Harris-Walz Admin Would Be 'Perfect Nightmare' For Free Speech, Jonathan Turley Warns

Earlier this week, we posted a column titled "free speech is on the ballot in 2024," warning that the current Democrats in Washington would continue to pressure social media companies to censor critics if they remain in office.

Author and constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley echoed the same sentiment on Thursday during an appearance on "Fox & Friends." 

"We have to take this far more seriously than that. In my new book, 'The Indispensable Right,' I talk about this anti-free speech movement that's been growing around the world. That wave is now reaching our shores, and they have largely been unsuccessful in convincing people to give up freedom. This is a hard sell. You got to get free people to give up some freedom, and it hasn't worked," Turley started.

"Facebook even did a commercial campaign to get young people to embrace censorship. So this is plan B. You have in Europe threats against Musk for arrest. They've already arrested another CEO of a platform. But it's really Brazil that I think many in the anti-free speech movement are watching carefully. If Brazil can succeed in banning Twitter from the entire country, it will be replicated because many hold the view of what you just heard from Vice President Harris. They view speech as a privilege. It's like a driver's license that they think that can be rescinded if you're reckless. And this is the ultimate destination for this movement, where if they can't convince people to give up their own freedoms to embrace censorship, they're going to start to take sites offline to prevent people from hearing opposing views."

On Monday, the Brazilian Supreme Court upheld a ban on X Monday.

Instead of condemning the decision to challenge free speech, several American democrats have suggested they support the decision. Specifically, Tim Walz's Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, just last week wrote a thank-you message to Brazil for banning X.

"Obrigado Brasil!" Ellison posted.

As we argued Wednesday, Ellison's statement is emblematic of the Democratic Party at large, salivating with jealousy that a South American nation was able to successfully block its residents from access to a platform that does not police or control their thoughts.

"There's a movement to amend the First Amendment. One of my colleagues is leading that. They say that the First Amendment is aggressively individualistic, which is sort of the point. But no, we need more protection through Congress," Turley continued. 

"And this should be the issue of this election. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the only presidential election where free speech was the central issue. Free speech is on the ballot, not democracy. Free speech is on the ballot because, quite frankly, a Harris-Walz administration would be a perfect nightmare for free speech."

Ultimately, no issue on the ballot ought to unite voters more than the fight against censorship. Censorship is the most existential threat ordinary Americans face today. While policies related to the border, tax breaks, and fracking are critical to the country's state, they are still just policies.

You can read our full column on the topic here.