Free Speech, Media, Politics

“That Has to Stop”: Harris Denounces Unfettered Free Speech in 2019 CNN Interview

I previously wrote how a Harris-Walz Administration would be a nightmare for free speech. Both candidates have shown pronounced anti-free speech values. Now, X owner Elon Musk and former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have posted a Harris interview to show the depths of the hostility of Harris to unfettered free speech. I have long argued that Trump and the third-party candidates should make free speech a central issue in this campaign. That has not happened. Kennedy was the only candidate who was substantially and regularly talking about free speech in this election. Yet, Musk and Kennedy are still trying to raise the chilling potential of a Harris-Walz Administration.

In my book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” I discuss how the Biden-Harris Administration has proven to be the most anti-free speech administration since John Adams. That includes a massive censorship system described by one federal judge as perfectly “Orwellian.”

In the CNN interview, Harris displays many of the anti-free speech inclinations discussed earlier. She strongly suggests that X should be shut down if it does not yield to demands for speech regulation.

What is most chilling is how censorship and closure are Harris’s default positions when faced with unfettered speech. She declares to CNN that such unregulated free speech “has to stop” and that there is a danger to the country when people are allowed to “directly speak[] to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight and regulation.”

Harris discussed her view that then-President Trump’s Twitter account should be shut down because the public had to be protected from harmful viewpoints.

“And when you’re talking about Donald Trump, he has 65 million Twitter followers, he has proven himself to be willing to obstruct justice – just ask Bob Mueller. You can look at the manifesto from the shooter in El Paso to know that what Donald Trump says on Twitter impacts peoples’ perceptions about what they should and should not do.”

Harris demanded that Trump’s account “should be taken down” and that there be uniformity in the censorship of American citizens:

“And the bottom line is that you can’t say that you have one rule for Facebook and you have a different rule for Twitter. The same rule has to apply, which is that there has to be a responsibility that is placed on these social media sites to understand their power… They are speaking to millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation. And that has to stop.”

In other words, free speech should be set to the lowest common denominator of speech regulation to protect citizens from dangerous viewpoints.

Harris’s views have been echoed by many Democratic leaders, including Hillary Clinton who (after Musk purchased Twitter) called upon European censors to force him to censor American citizens under the infamous Digital Services Act (DSA).

Other Democratic leaders have praised Brazil for banning X after Musk balked at censoring conservatives at the demand of the socialist government. Brazil is where this anti-free speech movement is clearly heading and could prove a critical testing ground for national bans on sites which refuse to engage in comprehensive censorship. As Harris clearly states in the CNN interview, there cannot be “one rule for Facebook and you have a different rule for Twitter.” Rather, everyone must censor or face imminent government shutdowns.

The “joy” being sold by Harris includes the promise of the removal of viewpoints that many on the left feel are intolerable or triggering on social media. Where Biden was viewed as an opportunist in embracing censorship, Harris is a true believer.  Like Walz, she has long espoused a shockingly narrow view of free speech that is reflective of the wider anti-free speech movement in higher education.

Harris often speaks of free speech as if it is a privilege bestowed by the government like a license and that you can be taken off the road if you are viewed as a reckless driver.

Trump and the third party candidates are clearly not forcing Harris to address her record on free speech. Yet, polls show that the majority of Americans still oppose censorship and favor free speech.

In my book, I propose various steps to restore free speech in America, including a law that would bar federal funds for censorship, including grants and other funding that target individuals and sites over the content of their views. The government can still speak in its own voice and it can still prosecute those who commit crimes on the Internet or engage in criminal conspiracies. Harris should be asked if she would oppose such legislation.

For free speech advocates, the 2024 election is looking strikingly similar to the election of 1800. One of the greatest villains in our history discussed in my book was President John Adams, who used the Alien and Sedition Acts to arrest his political opponents – including journalists, members of Congress and others. Many of those prosecuted by the Adams administration were Jeffersonians. In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson ran on the issue and defeated Adams.

