Yesterday, Vox senior correspondent and SCOTUS expert Ian Millhiser teased a forthcoming piece about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crusade against journalists and the First Amendment:
I’ve got a piece going up tomorrow explaining why a DeSantis presidency would be the greatest threat to the First Amendment to arise in my lifetime — and that includes the Trump presidency.
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 7, 2023
It includes the Trump presidency?! Wow, this sounds really serious!
Anyways, I’m proud of this piece and am tempted to hype thread it. But I’m going to keep my tone more somber and professional regarding this piece because DeSantis’s attacks on the press, and on free speech generally, trouble me as much as any news event I’ve seen in my lifetime.
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 7, 2023
As much as 9/11, even!
Why would Ron DeSantis be a worse president than Donald Trump?
Unlike Trump, DeSantis has well-thought-our plans to dismantle free speech and the First Amendment, and he’s actively executing those plans.https://t.co/VETrRtAvya
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 8, 2023
A pox on everyone who spent the last several years acting like the biggest threat to free speech is a few annoying campus activists who yell at conservative speakers.https://t.co/VETrRtB3nI
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 8, 2023
A pox, says he! Wow, this sounds serious.
Consider the possibility that Republicans spent the last several years complaining about “cancel culture” because they’ve been giving themselves permission to do this:https://t.co/VETrRtB3nI
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) March 8, 2023
While it remains to be seen whether the Republican Party will unite behind DeSantis’s anti-First Amendment views — or whether it would remain united behind those views for long enough to build an anti-[New York Times v. Sullivan] majority on the Supreme Court — the First Amendment is in grave danger if one of America’s two major political parties wants to tear it down.
A DeSantis-led GOP is potentially an existential threat to the right to free speech.
You can read the whole thing if you want, but if you’re short on time and tolerance for Millhiser-ness, all you really need to know is that Ian is upset because Ron DeSantis is willing to call out legacy media and takes issue with the press’ penchant for defamatory innuendo and statements. Maybe Ian Millhiser is cool with dishonest, agenda-driven mainstream media outlets sliming and lying about Ron DeSantis, but DeSantis is understandably getting tired of it. And despite being tired of it, DeSantis is still firmly committed to the First Amendment. Much more committed to the First Amendment than many liberals these days, including Ian Millhiser himself.
the Biden presidency has seen the most egregious trampling of free speech, suppression of the press and threatening of dissent in the past century. Y’all in the left are leading the charge. Odd.
— Matt Dean (@repmattdean) March 8, 2023
https://t.co/0BERcLjVOc pic.twitter.com/7CGexCslRA
— Eric Spencer (@JustEric) March 8, 2023
Snort.
— Genghis Ron of House Olive Garden (@SFlipp) March 8, 2023
— M Lebon (@LongTplexTrader) March 8, 2023
The competition is always stiff, but Millhouse usually comes through.
I can promise you that once DeSantis is elected President “journalists” and their fellow Democrats will still be able to freely spread their daily shovelfuls of 🐴💩 across our great land.
— Super Journalist (Ret) – JOURN-L of Skrypton (@Magnum_CK) March 8, 2023
Ian may be an idiot, but he knows that he’d be just as free to be an idiot under President DeSantis as he is under Biden, or was under Trump.
Remember: They want Trump. https://t.co/3SykSUfkb5
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) March 8, 2023
More than anything.
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