October 29, 2019
We’re really lucky.
Meanwhile:
Tell Richard the "press" section of the first amendment was written in a simpler time and should be revisited and see how he reacts.
— BT (@back_ttys) October 29, 2019