It was the only presidential election in our history where free speech was a central issue for voters. It should be again. While democracy is really not on the ballot this election, free speech is.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

256 thoughts on ““That Has to Stop”: Harris Denounces Unfettered Free Speech in 2019 CNN Interview”

  1. The rats are fleeing a sinking ship.

    A top volunteer with the Trump campaign issued an internal message Sunday notifying fellow volunteers that “the campaign has determined that New Hampshire is no longer a battleground state,” adding that the campaign has no New Hampshire surrogates and no advertising expenditures there. He also wrote that internal polling indicated Donald Trump could lose New Hampshire by a wider margin than he did to Joe Biden in 2020.

  2. Please! Oh please! Oh please! Tell me what I should say or think! I’m so confused. Please! Oh please! Oh please! Take this weight of thinking for myself off of my shoulders! Please! Oh please! Oh Please! Reserve bunk 22 for me at the re-education camp. I am too incompetent to understand it all so I need a leader who will make it all clear for me! I’m desperate! Two requests please. Don’t make the handcuffs so tight because it’s more painful than I can handle. Please tighten the cuffs a little at a time so I can get used to it more slowly. Please make the financial penalty of $9,000 dollars like in Brazil just $8,000 for Americans just incase I inadvertently slip up. Sado Masochism is a much larger problem in America than was previously thought. The first symptom of this malady is that the person affected turns blue. The easily available cure is commonly known as The First Amendment. Many don’t want to get better so they flush the cure down the toilet when the thought police knock on their door. Don’t you know how lucky you are!

    1. TiT,
      Thank you for the laugh! We need that kind of humor more so than ever.
      Sad part is there clearly are people who do in fact believe that. They may not say it out loud, but people like Robert Reich whom believe in their own conflated intelligence, that the masses are just too dumb to read something like objective journalism and make their own conclusion. That is too dangerous to democracy! As comrade Harris points out in her 2019 CNN interview, there needs to be some kind of oversight and regulation of what people can say!!!! And only the government can provide that kind of oversight and regulation. Without it, the internet is like the Wild, Wild, West a la Obama.

  4. Dear Mr. Turley hats off again to GEB as he suggests we have the ultimate power by simply turning the noise off. I often do just that as I do not want the drama of people on t.v. yelling at each other coming into my space. I need quiet and rest after a long day at work and I would appreciate it if the Left would please stop lying about the Right. We do not hate people, and we would like the USA to be energy independent.

      2. Wrong, GIgi. The U.S. has the CAPACITY and resources, but is NOT energy-independent. Do you and George get your “opinions” (definitely not fact-based) from the same internet sources?

  5. This is serious. This is terrifying. If K Harris gets elected, the First Amendment will be cancelled and going down this slippery slope we will be come just like the Soviet Union!

    1. Nyet, they’ll only enforce permissible speak against those who do not align to permissible thought.

  6. So by Harris’ definition, the main stream media should be censored or shutdown for reporting the Russian hoax as real, the Hunter Biden laptop as a fake Russian plant, and that Kamala claimed in her 2000 presidential campaign that she was against a fracking ban, among other falsehoods.

  7. Jonathan: Come on, Jon. Your columns are starting to sound like DJT’s 90 minute rally speeches. After about 15 minutes the MAGA crowd starts to leave because they know what their leader will say and it’s becoming tiresome. It’s the same whining a complaining. Now you claim “a Harris-Walz administration would be a nightmare for free speech”. Really? Then why is it that the only person in this election who shares your “free speech” claims is RFK, Jr. ? Nobody else seems concerned–least of all the voters.

    Do we see DJT complaining about a lack of “free speech”? Nope. Except for court ordered gag orders that apply to all criminal defendants DJT speaks freely whenever and wherever he wants–on Truth Social and X, at rallies and in interviews. The Biden-Harris administration is not silencing him.

