This past weekend we were all reminded of what freedom looks like when, in my opinion, an illegitimate president condemned a citizen for exercising his right to protest by not standing for our national anthem. When we have the most powerful political figure in America defying our constitutional right to express our opinion on any subject we are in trouble. The freedom of speech is the hallmark of a democracy. So for trump to be defying that guaranteed right he is confirming to me anyway that democracy is not an ideal he holds dear. In fact he has even shown his contempt for our flag by condoning the displaying of the confederate flag.
The idea of trump trying to foment discord by playing on differences is nothing new. His remarks concerning race and gender are the opposite of conciliatory. His embrace of white supremacy and his demeaning of women is well documented. His attacks on undocumented immigrants is personal and vindictive. The trump regime is littered with those around him who find the same disvalue of humanity that he does. His whole presidential administration is a reflection of how trump views the world and in his own way he has brought on those to work with him who bow to him at his pleasure. This is not democracy this is a form of monarchy.
All this to say that when our freedom of expression, no matter how uncomfortable is seen as unpatriotic is the tell. It is the opposite in reality. Our freedom of expression is inviolable and needs to remain so despite the division the trumps would infiltrate. The way things are going it is clear that trump does not want us to have freedom of speech if it is in contradiction to his vision for America, which seems to come from the right wing zealousness of fascism. This bullying of his to replace equality and fairness within our right to speak should alarm everyone, even the supporters now of trump because sooner or later trumps' ego will demand that his supporters pledge their allegiance to him, not to America and then what will they do?
The idea of trump trying to foment discord by playing on differences is nothing new. His remarks concerning race and gender are the opposite of conciliatory. His embrace of white supremacy and his demeaning of women is well documented. His attacks on undocumented immigrants is personal and vindictive. The trump regime is littered with those around him who find the same disvalue of humanity that he does. His whole presidential administration is a reflection of how trump views the world and in his own way he has brought on those to work with him who bow to him at his pleasure. This is not democracy this is a form of monarchy.
All this to say that when our freedom of expression, no matter how uncomfortable is seen as unpatriotic is the tell. It is the opposite in reality. Our freedom of expression is inviolable and needs to remain so despite the division the trumps would infiltrate. The way things are going it is clear that trump does not want us to have freedom of speech if it is in contradiction to his vision for America, which seems to come from the right wing zealousness of fascism. This bullying of his to replace equality and fairness within our right to speak should alarm everyone, even the supporters now of trump because sooner or later trumps' ego will demand that his supporters pledge their allegiance to him, not to America and then what will they do?
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