What They Are Saying: Even Trump’s Own Supporters Don’t Like His War on Free Speech Arrow

Donald Trump and his loyalists in the White House are waging a war on free speech and threatening to revoke broadcast licenses for any networks that criticize him. Both he and his Attorney General Pam Bondi went so far as to say that the administration should prosecute anyone engaging in "hate speech" - which to him means anyone even slightly critical of him and his administration. Plain and simple, that's a violation of the First Amendment.

Trump's Department of Defense even went so far as to impose new restrictions on reporters that would punish them for reporting certain new information without DoD permission. It is but another example in a long line of constitutional violations and attacks on a free press.

It's clear that Trump can't handle even the slightest criticism. Just last night at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, instead of bringing the country together, Trump said, "I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them."

Even his own supporters are criticizing Trump's attempt to stomp on free speech.

Here are some statements about Trump's latest attack on free speech:

Tim Dillon: "Anyone who cares about the ability to speak freely for a living should be disturbed by this."

Andrew Schulz: "Right: Cancel Culture is wrong! Unless you cancel the shows of our political opponents, then we'll celebrate it."

Jack Mac: "If there was a club for Jimmy Kimmel's haters, I'd be in it. But I don't agree with him being taken off air after pressure for FCC. That being said, I'm not surprised. Trump has not forgotten about being deplatformed himself and wants revenge."

Senator Rand Paul: "Absolutely inappropriate. Brendan Carr has got no business weighing in on this."

Senator Markwayne Mullin: "Free speech is free speech. Hateful speech is also free speech. But when it leads to violence, now that's a crossover," Mullin said. "And people should be held accountable for that."

Senator Ted Cruz: "If the government gets in the business of saying, 'We don't like what you the media have said, we're going to ban you from the airwaves if you don't say what we like,' that will end up bad for conservatives."

Rep. Thomas Massie: "I think it's antithetical to the First Amendment."

Ben Shapiro: "But I do not want the FCC in the business of telling local affiliates that their licenses will be removed if they broadcast material that the FCC deems to be false."

Charles C. W. Cooke: "This is even worse than what Bondi said-not least because Trump is the president and Bondi is not."

Tucker Carlson: "You hope that Charlie Kirk's death won't be used by a group we now call bad actors to create a society that was the opposite of the one he worked to build. You hope that. You hope that a year from now, the turmoil we're seeing in the aftermath of his murder won't be leveraged to bring hate speech laws to this country. And trust me, if it is, if that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience than that, ever, and there never will be."

Megyn Kelly: "Hate speech is not prosecutable in America (which is good). Pam Bondi knows this."

Matt Walsh: "Get rid of her. Today. This is insane. Conservatives have fought for decades for the right to refuse service to anyone. We won that fight. Now Pam Bondi wants to roll it all back for no reason. The employee who didn't print the flyer was already fired by his employer. This stuff is being handled successfully through free speech and free markets. This is totally gratuitous and pointless. We need the AG focused on bringing down the left wing terror cells, not prosecuting Office Depot for God's sake."

Rod Dreher: "What the hell is he talking about? This is not right. It is okay to criticize the President of the United States."

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression: "President Trump suggested today that media outlets are engaging in 'hate speech' by being 'unfair' to him and 'maybe' should be prosecuted. Trump's statement demonstrates the inherent danger of 'hate speech' laws: Those in power will always weaponize them to silence dissent."

Justin Amash: "Pam Bondi is now doubling down by conflating 'hate speech' with true threats and actual crimes and other acts that aren't crimes-packaging it all under the label 'violent rhetoric.' She is deeply confused and unfit to be the attorney general."