by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The thing that gives us a false sense of security in the United States is while otherwise we’re an autocratic state, we still have free speech. I can still tell ICE — and the broader Trump regime — to fuck off and not expect a knock on my door.
This leads to the question of how long that is going to last.
Give how precious free speech is to Americans and how Trump clamping directly down that would make even the most ardent MAGA person at least have pause for thought, I think it’s going to be a while.
Or, put a different way — I think that will be the last thing that Trump fucks with. Going directly after people’s right to free speech is going to be when the ash from the MAGA volcano reaches the horizon and we’re absolutely fucking doomed.
So, probably it would be during Trump’s illegal third term that that kind of thing happens. But it is going to happen. I just can’t image we will go full white Christian autocratic ethnostate and the powers that be will allow traditional freedom of speech to linger.
Of course, there is the theory that if Trump really consolidates power as much as he would like that he — or the people around him — might see clamping down on individual free speech as too much of a hassle. And, besides, it would be a pressure valve.
It is clear that the center-Left is very, very weak in the USA and there’s really nothing stopping Trump from going full autocrat (like he is now) so, at least for a historical beat longer than you might expect…maybe individual freedom of speech is a little bit safer than you might expect?
