Well. This is all just so very bad.
“ANTIFA” is now a terrorist organization. It has been tweeted, thus it is so. I’d like to dismiss this statement as pointless bluster — “Antifa” is not an organization of any sort. It has no leaders, no members, no bank accounts.
But that means ANTIFA is in the eye of the beholder. Antifa is, in effect, whoever the administration says it is.
And “those funding ANTIFA” include any major donor or foundation who has funded advocacy or journalism critical of the administration.
And, just to connect the horrendous dots, this administration already enthusiastically engages in extrajudicial killings of those it labels “terrorists.”
I’m not saying the Trump administration is going to start rounding up NPR listeners next week or anything. But I was pretty overwhelmingly pessimistic about what Trump’s reelection meant for the future of American democracy. Things are going worse, faster than I expected.
None of this is the least bit legal, for what its worth.
Meanwhile Jimmy Kimmel has been taken off the air, after FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC’s affiliate licenses. Kimmel’s offense was the following (pretty tepid) observation:
“The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”
Carr then appeared on a conservative podcast and proceeded to score political points from it.
As Mike Masnick points out, this is plainly illegal.
Carr’s threat was pretty explicit:
I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.
That’s a pretty direct threat to intermediaries to punish Kimmel for obviously First Amendment protected speech.
Just last year, in a 9-0 ruling in NRA v. Vullo, the Supreme Court called out how this kind of thing is a clear violation of the First Amendment.
A government official can share her views freely and criticize particular beliefs, and she can do so forcefully in the hopes of persuading others to follow her lead. In doing so, she can rely on the merits and force of her ideas, the strength of her convictions, and her ability to inspire others. What she cannot do, however, is use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression….
And, more explicitly:
The Court explained that the First Amendment prohibits government officials from relying on the “threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion . . . to achieve the suppression” of disfavored speech.
But I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for this court to intervene. They’ve made it clear that a thing is legal when it is done by the Trump administration, and illegal when done by anyone else.
There are countries where critics of the regime are not safe. Where they are targeted, extorted, pressured, and disappeared.
There are countries where satirists steer clear of the government, for fear of being taken off the air. Where government censors approve the news.
I have never lived in one of those countries. I did not intend to do so. I don’t know how to behave in such a country. I am not one to keep my pointed opinions to myself.
Trumpism will eventually fail. The Trump regime won’t last forever. But its important to be clear-eyed about what is happening around us. We are not what we once were. It may take a long time to repair all the damage being done.