    And out side of Brazil, where the issue is not “free speech” but Musk’s refusal to appoint a legal representative, he continues his attacks on Harris on X. On Monday, Musk posted an AI-generated image depicting Harris as a Communist, wearing a red uniform complete with hammer and sickle with the caption: “Kamala vows to be a Communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”. Is the Biden-Harris administration censoring Musk’s fake news? Nope.

    “Free speech” will not be on the ballot in November because it is not an issue. The real issue is whether voters want to vote for someone who openly says HE will be a “dictator” on day one. DJT would be the real threat to “free speech”–not a Harris/Walz administration!

    2. Jonathan: Come on, Jon. Your columns are starting to sound like DJT’s 90 minute rally speeches.

      C’mon, my dear close friend Dennis. Your fraudulent apparatchik deflections and lies still sound like they come straight from Biden’s Lying Lips to your ears and fingers on the keyboard.

      Would you like to defend how “I was the last one in the room” Harris helped Biden once again allow genocidal Muslim terrorists murder hundreds of Americans and thousands of loyal American allies?

      Harris hides from her record of evil and incompetence – are you going to continue doing the same? Some timely reading material on the third anniversary to help you prepare:

      Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden and Harris’s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End
      https://www.amazon.com/Kabul-Untold-Bidens-American-Warriors/dp/1546005307/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=12NYLNJ2GUJAD&keywords=kabul+the+untold+story+of+biden%27s+fiasco&qid=1693231906&sprefix=Kabul%3A+The+%2Caps%2C544&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1&asin=1546005307&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

  8. Harris and Walz desperately want the United States to become like Britain’s criminalized free speech. The Red Coats Are Coming Jonathan !!!

    1. Everybody knows the MAGA cult are the new RED COATS, they want a King Donald in Power. Termination of the constitution remember?

      1. Everybody knows the MAGA cult are the new RED COATS, they want a King Donald in Power.

        Nothing says cult like a smelly FishAnus and the rest of the Soviet Democrat pedophiles and Groomers who tell normal American women that THEY’RE the cult if they won’t allow FishAnus and his fellow sick pedos into their daughters’ change rooms to display their junk.

        And to ensure they continue to be allowed to do cosplay as women to get naked in front of other peoples’ little girls, the groomers and pedophile Soviet Democrats like FishAnus first voted for the Constitution hating Bolshevik Barack who claimed it was merely “fundamentally changing the country” without a referendum on changing the Constitution.

        And then voting for Obama’s Third Term delivered by Bribery Biden who hates SCOTUS as much as the Constitution they keep telling him doesn’t allow him to go full commie to buy votes.

  9. While I understand the Prof’s point about making free speech a major campaign issue, sadly doing such would allow the issue to be portrayed as Trump airing personal grievances. He can’t let this election be about his personal issues. I would love to see him focus on lawfare, but it is impossible to do w/o making the campaign about him rather than about the country and the people.

            2. GG sounds a lot like a jilted Trump lover

              Gigi has never gotten over BJ Clinton first rejecting her offer to serve as his personal Oval Office cigar thermador… and then not inviting her to meet Harvey Weinstein when that serial rapist and pedophile spent eight years in the White House, hanging out with BJ Clinton’s daughter Chelsea.

      2. Aww poor guy, it’s not all about you…boo-freakin-hoo.

        Narcissists, mostly leftists, hate Trump because he is soo much better at grabbing attention than they ever will be, largely becuase he has amounted to something of value, unlike democrats.

      3. Isn’t his campaign already only about him?

        Soviet Democrat faithful Uncle Tom alert! It’s a good thing that Americans have true black scholars of unquestionable character like Dr. Thomas Sowell and Dr. Walter Williams to look up to. Otherwise, they might think if it’s black and cosplaying as being an academic, it’s just a virulent hate and envy filled Marxist of a different color.

