We have previously discussed the anti-free speech views of Clinton’s former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich, who has tried to sell citizens on the perfectly Orwellian view that more freedom means tyranny when it comes to the freedom of expression. He also demanded that former president Donald Trump be banned from ballots as a “traitor” — all in the name of protecting democracy from itself. Last week, Reich wrote a column declaring Elon Musk “out of control” in his refusal to censor citizens and appeared to call for his arrest.
Reich has long been a prominent voice in the anti-free speech movement discussed in my recent book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage. Indeed, he has given a voice to the rage in calling for others to be silenced or arrested.
Elon Musk has long been the primary target of Reich and his allies after dismantling the censorship system at Twitter, now X. Reich called Musk’s purchase of Twitter with a pledge to reduce censorship to be “dangerous nonsense.”
Notably, Reich’s friend, Hillary Clinton, was one of the first to call for a crackdown on Musk after his purchase of Twitter. Hillary Clinton and other Democratic figures turned to Europe and called upon them to use their Digital Services Act to force censorship against Americans.
Reich has always shown a chilling fluidity in how free speech is protected and argued that public interest should be able to trump the right of any citizens in espousing views that he believes are dangerous.
In denouncing Musk, Reich encouraged a campaign to counter his efforts to resist censorship. He wrote that Musk “may be the richest man in the world. He may own one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. But that doesn’t mean we’re powerless to stop him.”
Like Hillary Clinton, Reich is calling on foreign governments and censors to silence American citizens including Musk: “Regulators around the world should threaten Musk with arrest if he doesn’t stop disseminating lies and hate on X.”
He even appears willing to undermine national security programs to stop unfettered free speech. He called for the U.S. government to cut off contracts with his companies despite their critical role in various national security efforts, including the possible rescue of the stranded two astronauts currently in space.
None of that matters to Reich who appears to view free speech as a greater threat to our nation: “Why is the US government allowing Musk’s satellites and rocket launchers to become crucial to the nation’s security when he’s shown utter disregard for the public interest? Why give Musk more economic power when he repeatedly abuses it and demonstrates contempt for the public good?”
Reich’s call to regulate speech in the public interest is the Siren’s Call of every authoritarian regime in history. He will presumably tell us what speech is no longer tolerable for public policy reasons. Our “Indispensable Right” will, according to Reich, be safely in the hands of the European censors who can protect us from errant and dangerous thoughts.
As he explained earlier, “the kinds of things that we do about this is, focus less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed.” In this way, speech regulations can keep us “moving towards how we recommend content and … how we direct people’s attention is leading to a healthy public conversation that is most participatory.”
The “healthy public conversation” with Robert Reich increasingly appears to be his talking and the rest of us listening.
Jonathan Turley is a Fox News Media contributor and the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).
Robert Reich may be the most despicable Democrat alive, which really is saying something.
@Anonymous
Hm. I think it’s a tie between him and Nancy. She may have the edge given her continued stature, IMO.
Three-way tie, with Schumer.
As my Orthodox Jewish husband refers to him as; The Lizard King.
Hillary is still breathing. Don’t count her out of this sweepstakes race yet…
He is a chilling, clear and present danger to Democracy and the Bill of Rights.
The truly amazing, omnipotent, Little Bobbie Reich’s communist roots bleed on to the page. Zuckerberg only wishes he were this brilliant !! Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article. Greg
When they tell you they are totalitarians, believe them.
‘Reich’s call to regulate speech in the public interest is the Siren’s Call of every authoritarian regime in history.’
Finally, and *precisely* (and what an unfortunate name he has 🙄). This s about control, pure and simple. Control what people are allowed to say and everything else follows like dropping dominos; the likes of Reich are espousing their tyranny with great personal intention, this is nor some kind of natural or organic ‘evolution’. Hillary, Soros, Obama, the EU, the UN et. al. – make no mistake: they will be satisfied with nothing less than indisputable global dominance – they want a caste earth, not merely a caste society. This is 21st century colonialism of the highest order.
