President Trump Talks Free Speech At Today’s Social Media Summit…Maybe??
[guest post by Dana]
After meandering through various subjects at today’s White House Social Media Summit, including The Apprentice being a big hit and doing Twitter better than anyone, President Trump moved on to the subject of free speech. Maybe. I’m not sure… This is from the 44:28 mark in the video linked above:
He talked about how Silicon Valley is admired for their technology and how smart they are, but that they don’t “using that brilliance” fairly. “They have to do that.”
“And we don’t want to stifle anything, we certainly don’t want to stifle free speech. But that’s no longer free speech,” said Trump. “See I don’t think that the mainstream media is free speech either, because it’s so crooked, it’s so dishonest.”
“So to me, free speech is not when you see something good and then you purposely write bad, to me that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it,” said Trump. “But that’s not free speech.”
…
“We’re just not going to allow it to happen like this,” he said, returning to his commentary about what isn’t free speech. “We’re not going to be silenced.”
So, is he saying that if someone’s speech offends you, or the speaker is being dishonest or lies, then that is not protected speech? Maybe if I put myself in Trump’s shoes, with his view of the world, he might mean something like this: If someone (MSM reporter) sees something that’s actually good (Trump) and purposely writes something negative (FAKE NEWS) about the subject (Trump), then because they (MSM reporter) don’t like the subject (Trump), then what they say (MSM reporter) is not not protected speech and instead falls into another category altogether: “dangerous speech” (where all criticism of Trump belongs). Is that it?
Seriously, I don’t know what he’s trying to say. If you have your decoder ring handy, let me know what you think he’s saying. I’ve watched the video (in full) several times, and frankly, it didn’t help clarify things.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
What the what!!
Audience nodding in agreement and clapping like they understand every word he is saying …
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:17 pmAs I see it, Trump’s words were basically fascist, but there was enough incoherence to leave him some wiggle room.
Paul Montagu (fc91e5) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:24 pmHeh. I like that.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:27 pmI’m glad Trump is taking on Twitter and Facebook. They should stop de-platforming Conservatives. Even Scott Adams has been shadow banned and believes he’ll be banned soon.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:28 pmThis just in. David French will congratulate Twitter and send them a Cake if they ban him, because “Free Enterprise”!
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:30 pmLowrey has just written a new piece “The Conservative Case for De-platforming National Review”
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:31 pmLike syme in 1984, there are apps that incite murder or mere assault, the guillotine is one, terrorist groups can openly recruit and propagandize, but discussions of ideas are deemed dangerous
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:44 pmTwitter is a place for most of the users to display their mental illness.
Colonel Haiku (f2baf4) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:50 pmDonnie want bad people to stop saying mean things.
nk (dbc370) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:52 pmTrump always sounds like he wants to limit speech that he doesn’t like. He doesn’t care about rules, just outcomes, and the only outcome he cares about is “How does it affect me?”
DRJ (15874d) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:52 pmIt’s the Trumpian ethic we’ve seen countless times before, applied to freedom of speech.
If it makes Trump look good, it’s good, and should be encouraged. If it doesn’t, it’s dishonest and very bad, and it shouldn’t be allowed.
Radegunda (f133c3) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:52 pm#8, that would include the current president of the United States, obviously.
Radegunda (f133c3) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:54 pmHm, yes, but I also think Trump believes that free speech rights are best served when they flatter him.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/11/2019 @ 6:57 pmThat’s what Zuckerberg and Brin while pretending they have an open platform.
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:04 pmTwitter is a place for most of the users to display their mental illness.
In fact, pretty close to the truth.
Kishnevi (a992d1) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:18 pmI found Twitter to be a great place to yell at strangers.
And since blocking functions as an effective tool to create echo chambers, getting information from outside your own echo chamber is a “danger” easily averted.
I find somethings amusing some appalling, but with shadow bans and outright deplatforming on arbitrary terms, not so much of the latter.
Narciso (0bfcbe) — 7/11/2019 @ 7:27 pmI don’t know if “shadow bans” are a real thing, but if they are, why not just stop using twitter?
JRH (37769b) — 7/12/2019 @ 12:13 amThey can’t “shadow ban” you if you’re not using their stupid product.
JRH (37769b) — 7/12/2019 @ 12:14 amThe President could do the whole world a favor by leading the charge and getting the hell off twitter.
JRH (37769b) — 7/12/2019 @ 12:15 am“Orange man good.”
Dave (1bb933) — 7/12/2019 @ 12:31 amThe old saying is:
“Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one.”
The internet ensures that every man owns one.Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the like serve as amplifiers and there is unlikely to ever be a shortage of such services.
John B Boddie (597cf5) — 7/12/2019 @ 8:20 amWe’ve been repeatedly told by his supporters that they love Trump using Twitter because it’s a ways for him to talk directly to his constituents, unfiltered. I don’t think there is anything that would compel him to not tweet – not even if his tweeting was shown to have put the U.S. in danger.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/12/2019 @ 9:00 am