        Didn’t take long for the Soviet Democrats’ racist Uncle Tom, enigmainblackcom, to show up yet again. First he showed up here to defend the virulent racist Bribery Biden, who told enigmainblackcom that he didn’t want his children having to go to school with enigmainblackcom’s little jungle bunnies.

        Then enigmainblackcom showed up to say “Yes Massa'”, when Bribery Biden told enigmainblackcom that he never met a single decent, clean, well spoken black American in his 40+ years in Washington DC. Until they day he met a white mulatto who renounced his entire prior life of White Privilege to run as a po’ l’il black chil’ who escaped the ghetto to run for office.

        Now enigmainblackcom is here to serve as Kamala Harris’ Uncle Tom. The Kamala Harris who told enigmainblackcom that Bribery Biden was not only a racist but a rapist as well.

        While Harris claimed that when SHE was a po’ l’il black chil’ like Obama before here, racists like Bribery Biden were trying to prevent her from getting on the school bus to go to desegregated schools.

        Harris and enigmainblackcom’s problem is that she was lying about that school bus as though she were a Biden: Harris was getting on those school buses in Quebec. To go to the same White Privilege high school that Canada’s Son That Obama Never Had, Justin Trudeau went to at about the same time. And Canada didn’t have the equivalent of segregated schools and Democrat racists and Kluxxers like Bribery Biden and Senator Robert Byrd fighting against what they called “Jungle Bunny Schools”.

        enigmainblackcom, you aren’t just a Cheap Fake American, you’re a Cheap Fake Black American. Marxist black, probably, but not American.

  10. Send this useless piece of human flotsam to a third world communist state and let her bring “JOY” to them and leave us true Americans in peace. Honestly, if you think deeply, there is no rehabilitating these brain-infected jihadis for progressivism. They have as much ability to break from their cult as any jihadi could escape islam and that makes them a life-long liability to the human race. Much like any deadly threat to humanity, these broken minds must be contained for our safety and liberty.

    1. I know, right? Let’s just go back to when we’d have cookouts on Sunday afternoons at the lynching!!! Good times.

        1. Crab mentality, it’s not just for grabbing other loser blacks anymore – it’s coming for everyone.

        2. Exactly, MAGA, Make America Great Again (for white nationalists)

          Isn’t it predictable that today’s Democrats who voted for the virulent racist Bribery Biden after learning that he fought against desegregated “Jungle Bunny Schools”, and then told Americans that he never met a single intelligent, decent, clean and well spoken black American in his 40+ years in Washington DC defend voting for their fellow racist by claiming it is MAGA that is about racism.

          Nothing says “I’m a disgusting racist who posts under “Anonymous” so my parents don’t realize how pathetic I am”, than voting for politicians who proudly say they disqualify people from public office if they aren’t black, choose others no matter how incompetent they are because they’re black – while enlisting universities to deny students who are Jews, East Indian… and of course white.

          And now those Soviet Democrats have embraced the genocidal Anti Semitic New Hitler Youth Movement.

          Oh, well done! Sure showed MAGA how racism is properly done the good ol’ Kluxxer Democrat way after 50 years of watching Bribery Biden perform!

      3. If you did understand history and man’s striving for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, then you would understand the need of some lynchings/disinfection to rid our species of thugs, heathens and the perverse. That is just the facts, jack. We are not, nor will we ever be, “perfectable” much to the dismay of those utopian-minded deluded progressives but we must learn to deal with unhealthy and pernicious elements within our species and we all can recognize the need to deal with the likes of n*zis, venezuelan killers and pedophiles – just as illustrations of the worse side of humanity.

      4. I know, right? Let’s just go back to when we’d have cookouts on Sunday afternoons at the lynching!!! Good times.

        Straight from the 1970’s Kluxxer Democrats like Senator Joe Biden and Robert Byrd… straight to your ears and fingers on the keyboard.

