Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.
The conservative movement has spent the days following the shocking murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk attacking a bedrock American value: free speech.
In the most high-profile incident, the Federal Communications Commission pressured ABC parent The Walt Disney Company to sideline talk show host Jimmy Kimmel after he made a joke mocking President Donald Trump’s response to Kirk’s death. This followed CBS canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” shortly after the network paid a $16 million settlement to President Donald Trump over how “60 Minutes” edited an interview with Kamala Harris.
Vice President JD Vance and senior White House aide Stephen Miller have argued that a crackdown on left-of-center groups is necessary to stop people from telling the truth about what a bigot and conspiracy theorist Kirk was.
And Fox News, the Republican Party’s de facto media arm, has joined the anti-First Amendment crusade as well.
“For all the concern about the ‘the First Amendment, the First Amendment,’ what about all the amendments that Charlie Kirk lost? Because Charlie Kirk has no amendments right now. None,” said Fox pundit and former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, exhibiting her lack of knowledge of the U.S. Constitution that has served her so well for years.
The right’s attack on free speech isn’t something new that was prompted by Kirk’s death. For decades the conservative movement and the Republican Party have tried to suppress open expression.
For instance, in 1983 the Rev. Jerry Falwell of the pro-GOP Moral Majority sued Hustler Magazine after it mocked him in a parody ad. In 1988 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the magazine and owner Larry Flynt, unanimously deciding that parody was protected speech under the First Amendment.
In another infamous moment following the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer went after comedian Bill Maher for criticizing the U.S. response to terrorism.
Fleischer told reporters that people “need to watch what they say, watch what they do,” adding, “this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.”
The Patriot Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush following the attacks, was used to suppress speech. Librarians were served gag orders and told by agents of the government not to speak, using claims of national security to justify censorship.
More recently, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis worked with the right-wing extremist group Moms for Liberty to push for bans on books in school libraries. The problem? The books in question contained positive portrayals of LGBTQ+ people.
Trump has been the most visible figure on the right pushing for speech restrictions. When he first started campaigning for president in the 2016 election, Trump said he wanted to “open up” libel laws to go after journalists for accurately reporting on him. During both of his presidencies, but particularly in his current administration, Trump has repeatedly used the power of the presidency to attack dissent.
To give cover to their war on speech, conservatives have declared nearly everything they oppose politically as “woke,” and then pushed for the removal of “woke” things— including speech and diversity—from public and private institutions and individuals.
Conservatism has a serious problem when it comes to competing in an open war of ideas. Many conservative priorities, like racism and economic policies bent around the desires of the ultra-wealthy, are not popular with the public at large. To allow an open exchange of ideas is to allow for the chance that liberalism and the Democratic Party might succeed.
Related | The whitewashing of Charlie Kirk’s toxic legacy is underway
Instead, conservatives have sought to rig the system. In an electoral sense, that has led to policies like gerrymandering congressional districts, redrawing borders to ensure Republicans win seats even in areas where Democrats would have a plurality or majority in a fair system.
The same practice is being borne out by the right’s crusade against the First Amendment. If ideas they don’t like are banned from public discourse, the right “wins” arguments by default.
Not only does attacking speech change the rules to favor the right, but it undermines the foundation of the United States. The Revolutionary War and the subsequent drafting of the Constitution and the ratification of the Bill of Rights were meant to protect America. Battles like World War II were fought to defend the continued existence of those rights against the threat of fascism.
Hundreds of thousands of people died defending those rights.
Now, using the murder of a bigot as an excuse, conservatives and the Republican Party are determined to erase one of the key pillars of American society.
Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.
The conservative movement has spent the days following the shocking murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk attacking a bedrock American value: free speech.
In the most high-profile incident, the Federal Communications Commission pressured ABC parent The Walt Disney Company to sideline talk show host Jimmy Kimmel after he made a joke mocking President Donald Trump’s response to Kirk’s death. This followed CBS canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” shortly after the network paid a $16 million settlement to President Donald Trump over how “60 Minutes” edited an interview with Kamala Harris.
Vice President JD Vance and senior White House aide Stephen Miller have argued that a crackdown on left-of-center groups is necessary to stop people from telling the truth about what a bigot and conspiracy theorist Kirk was.
And Fox News, the Republican Party’s de facto media arm, has joined the anti-First Amendment crusade as well.
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“For all the concern about the ‘the First Amendment, the First Amendment,’ what about all the amendments that Charlie Kirk lost? Because Charlie Kirk has no amendments right now. None,” said Fox pundit and former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, exhibiting her lack of knowledge of the U.S. Constitution that has served her so well for years.
The right’s attack on free speech isn’t something new that was prompted by Kirk’s death. For decades the conservative movement and the Republican Party have tried to suppress open expression.
For instance, in 1983 the Rev. Jerry Falwell of the pro-GOP Moral Majority sued Hustler Magazine after it mocked him in a parody ad. In 1988 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the magazine and owner Larry Flynt, unanimously deciding that parody was protected speech under the First Amendment.
In another infamous moment following the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer went after comedian Bill Maher for criticizing the U.S. response to terrorism.
Fleischer told reporters that people “need to watch what they say, watch what they do,” adding, “this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.”
The Patriot Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush following the attacks, was used to suppress speech. Librarians were served gag orders and told by agents of the government not to speak, using claims of national security to justify censorship.
More recently, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis worked with the right-wing extremist group Moms for Liberty to push for bans on books in school libraries. The problem? The books in question contained positive portrayals of LGBTQ+ people.
Trump has been the most visible figure on the right pushing for speech restrictions. When he first started campaigning for president in the 2016 election, Trump said he wanted to “open up” libel laws to go after journalists for accurately reporting on him. During both of his presidencies, but particularly in his current administration, Trump has repeatedly used the power of the presidency to attack dissent.
To give cover to their war on speech, conservatives have declared nearly everything they oppose politically as “woke,” and then pushed for the removal of “woke” things— including speech and diversity—from public and private institutions and individuals.
Conservatism has a serious problem when it comes to competing in an open war of ideas. Many conservative priorities, like racism and economic policies bent around the desires of the ultra-wealthy, are not popular with the public at large. To allow an open exchange of ideas is to allow for the chance that liberalism and the Democratic Party might succeed.
Related | The whitewashing of Charlie Kirk’s toxic legacy is underway
Instead, conservatives have sought to rig the system. In an electoral sense, that has led to policies like gerrymandering congressional districts, redrawing borders to ensure Republicans win seats even in areas where Democrats would have a plurality or majority in a fair system.
The same practice is being borne out by the right’s crusade against the First Amendment. If ideas they don’t like are banned from public discourse, the right “wins” arguments by default.
Not only does attacking speech change the rules to favor the right, but it undermines the foundation of the United States. The Revolutionary War and the subsequent drafting of the Constitution and the ratification of the Bill of Rights were meant to protect America. Battles like World War II were fought to defend the continued existence of those rights against the threat of fascism.
Hundreds of thousands of people died defending those rights.
Now, using the murder of a bigot as an excuse, conservatives and the Republican Party are determined to erase one of the key pillars of American society.
