What Trump Means For: Free Speech

Criminalizing speech about abortion, deporting protesters, banning books, banning porn, taking over the FCC, and more.

Welcome to “What Trump Means For,” a multi-part series I’ll be publishing over the next several weeks as the 2024 election creeps closer. I’ll break down what Donald Trump and his current and probable future teams have said about how they will govern and exactly what they will do while in office. If Trump wins, he may not accomplish everything he pledges to do. But he will no doubt do a lot — and it’s worth taking seriously what he says and plans.

For all of the Republican talk about free speech, a Trump / Vance administration poses some of the most acute threats to fee speech and expression of any candidates in modern history. What they, their teams, and those who have their ears hope to do:

• Deport pro-Palestinian protesters for speech the administration doesn’t like. Pro-Palestinian protests upended college campuses this past spring, and continue to pose challenges for administrators now that students are back in class. Whatever you think of the protests — and my general view is “urgent cause, mostly-admirable idealistic young people, bad leadership, sometimes-questionable tactics” — we should all agree that the protesters have a right to demonstrate. They do not have that right anywhere at any moment utilizing any means, but they absolutely have a right to speak and to assemble. Trump has made clear he will punish that speech — not speech that breaks any laws, but speech he simply does not like and disagrees with. He has said multiple times that he will seek to deport international students who protest against Israel or in favor of Palestinian rights. If elected, he has promised to set the pro-Palestinian movement “back 25 or 30 years.” And he’ll do that by restricting free speech rights and seeking to punish people — especially those from other countries living in the US — for their political views.

• Criminalize speech related to abortion.