      1. If you believe that the constitution is our best guarantee of a free life in which to pursue life, liberty and happiness, then you are a true American – if you have a problem with that – I would suggest that you need to find a new nation in which to reside. Is that plane enough for you?

        1. If you believe that the constitution is our best guarantee of a free life in which to pursue life, liberty and happiness, then you are a true American

          whimsicalmama, if you go to enigmainblackcom’s blog, a few short reads will make you realize that he is an America hating black racist whose religion is Marxism and writes in attempts to advance both racist black supremacy and Marxism.

          The only reason he stops here occasionally to fill his role of Soviet Democrat Uncle Tom defending and promoting Democrat racists like Biden and Harris is because he believes they will deliver the racist and Marxist America that he wants.

          Go ahead, visit his poorly written blog to read what kind of fetid thought processes fill his hate filled mind that despises America and American exceptionalism.

          I can tell you this: he is the complete opposite of Dr. Thomas Sowell, Dr. Walter Williams, etc: true brilliant academics who are as disgusted by Uncle Tom’s like enigmainblackcom, just as they’re disgusted by the racist Democrats that Uncle Tom’s like enigmainblackcom say “Yes, Massa'” to and serve.

        2. It was plain until you confused me by making it “plane.” The Constitution was written to protect some and exclude others. The Supreme Court performs that same function.

          ““I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”–James Baldwin

          It’s those who insist everyone not believing what they believe must leave that miss the point of bein American.

      2. Enigma, why don’t you tell us what a “true American” is? Is it Antifa members who kill, burn buildings down, and destroy homes while terrorizing people? Alternatively, is it a Hamas supporter who rips down the American flag and acts genocidal to Jews? Those are two of the violent groups that align with your side.

      3. People who believe in individual rights and a limited government and that the government is not their personal ATM

        1. “People who believe in individual rights and a limited government and that the government is not their personal ATM.”

          Those sound like things Republicans used to believe in. Are they no longer Americans?

      4. “True Americans” how are you picking and choosing?

        One part is easy, enigmainblackcom: Racist Uncle Toms who attempt to prop up racists like Bribery Biden as long as they serve the Marxist Long March Forward to “fundamentally change the country” without changing the Constitution to make those changes aren’t true Americans.

        In the case of lying racist Uncle Toms writing blogs to promote Black Supremacy, they only qualify as Cheap Fake Racist Black Marxists.

        Got any new Black Supremicist rants you’ve posted on your blog to make America’s most successful racist, Louis Farrakhan jealous that you’d like to share a link to?

        1. Do you even know what an Uncle Tom is? It’s kind of hard to call someone an Uncle Tom and a Black Supremacist in the same paragraph, yet you managed. I note the vitriol is increasing the lower your man sinks, I’m imagining the freakout when he loses… again.

  11. What a horrible thing if these two are elected. The problem is their supporters have all indicated they are disgusted with the economy, fuel prices, war threats and he border incursion but will still cast a vote for them. Not to mention ballot boxes.

  12. @JoelSGilbert

    “The only 2 things that could explain: Kamala replacing Biden, Walz being named VP, no policies on campaign website, no interviews or press conferences are:
    1) Donald Trump will be sent to prison
    2) The “81 million vote” gang is still there are ready to make it happen for Kamala.”

    1. The totem lynching of blue eyed white devil.

      You’re truly ill. They’re grabbing money. The dems don’t care otherwise. The world is one big sewer. It took centuries to climb our of the slime and then it was gone.

  13. Apparently, in the UK a person can report you if you post something that “offended” them and it is filed a crime report and the person reporting you is classified as a “victim.”

    This short documentary illustrates this by the police arresting an arm veteran for a repost on facebook. This is scary to think that. In a matter of a few years we can revert to a police state and can be charged with thought crimes.

    https://youtu.be/GBY3b6WL4jk

  14. Ha! Harris is for content moderation, not censorship. You know…, just like the content moderation you practice on your blog comments section, Turley. No…, strike that. Actually much less stringent than what you practice here. And that’s not even taking into account the attempts to censor that happen as a result of the cyber stalking that you just wink at….

