Very timely - is FT.com good enough?
America’s accelerating exit from itself
"Orwell is erroneously quoted as having said that at a time of universal deceit, truth-telling is a revolutionary act. Here is the truth about Kirk. He believed that the US Civil Rights Act was a mistake, that leading African-American women, including Michelle Obama, lacked “brain processing power”, that Joe Biden should be jailed or even killed for his presidential sins and that the US should have public executions. Readers can guess for themselves what Kirk thought of women’s place in society.
Under America’s First Amendment, pretty much all speech is protected by law. That is as it should be. Shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre endangers the lives of others. Booing the stage performance or claiming the tickets were a rip off does not. Those who called out Kirk’s toxicity were as American as apple pie. As was Kirk. The right to say what you want dates to the country’s founding. Nobody should be prosecuted, let alone killed, for being obnoxious.
A few months before the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence, Donald Trump is pulverising the country’s founding principles with astonishing ease. His war on speech is no drill. Late-night comedians are being targeted. Corporations like Paramount are meekly submitting to his will. Ivy League presidents and globally renowned law firms act as though the First Amendment no longer holds. Outspoken business leaders have suddenly lost their tongues. Since they have the most to lose, those with power and wealth are among the softest targets.
Trump misses no opportunity to punish dissent, and Kirk’s assassination is his biggest so far. Last week he claimed that 97 per cent of network coverage of him was negative and should be illegal. The federal state’s vast powers are being used to pursue private vendettas. Officials have been forced to take polygraphs to test their loyalties."