Additionally, the identical nature of leftist talking points globally, not similar, but *identical*, tells us this is not just a ‘faction of American dems’. Nope, this is the wealthy unelected imposing their fascist ideas globally, in service of themselves and their own ‘high’ society. If they think we’ll just stand by and capitulate, they are VERY high, indeed.
“and what an unfortunate name he has”
Robert “The Fourth” Reich.
Journalism is the combination of Forum(s) and Dialogue(s).
Today there is a proliferation of Forum via the technical abilities of the Internet.
The ‘Dialogue’ today has deviated from a blend of; ethics, political philosophy, moral psychology, epistemology, and metaphysics into an interconnected and systematic philosophy. with the emphasis that the Observer ‘learn’ from the given speech.
Allied-Networks create ‘Symposium’ (i.e.: a series of speeches from different characters), here to the deviation has been subverted away from Learning to Persuasive Advocacy that obfuscate, or manipulate the truth to gain short-term advantages, which Lead others to the same conclusions.
Don’t be Fooled – That’s the answer.
(By false Prophecies and false Prophets; Robert Reich, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, … The Govenment, The Networks, Your own two Eyes.)
Plato (born 428/427 bce, Athens, Greece—died 348/347, Athens) :
· “Wise men talk because they have something to say; Fools, because they have to say something.”
· “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
Thoughts and words must be powerful things.
Reich caused the housing crash. Most likely one of those alien gremlins Irish and Lober spoke of in a previous article.
I shall pray for him to see the light.
It’s not uncommon for ardent Socialists to trying move the ideology forward, but to arrest someone for fighting censorship is, well, reeking of Communism and control of thought and expression. Robert B. Reichhhhhhh (as spelled by the late Rush Limbaugh) should be spanked, sent to his room without food, and paralyze his tongue with novocaine.
By all measure, it would appear the Communists are no longer hiding……
Why even bother to comment on this moron’s/gasbag comments. He is obviously in worse mental decline than Biden. Bill Clinton must be turning in his“bed” wondering why he ever appointed this idiot.
The good news is that Reich will die a disappointed man, well aware he has wasted his life. America will be free, one way or another, and this petty Maoist will go to his grave knowing it.
He will go to his grave believing that the next generation of neo-marxists will “get it right this time”.
Why is it that the preponderance of those opposing free speech are Democrats? I thought they were suppose to be for the worker and the little guy. It seems the Democrats have become antipodal to their traditional views.
If they started arresting people for spreading lies and “misinformation”, this guy would be one of the first to go in the slammer.
Oh I forgot, some lies are more equal than others.
He can keep going out and getting 50K for a speech and continue to whine about income inequality.
One of the all-time hypocrites
Robert Reich is a sort of parody of a public intellectual. Out of touch. Thinks he knows far more than he does. No capacity for introspection. I view him as a crank, but relatively harmless crank because he seems pretty thoroughly out of power; eventhough being a friend of Hillary Clinton. I’ll worry more if he is tapped for any position in a hypothetical Harris Administration.
Don’t confuse being wrong with being dumb. He’s dangerous precisely because he is wrong but very smart. He can articulate bad ideas and make them sound reasonable, even appealing to some. He has a large audience on Youtube and social media.
Could those on the left possibly do more to prove that they are right out of 1984 ?
Not only are they globally organized to demand political censorship of anyone that gets in their way.
At the same time most of their censorship efforts have PROVEN how stupid an idea that is.
Russian collusion was fake,
Hunters laptop was real.
Nearly everything censored on Covid was true.
I guess he’d like to be known as Robert Reich the fourth. i.e. The Fourth Reich
I always knew that under his facade, Reich was a fascist!
In my opinion, Robert Reich is an anti-American, anti-constitution POS, it’s morons like Reich that are driving the USA towards a civil war.
And just what gulag in Siberia will be the prison for anyone who dares question the veracity of PRAVDA?
His stature in this situation is also indicative of his little regard for the law, his little capacity to think, his little capacity to respect others and is probably reflective of his inability to land a role of a Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings movies.
mike peterman
All very fitting for the “little” Robert!
At this point, Democrats feel entitled to rule lawlessly, because they are so morally superior to the deplorables.