Like hell Trump supports free speech. He has repeatedly threatened to revoke the licenses of newspapers that publish opinion articles critical of him.
"The press provides the clearest case, as recent funding bans, high-profile lawsuits, and tightened press-pool control raise concerns about press freedom amongst independent journalists and the press.
In May, Trump banned the use of congressionally appropriated funds for PBS and NPR, cutting $1.1 billion. According to the executive order, the news stations were failing to produce “fair, accurate, or unbiased” news (Taormino).
In July, The Wall Street Journal came under fire because it published a letter that Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, which the President claimed was fake news. Trump then filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the journal. He also sued Paramount and CBS for the way they edited their interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential race.
The list of disputes between the administration and the media continues with a lawsuit on ABC about a misquotation, threats against CNN and The New York Times for their coverage on the airstrike on Iran, and denouncing polls that predicted a Kamala win as suppression and illegal.
Within the White House, after over a hundred years of the White House Correspondents’ Association controlling press conference audiences, Trump has taken control of the selection. Following the transfer of power, the White House banned the Associated Press (AP) from the press pool. The Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, claimed it was because the AP spreads lies and continues to use the name “Gulf of Mexico,” although Trump renamed it “Gulf of America” (Taormino)."
The Attack on Free Speech Under the Second Trump Administration
