OPINION:
Hillary Clinton, in a recent interview on PBS, said the press needs a “consistent narrative” about the danger that former President Donald Trump poses to the country. A day after the second assassination attempt against Trump, she said the same thing, telling an MSNBC audience the media ought to develop a “consistent narrative” to show the danger he poses to the world.
What she’s really saying is she hates this thing called free speech.
What she’s really calling for are crackdowns against citizens who want to speak about things she opposes.
And chillingly, her narrative is coming at a time when a lot of Americans — of both major political parties — agree.
“Poll: Majority of Americans believe First Amendment goes TOO FAR in the rights it guarantees,” wrote the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in August.
The poll, conducted by FIRE, found 61 percent of Democrats agree or slightly agree the First Amendment “goes too far” in the rights it protects, and half of Democrats like the direction America’s headed with its protections on free speech — meaning: Yay, Hillary.
That’s Democrats.
That’s to be expected from today’s Democrats.
They have been infiltrated and corrupted by Marxists, after all.
But the news from Republicans on these same matters isn’t much to cheer, either.
From FIRE: “54% of Republicans at least slightly agree that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. … Fifty-three percent of Americans [of all political walks] believe that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it protects.”
What?
“Evidently, one out of every two Americans wishes they had fewer civil liberties,” said FIRE chief research adviser Sean Stevens, in a written statement. “Many of them reject the right to assemble, to have a free press, and to petition the government. This is a dictator’s fantasy.”
Enter Hillary Clinton.
“I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for the press to have a consistent narrative about how dangerous Trump is,” she said to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC just a few days back.
She went on, Real Clear Politics reported: “The late, great journalist Harry Evans one time said that journalists should really try to achieve objectivity. And by that, he said, I mean, they should cover the object.”
And then she violated her own point — while pretending she was giving an example to support her point.
“Well, the object in this case is Donald Trump, this demagoguery, his danger to our country and the world, and stick with it,” she said.
This is such a trick of tyrants — to feign freedom; to talk the language of freedom then twist the narrative so that it leads to the opposite of freedom. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. The Democrats read George Orwell’s “1984” and take it as a political strategy. And they’ve become very skilled at using those strategies.
The big problem is not so much the Democrats as it is the changing winds of the nation.
Democrats, after all, will do what Democrats do — seek power. Seek control. Seek clamps on liberties.
But when polls start showing that Republicans and Americans of various political beliefs actually see sense in what the Democrats sell — well then, that’s where the problem really lies. It means the leftist assaults are working and that the propaganda in the public schools is having an effect. It means the concept of American Exceptionalism that says rights and liberties are endowed by the Creator is being degraded, and that government is being handed the authority to dictate who gets, who must give, and who loses all. It means basic human freedoms like speech are being painted as a threat, as a danger, as a peril to society and therefore, in need of control — in need of restriction. It means that Democrats — socialists — communists — Marxists — are having their way and winning.
It means Clinton is starting to make sense and not just to her radical feminist followers, but to others of other political persuasions and to others of other cultural backgrounds.
It means Americans who want to keep America free have their work cut out for them.
It wasn’t so long ago that Democrats advocating for curtailment of free speech in America would only do so behind closed doors, in whispers, in jest.
Times have changed.
Democrats know this. So they’re growing bolder by the day. This is the reality of today’s political battles. It’s not about party domination; it’s not about party majorities. It’s about saving America from Marxists and preventing them from crushing all our cherished freedoms.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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