    And let’s be clear, the calls for trump to get kicked off Twitter happened at the same time his cabinet was actively talking about utilizing the 25th amendment after his dereliction of duty on 1/6. They ended up running a soft 25th on him until he left D.C. with his tail between his legs. An act almost as cowardly as the acts performed by McCarthy and McConnell in failing to hold trump accountable and rid the R party of trump.

    And the R’s leaning on free speech as a campaign issue would open the door wide to the active book censorship practices ‘conservative’ groups are practicing as we speak. In Florida and Texas predominantly,but also happening wherever these R moneychurners can get through the cracks.

    Add to that, the R base, as evidenced here every single day, are all in with censorship of voices that aren’t theirs. Some of whom aren’t just pro censorship, but pretty much openly advocating for a holocaust of immigrants.

    So there’s all that.

  15. The Democratic Party died on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel with RFK. The Yippies who sabotaged the 1968 DNC were a harbinger of things to come. This is what it looks like when the rabid far Left takes control. Their pretense to defending free speech drops away as soon as they no longer need it. The Nazis took over Germany as Socialists and then ruled as something very different indeed.

  16. The threat of 20th Century totalitarianism in this country, and elsewhere unfortunately has either dimmed or is non-existent in the present day. The idea of ‘right speaking’ is become reasonable in the minds of many. Perhaps we have reached the moment where those who are cognizant of the threat should start memorizing books.

  18. How much more evidence does one need? The Democratic Party is led by neo-Marxist, anti-constitutionalists. They will use all their power to eviscerate the liberties of the average citizen. However, they will retain those privilege’s for themselves and their elite cohorts. Their actions during the pandemic were just a taste of what is to come if Harris wins. The apple falls not far from the tree; in this case her Marxist father. But it is not just her it is the entire Democratic Party. But remember socialism is just for the masses; you think Pelosi will surrender her more $100 million in assets? The same for the Clintons and the Obama’s. I despise these authoritarian thugs with every fiber of my body!

    1. How come you all stopped talking about how Felon sex abuser Trump is ahead in the polls?

      Another Soviet Democrat, who was just pimping for President Daddy-Daughter Inappropriate Incest Showers – the unindicted serial felon whose DoJ protected him by saying he was guilty of decades of felonies, but they decided they knew that a jury would acquit him. Now pimping for The Skanky Ho, whose only obvious professionalism is in knob gobbling.

      Why won’t these Anonymous Soviet Democrat cowards explain how they supposedly know that Dementia Joe isn’t sharing the nuclear codes with The First Gun Felon Crackhead Son – just like he gave his crackhead kid classified information to sell to their Chicom customers

        1. Wow, you have daddy issues much?

          Wow indeed: have mangina issues requiring you to take Midol by the handful to deal with this horrible moment?

          A chronic condition that inflicts you every time you get called out by anyone pointing out you’ve been supporting President Daddy-Daughter Inappropriate Incest Showers from long before Trump ever ran for office, allowing you to try your “sex” angle on.

          Did your mind suddenly slip a few cogs because I pointed out that Bribery Biden’s hand picked Special Counsel said he’s a serial felon covering decades, but gets a ‘Clinton Amnesty”, so they can allow him to run for office on parole. Was it like sunlight hitting a vampire when I pointed out that Bribery Biden’s primary White House advisor is The First Felon Gun Son, The Family Cashier Formerly Known As The Crackhead Kid?

          That One Standard For Us And A Completely Opposite Standard For Trump a cross just to much for your Marxist bones to bear, Skippy?

  20. Turley’s last sentence doesn’t make sense to me. How can there be a democracy if I can’t voice my dissent? So if free speech in on the ballot so is democracy.

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