George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley took aim at the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket — which now includes Vice President Kamala Harris for president and Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) for vice president — saying that the pair showed a “shocking disregard for free speech.”
Turley shared his thoughts in an opinion piece for The Hill published Saturday, in which he warned that a Harris-Walz administration would be a “perfect nightmare for free speech advocates” and would likely lead to more censorship rather than less.
“Harris has long supported anti-free speech policies. The addition of Walz completes a perfect nightmare for free speech advocates. Walz has shown not only a shocking disregard for free speech but a shocking lack of understanding of the First Amendment.
Harris has long supported anti-free speech policies. The addition of Walz completes a perfect nightmare for free speech advocates. Walz has shown not only a shocking disregard for free speech but a shocking lack of understanding of the First Amendment. https://t.co/Cll8BaoP3U
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 10, 2024
“For over three years, the Biden-Harris administration has sustained an unrelenting attack on the freedom of speech, from supporting a massive censorship system (described by a federal court as an ‘Orwellian Ministry of Truth’) to funding blacklisting operations targeting groups and individuals with opposing views,” Turley wrote.
He went on to reference the Biden administration’s efforts to combat “disinformation” on social media by coordinating efforts to silence dissenting voices on those platforms.
“President Biden made censorship a central part of his legacy, even accusing social media companies of ‘killing people’ for failing to increase levels of censorship,” Turley continued. “Democrats in Congress pushed that agenda by demanding censorship on subjects ranging from climate change to gender identity — even to banking policy — in the name of combatting ‘disinformation.'”
Turley pointed out the fact that Harris — who has often bragged about being in the room as Biden has made the biggest decisions of his presidency — appears to have been fully supportive of Biden’s efforts to curtail speech, and then noted that the addition of Walz only served to make things worse.
Walz, who claimed “there’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech,” completes “a perfect nightmare” for any American who values the protections guaranteed under the First Amendment.
