No. Along with a more nuanced no. But still no, fundamentally. The First Amendment to the US Constitution reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress has made no such law. The President has asked for no such law. The executive branch of the federal government has enforced no such law. The First Amendment has no Trump monster sleeping under its bed.
The principle of free speech, which is significantly broader than restrictions on the laws Congress can pass, suggests the government, at any level, should not be used to punish speakers or restrict speech it doesn’t care for. This likewise has not happened under the Trump administration. It is happening in Canada and even more widely in the United Kingdom, but not here.
Has the federal government, however, applied pressure to publishers of speech, in an attempt to quash ideas it doesn’t care for? Yes, under the Biden administration. See this report.
Has the Trump administration done the same? Here comes the nuance. The answer remains “no.” But vague hints of possible legal roadblocks being applied under existing law could be construed as a minor chill on free speech. The same could be said for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s regrettable comments about hate speech.
This happened at the same time that multiple local ABC affiliates let the network know they would not be running its late night programming with Jimmy Kimmel. The network indefinitely suspended Kimmel. Which is not in the neighborhood of even a micro-aggression against free speech.
Most Americans seem utterly unable to distinguish between government force and market forces. My local Barnes and Noble store does not carry any of my books. They have a section set aside where one can find and purchase “banned” books. Right out in the open. Where everyone can see. Yet no army of federal bureaucrats burst through the door like a SWAT team.
Because the books have never been banned in these United States. They have been, some of them, rejected for use in schools or school libraries by those who make such decisions. Which is no more banning them than Barnes and Noble bans my books by not carrying them. It is not illegal to own, read, distribute The Catcher in the Rye, The Girl with Two Dads or The Call to Wonder.
And it is not illegal for ABC or any local affiliate to air Jimmy Kimmel. They simply choose not to, because they are a business and don’t want to lose customers and money.
Jesus gives Christians direction for these kinds of things. We don’t want to be forbidden by the state from sharing the gospel, from instructing the nation to obey all His commands. Which commands include doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. That, not the First Amendment, is why we don’t ask the state to silence those we disagree with. We don’t, when in power, use power against others in ways we wouldn’t want power used against us.
We do, however, accept our calling to counter falsehood with truth, to give an answer for the hope that is in us. Even when others might kill us for doing so.
