Free speech? Not necessarily during Donald Trump’s administration
Donald Trump is gagging his administration.
Not literally, of course. But in the sense that Trump has stepped censorship up heavily since taking office in January.
It started the day of his inauguration — when he ordered the National Park Service to stop tweeting — and has been a common theme since then.
We’ve noted before that climate science — including the very term “climate change” — has been particularly hard hit.
And Trump hasn’t stopped there.
In fact, it’s just the tip of the iceberg for Trump’s attempts to censor those in and out of his administration.
No on-camera briefings
The Trump administration didn’t hold an on-camera press briefing for roughly a month, and went many days with no press briefing at all.
During that time things like North Korean missile threats and Donald Trump Jr.’s emails received no in-the-moment comment from the White House.
CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta told The Hill in June:
“The White House press secretary is getting to a point where he’s just kind of useless. If they’re getting to this point where he’s not going to answer questions or go on camera or have audio, why are we even having these briefings or gaggles in the first place?”
Oh, and Trump himself hasn’t held a solo press conference since February.
Censoring social media
One of the first things Trump did as the Leader of the Free World was to take freedom away from National Parks Service employees.
Trump ordered the agency to stop tweeting after the agency’s official Twitter account retweeted messages that compared Obama and Trump’s inauguration crowd sizes. (President Obama’s inauguration was bigger.)
All accounts operated by the Interior Department were affected.
The State Department was also forced to pull back a congratulatory tweet to the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner because the Iranian director boycotted the awards to show opposition to Trump’s travel ban.
And Trump himself is being sued by Twitter users he blocked from seeing his personal Twitter account, claiming that Trump’s personal account should be viewed as a public forum.
Censoring employees
Trump has thrown strong language out to suggest that employees are facing strong censorship.
Then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer said state department employees who disagreed with Trump’s Muslim ban could “get with the program or go.”
Hill staffers who helped the executive office draft the Muslim ban were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements about their work on the immigration policy.
All existing inspectors general were told to find new employment, in an effort by Trump to oust them.
And Trump has promised to continue to crack down on any employee seen as a “leaker,” with the Department of Justice tripling the number of investigations into leaks in the last few months. It’s unclear yet if journalists will also be investigated under this crack down.
Censoring the press
In addition to not holding on-camera press briefings, Trump and his administration have tried to censor the press in a variety of ways.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson didn’t even bother to bring press on his East Asian trip. HHS Secretary Tom Price had a reporter arrested who tried to ask him a question.
The White House looked into changing libel laws and Trump suggested reporters be imprisoned who published classified information. And most recently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration was reviewing policies that would force journalists to reveal their sources.
Trump’s crusade to censor those around him — from possible whistle-blowers in his own administration to journalists — knows no bounds.
It is a disgusting attempt to try to slowly take away First Amendment rights, and Trump must be continually held accountable.
