{"id":2483934,"date":"2025-09-09T06:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-free-speech-clampdown-could-boomerang-on-maga\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T06:03:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T10:03:59","slug":"trumps-free-speech-clampdown-could-boomerang-on-maga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-free-speech-clampdown-could-boomerang-on-maga\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s free speech clampdown could boomerang on MAGA"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrumps-free-speech-clampdown-could-boomerang-on-maga%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2483934&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article from the Washington Examiner analyzes former President Donald Trump&#8217;s evolving stance on free speech, highlighting how his policies and executive actions-especially an executive order concerning flag burning-have raised concerns across the political spectrum. While Trump has historically promoted conservative principles like states&#8217; rights, his recent actions show a more assertive, sometimes contradictory approach to free speech, involving pressure on private companies, universities, and dissent within his own administration.<\/p>\n<p>Critics, including Republicans like Rep. Thomas Massie,have condemned Trump&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/party-like-its-1989-trumps-new-bush-republicanism\/\" title=\"Party like it...s 1989: ......s new Bush ...ublicanism\">flag-burning executive order<\/a> as unconstitutional and an overreach of federal power,emphasizing that flag burning is protected free speech under the First amendment. Free speech advocates warn that such policies set dangerous precedents that could be used against any political group in future administrations. Supporters within the White House and former officials argue that Trump is protecting free speech by combating censorship and preventing violent or intimidating protests, especially those related to student demonstrations.<\/p>\n<p>The article also touches on Trump&#8217;s broader wariness of protests, his moves against media funding, and his administration&#8217;s handling of dissent among federal employees, actions that experts say may chill open discourse. While Trump&#8217;s approach has been more active and assertive than some predecessors,critics say it <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >threatens long-standing accountability systems<\/a> and freedom protections.<\/p>\n<p>the article notes criticisms of perceived hypocrisy in Trump&#8217;s advocacy for free speech abroad, particularly in Europe and the UK, where concerns about censorship have also arisen under his administration&#8217;s influence.<\/p>\n<p>the piece presents a nuanced view of how Trump&#8217;s policies on free speech could backfire on the MAGA movement by undermining constitutional protections and setting uncertain precedents. <br \/> <!DOCTYPE html><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">How Trump&rsquo;s free speech clampdown could boomerang on MAGA<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2222383\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><em>President Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda are not shy when it comes to bending conservative norms. In his second term, states&rsquo; rights, once a rallying cry for conservatives, are under pressure. Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-agenda-corners-democrats-to-embrace-states-rights\/\" title=\"... agenda corners Democrats to embrace states\u2019 ...\">strong-armed private companies<\/a> and universities, and is testing the approach to free speech, while showing flexible foreign policy when it comes to adversaries like China. This Washington Examiner series, <strong>Upend the Orthodoxy<\/strong>, will take an in-depth look at all of these.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>&rsquo;s approach to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/free-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> free speech<\/a> has attracted criticism from Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3798125\/vance-photo-trump-birthday-letter-epstein-fake-scandal\/\">Vance dismisses photo of Trump birthday letter to Epstein as &#8216;another fake scandal&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3794906\/trump-donates-family-bible-touts-right-to-prayer-public-schools\/\">Trump donates family Bible and touts right to school prayer at White House religious event<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3797271\/trump-federal-takeover-chicago-national-guard\/\">Trump intensifies war with Pritzker as Chicago awaits imminent decision on federal takeover<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>While Democrats have expressed concerns about Trump&rsquo;s posture toward student protests and dissent within his administration, it is his executive order last month regarding flag burning that has conservatives concerned that he has gone too far.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, free speech experts, including Robert Shibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression&rsquo;s Kevin Goldberg of Freedom Forum, underscore how Trump&rsquo;s approach to the First Amendment should be a concern, irrespective of a person&rsquo;s politics, because of the precedent it sets for the future.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Free speech activists and lawyers are always warning that this is a rule that&rsquo;s going to be for everybody and you need to be aware that your opponents can use the same weapons against you,&rdquo; Shibley told the <em>Washington Examine<\/em>r. &ldquo;One example we do often use, and I would ask conservatives to think about this: Are you comfortable with President [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez using this same power to go after her political opponents in 2029?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For Freedom Forum&rsquo;s Goldberg, the &ldquo;beauty of the First Amendment&rdquo; is that it is viewpoint neutral and the protections &ldquo;are supposed to stay the same regardless of who is in power, recognizing that we will have regular changes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not a Trump supporter, obviously it&rsquo;s going to concern you because it will directly impact your ability or your comfort in speaking out,&rdquo; Goldberg told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;If you are a Trump supporter, it will affect your ability or your comfort in speaking out at some point.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-republican-criticism\">Republican criticism<\/h2>\n<p>Libertarian Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/thomas-massie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thomas Massie<\/a> (R-KY) was one Republican who criticized Trump&rsquo;s flag burning executive order, describing it as &ldquo;nenarded&rdquo; and contending &ldquo;it&rsquo;s not illegal, nor should it be.