We're normally on board with FIRE, the free speech organization, but executive vice president Nico Perrino seems to have slept through the Biden administration, as did David French, who's free to write whatever he wants in his weekly New York Times column without fear of consequence. Perrino lists several sins the Trump administration has committed against free speech, including targeting visa holders and lawful permanent residents (like Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new bestie, Hamas sympathizer Mahmoud Khalil) for deportation based on their speech, revoking federal funding from Harvard and conditioning future funding on adopting speech codes (meaning no more antisemitic chants) and restricting academic freedom, and repeatedly threatening the licenses of TV networks who hosted late-night comedians and broadcast news reports he didn't like. (Stephen Colbert's show was canceled; Jimmy Kimmel was given a whopping four-day time-out … the FCC had nothing to do with either.)
Add them all up, though, and French concludes that President Donald Trump is the worst free speech president of his lifetime.
Read this list. Trump is the worst free speech president of my lifetime, easily. https://t.co/ln69crZvMR
— David French (@DavidAFrench) March 30, 2026
Did you sleep through the Biden administration?
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) March 30, 2026
A lot of people did.
The Biden Admin was in daily contact with multiple social media platforms requesting that certain people be monitored, hidden, and banned. Your terminal TDS has destroyed your critical thinking abilities. Very sad.
— Farrel Vincent (@BigVTN) March 30, 2026
Less than 3 years ago Biden tried to create a Disinformation Governance Board
— The Carnivore CPA (@hedgeguy78) March 30, 2026
Chaired by a woman who called the Hunter Biden laptop story a "fairy tale."
So the administration that lost a censorship case in the Supreme Court and tried to create a Ministry of Truth doesn't count?
— Q (@Quirk22) March 30, 2026
My account was locked on Facebook repeatedly by the Biden administration for posting accurate information about Hunter Biden, Covid, and the botched 2020 election.
— Morning Glory 🇺🇸🌼🇺🇸 (@DoryBeutel) March 31, 2026
You can spare us your fake outrage.
The Biden administration was very cozy with the heads of Facebook and Twitter.
Jesus French, you don't have to go back to the 1800's...https://t.co/QzC5A18Fwx
— JNov57 (@JNOV57) March 30, 2026
You have a very short memory. Biden's attack on social media at the beginning of his term, though subtle, was far more pronounced and pernicious.
— Genuine Realist (@fdberry) March 31, 2026
Not even close to accurate, but being honest left you a long time ago.
— Number 24601 (@karndogs) March 30, 2026
It's astonishing how twisted your feeble mind is. Tell us the equivalent of Biden's "Disinformation Board/Czar" or government-coerced censorship of entire viewpoints by all major social media outlets. Go ahead, we'll wait. You utter midwit.
— Thorns and Thistles (@ThornsBTC) March 30, 2026
Check out the recent verdict on Missouri v. Biden. (In other words, consider reality before posting.)
— Big Chimpin' (@TinyRoommates) March 31, 2026
Do you realize President Trump was censored from social media platforms in 2020 forcing him to start Truth Social so he could speak to the American people? I noticed your accounts have never been suspended.
— JACroy (@homewithJAC) March 31, 2026
I mean, that's probably true for you because you gladly parrot whatever bullshit talking point you get in your inbox every day.
— Jon Snow (@JonSnow50616798) March 30, 2026
But those of us who actually stand up against bullshit are still waiting to get our real Twitter accounts back.
That's a farcical assertion.
— chris sullivan (@navillus126) March 30, 2026
Obama jailed numerous people using the Espionage Act. Trump has jailed zero.
Obama aggressively spied on journalists.
Biden censored social media companies during COVID. Who has Trump censored?
Trump makes a lot of noise, but he's a paper tiger.
Remember when the Obama administration was spying on James Rosen and tapped his parents' phone?
This is an absolutely delusional take.
— Veterans for Liberty (@Vets4AP) March 31, 2026
We think Missouri v. Biden says it all. The Disinformation Governance Board was just the cherry on top.
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