A Democracy of Voices (If We Can Keep It) - TomDispatch.com

A Democracy of Voices (If We Can Keep It) - TomDispatch.com Tomgram Nan Levinson, The First Amendment in the Age of Trump Posted on November 14, 2024 Yes, Donald Trump was perfectly free to speak his mind in that interview with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on October 13th, and here’s what he said in response to the idea that, on Election Day 2024, things might not be “peaceful,” that there might be demonstrations against him: “I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the — and it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.” Consider that a hint in a mere 55 words of what might be coming in the Trump era from inauguration day on, given the likelihood of protest demonstrations (as in 2016), not to speak of “the people within.” During the election campaign, he didn’t hesitate to talk about bringing American troops back from abroad, not just to help eject millions of undocumented immigrants from this country or even to “weed out” military officers who opposed his policies, but to weed out anyone opposing his policies in a potentially violent manner. In short, as the Boy Scouts used to say (or was that Tom Lehrer?), be prepared. Say the wrong words in the coming second era of Donald Trump and it’s distinctly possible that you’ll find yourself in deep doo-doo. And given The Donald, you have to wonder whether the 45 words that make up the first amendment of the Constitution will matter in the slightest to him or his crew in his unfathomable next round in the White House. Under the circumstances, before you read TomDispatch regular Nan Levinson’s latest crucial piece on the importance of that amendment in our anything-but-all-American world of 2024, it might be worth checking out those 45 classic words yourself and then consider with her just what their deepest importance might be in this perilous moment of ours. So here they are: “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.” Tom