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No one should want a federal government so powerful that it can lock you up for a year for burning your own stuff,&rdquo; Massie wrote on social media. &ldquo;Thankfully, our Constitution prohibits Congress from making such stupid laws.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I would never burn an American flag, but it is free speech. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2M4xXYwoZY\">pic.twitter.com\/2M4xXYwoZY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepThomasMassie\/status\/1960407231771631977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Flag burning, whether it&rsquo;s &#127482;&#127480; or &#127470;&#127473;, is covered by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Neither Congress nor the President nor a Judge can make it illegal. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oYZLqVVFOt\">https:\/\/t.co\/oYZLqVVFOt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepThomasMassie\/status\/1960073486564512015?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When asked about concerns regarding the precedent Trump has set related to free speech, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">White House <\/a>remained adamant that the president &ldquo;will always protect the First Amendment rights of all Americans.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;On his first day in office, he signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/restoring-freedom-of-speech-and-ending-federal-censorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">powerful executive order<\/a> on free speech to undo the massive censorship carried out by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Biden<\/a> administration and to ensure the American people can engage in constitutionally protected speech,&rdquo; White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer agreed, arguing that Trump&rsquo;s approach to free speech does not &ldquo;even come close to crossing the line.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I never agreed with the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Supreme Court<\/a> about flag burning equals speech, so I hope the president&rsquo;s position prevails,&rdquo; Fleischer told the <em>Washington Examine<\/em>r. &ldquo;Student protests, of course, are fine. Harassment, intimidation, and violence are not. I have confidence speech will be protected and I welcome an effort to protect against harassment, intimidation, and violence.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fleischer, a spokesman for former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/george-w-bush\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">George W. Bush<\/a>, added: &ldquo;The job of people in the executive branch is to support the executive under whom they serve. If they oppose him, the right course is to resign. If they openly oppose their boss, they&rsquo;re the ones putting their jobs at risk, just as it is for any employee who picks a fight with their employer. Trump is tough, but I think his actions are the right ones.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-flag-burning\">Flag burning<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">Trump&rsquo;s executive order on <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">flag burning<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">directed Attorney General&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pam-bondi\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pam Bondi&nbsp;<\/a>&ldquo;to vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the flag, and to pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment in this area.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It also instructs the Attorney General to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-to-sign-executive-orders-cracking-down-on-cashless-bail-and-flag-burning\/\" title=\"... to sign ...s cracking down on ...cashless bail... and ... ...\">refer flag desecration cases<\/a> that violate state or local laws to appropriate state or local authorities,&rdquo; the White House wrote in a fact sheet. &ldquo;Finally, the order directs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security and the Attorney General to deny, prohibit, terminate, or revoke visas, residence permits, or naturalization proceedings, and other immigration benefits, or seek removal from the United States, wherever there has been an appropriate determination that flag desecration by foreign nationals permits the exercise of those remedies under applicable law.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The White House has asserted that &ldquo;the Supreme Court has never held that flag desecration conducted in a manner that is likely to incite imminent lawless action or serve as a form of &lsquo;fighting words&rsquo; is constitutionally protected,&rdquo; an acknowledgement that the Supreme Court found in <em>Texas v. Johnson<\/em> and the <em>United States v. Eichman<\/em> that flag burning is, generally, protected by the First Amendment as free, expressive speech.<\/p>\n<p>Trump also told reporters during the executive order&rsquo;s signing ceremony that, &ldquo;If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail,&rdquo; despite presidents not having the power to introduce a crime that is punishable by prison time.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They called it freedom of speech,&rdquo; he said in the Oval Office. &ldquo;But when you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we&rsquo;ve never seen before. People go crazy in a way.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Freedom Forum&rsquo;s Goldberg disagreed with the White House&rsquo;s argument that flag burning is a &ldquo;de facto incitement of imminent lawless action&rdquo; under the First Amendment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Signalling an intent to go after these people with extra vigor when they might not have been prosecuted in the past, it draws in an element of content-based viewpoint discrimination that creates First Amendment issues,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-student-protests\">Student protests<\/h2>\n<p>Trump&rsquo;s flag burning executive order coincides with his posture toward student protests, particularly pro-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gaza\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gaza<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/palestinian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Palestinian<\/a> demonstrations, and dissent within his administration, best evidenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fema\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federal Emergency Management Agency<\/a> employees being placed on administrative leave last month after signing an open letter criticizing his disaster preparedness. Other instances of his stance regarding free speech include his rescission of conditional funding for organizations, such as Voice of America, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/npr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NPR<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pbs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PBS<\/a>, his review of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/smithsonian-institution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Smithsonian<\/a> museums, and his retribution against law firms and news outlets.