Trump has already overplayed the Charlie Kirk hand

Lots of people on the left have been depressed since Charlie Kirk was killed, because it seemed as if Donald Trump and his fascist stooges finally got their Horst Wessel, meaning a “martyr” they can use to justify whatever censorship, oppression or political violence they want to enact. The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel left me especially freaked out, not because I care all that much about his show, but because I’m worried about the future of free speech in this country. 

But Disney and ABC have now caved to public pressure and will restore Kimmel to his late-night slot as of Tuesday. This isn’t just an important reminder that fighting back can work. It’s also a sign that Trump overplayed his Charlie Kirk hand almost immediately. It will make future crackdowns in Kirk’s name that much tougher for Trump and his minions to pull off.

“Cancel culture” was always a pretext for fascist censorship

The censorship of Jimmy Kimmel was just the most high-profile event in a wave of MAGA efforts to exploit Kirk’s death to silence and punish people who speak the truth about who Kirk was and what he stood for — including his opposition to free speech. In response, a lot of centrists are attempting a hypocrisy “gotcha” on the right, claiming they’re “now” the ones promoting “cancel culture.”

There is no “now” here, of course. Like Kirk, the MAGA movement has always opposed free speech. Complaints about “cancel culture” were always shorthand for what they really wanted: Conservatives asserting the right to say bigoted things about anyone, anytime, without getting called out or criticized for it. Liberals have no speech rights they respect. 

In fact, “cancel culture” was always a pretext for fascist censorship. Once you accept the notion that bigots have a right to speak without criticism, that necessarily means opposing opinions must be silenced by force. There is no way to establish the “right” to be free of criticism without censoring critics. To avoid being “canceled,” conservatives must actually silence anyone who would speak out against them. 

I’m exhausted with centrists who are too dumb to learn this lesson — or who were always arguing in bad faith when they complained about “cancel culture.”  I won’t deny that there are annoying, sanctimonious liberals. Or that sometimes they dogpile people on social media. I’ve been a victim of that. People shouldn’t do that. 

But it’s a lie to claim that the left started that, or does more of it. These tactics started with the right, during Gamergate. Mob harassment has always been practiced more by the right. Renaming that as “cancel culture” and blaming the left was always a falsehood created to justify actual censorship. Fortunately, the restoration of Kimmel suggests that people are waking up to this reality. 

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How fake “cancel culture” led to real censorship in Ohio

For a classic example of how Republican claims to love “free speech” were always in bad faith, look at Tatyana Tandanpolie’s reporting on the widespread censorship on Ohio college campuses of ideas that conservatives don’t like, such as “racism is real” or “misogyny is bad.” As Tatyana notes, Republicans passed this censorship law by claiming it was somehow a defense of “free speech.” In reality, it’s about silencing professors, intimidating students and forcing schools to ban clubs and events that promote racial diversity or LGBTQ rights. 

None of that makes sense outside the idiotic “cancel culture” narrative, which holds that even seeing a Pride flag or learning the history of slavery is somehow oppressive conservatives. A right-wing student might see or hear these things and feel troubled or confused — and then might be less likely to speak their bigoted opinions out loud, for fear of hearing criticism or having people dislike them. So they feel “canceled,” even though no one is actually forcing them to shut up. 

Being an oversensitive baby who can’t defend your positions is not the same thing as being censored. And that’s what the vast majority of MAGA panic over “cancel culture” amounts to. They fear being challenged, because they know their arguments are paper-thin and will collapse when subjected to any serious scrutiny. So rather than building better arguments or, heaven forbid, changing their minds, they invented “cancel culture” as a pretext to silence critics. 

The good news is that we can fight back. Trump’s war on free speech is not popular and it’s not legal. We don’t have to obey in advance. The more people speak the truth, the harder it will be for him to censor us. When people rose up to defend Jimmy Kimmel in significant numbers, we won. 

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What we're reading this week

• “How Tradwives Use Sexism, Racism, and Transphobia to Police Other Women,” Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Teen Vogue

• “Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time,” David Frum, Atlantic

• “Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair

• “Why Right-Wing Outlets Attacked Wikipedia After Charlie Kirk’s Shooting,” Stephen Harrison, Slate

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