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Regarding student protests, Freedom Forum&rsquo;s Goldberg reiterated that violent demonstrations and destruction of property are not forms of free speech because they are not expressions, but illegal acts.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Shutting down a protest because of a single violent act would be contrary to established law,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Over time, going after only protests that are pro-Gaza would raise significant First Amendment concerns because while the First Amendment allows for the establishment of limited time, place, and manner restrictions on speech&hellip; those have to be viewpoint neutral.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Shibley, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression&rsquo;s special counsel for campus advocacy, referenced a lawsuit his organization has filed against Trump over his posture against student protests, specifically his deportation of foreign nationals who have expressed pro-Gaza or Palestinian viewpoints. In the past, FIRE has advocated that more conservative voices be invited on college campuses nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just about the message that we send to people who might be here on visas from authoritarian countries, but also they&rsquo;re entitled to make up their own minds about the things they&rsquo;re hearing here in the United States,&rdquo; Shibley said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s also the spillover effect on students and faculty members on those campuses who are American, who are going to be more reluctant to bring up issues where a discussion might get their roommate or their friend deported if they speak up and take the wrong side of an argument.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-administration-dissent\">Administration dissent<\/h2>\n<p>Of administration dissent, Freedom Forum&rsquo;s Goldberg conceded that there are fewer free speech protections for federal government employees.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The rule there is basically if I work for government and I&rsquo;m speaking on something outside of my job duties, the official course of my job, I am allowed to speak as long as a.) I&rsquo;m speaking on a matter of public concern, and b.) it&rsquo;s not causing disruption in the workplace,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The government bears the burden of justifying why the restriction is needed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Rebecca Petras, cofounder of nonpartisan whistleblower support nonprofit organization Psst.org, criticized Trump&rsquo;s approach to free speech, repeating &ldquo;until recently, the U.S. had one of the strongest accountability systems among liberal democracies.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Suspending or firing workers who raise concerns &mdash; instead of addressing those concerns &mdash; delivers a direct blow to that system,&rdquo; Petras told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;The chilling effect is immediate and severe, and that lost trust will be extremely difficult to rebuild. This is particularly alarming in the case of FEMA, given the stakes for public safety.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-about-trump-s-predecessors\">What about Trump&rsquo;s predecessors?<\/h2>\n<p>Nevertheless, Freedom Forum&rsquo;s Goldberg was careful not to scrutinize Trump&rsquo;s approach to free speech as &ldquo;worse than any other administration,&rdquo; saying the president has been &ldquo;simply more active&rdquo; regarding the First Amendment than his predecessors.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Every administration has its share of acts that are threatening to the First Amendment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Biden administration, even if they didn&rsquo;t lose in court, clearly leaned on social media platforms to moderate content in a way that the administration wanted them to do. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/obama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Obama<\/a> administration famously went after leakers, even sweeping reporters into that net. Those were probably, tended to be more one-off. They were equally egregious, though.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3790244\/trump-crime-crackdown-issue-blow-up-blue-city-dem-coalition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>TRUMP SEES CRIME CRACKDOWN AS THE ISSUE TO BLOW UP BLUE-CITY DEMOCRATIC COALITION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has been criticized for being hypocritical in its scrutiny of free speech abroad in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/united-kingdom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">United Kingdom<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/europe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Europe<\/a> based on its approach to the First Amendment at home. Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jd-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">JD Vance<\/a> first expressed his concerns during his address in February at the Munich Security Conference and then during a White House meeting that same month with British Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/keir-starmer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Keir Starmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Vance later told <em>Gateway Pundit<\/em> that &ldquo;Europe, in some ways, has followed the pathway of the United States under the Biden administration, to censorship, to trying to silence people, instead of persuading people, and that&rsquo;s what I wanted to call out the Munich Security Conference.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Trump&#8217;s free speech crackdown may backfire on MAGA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2652,"featured_media":2483935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25246582994149_623036.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[21588,32311,5656,5894,3634],"class_list":["post-2483934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-clampdown","tag-free-speech","tag-maga","tag-politics","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25246582994149_623036.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2652"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2483934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2483938,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483934\/revisions\/2483938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2483935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2483934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2483934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2483934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}