Never let it be said that woke left-wing college kids have a corner on the anti-free speech market. Depending on what’s being said, some self-avowed Republicans say they too would support efforts to squash First Amendment rights.
At least, that’s one takeaway from a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, which found a distressing 46 percent of self-professed GOP respondents said the government should “have the power to revoke broadcast licenses of major news organizations it says are fabricating news stories about a President and his administration.”
Thankfully, the overall number of respondents who said the federal government should have this power is quite small. Only 28 percent of total survey respondents said they would support the federal government quashing the rights of the free press. Fifty-one percent said they would oppose it, and 21 percent of respondents said “don’t know” or “no opinion.”
But of the 28 percent who said they would support it, 46 percent of them were self-described Republicans. Twenty-three percent were self-avowed Independents, and only 17 percent were Democrats.
“Voters, particularly Trump supporters, have become disenchanted with the national media,” Morning Consult co-founder Kyle Dropp said.
“Even 20 percent of Democrats think that the national media fabricate stories on President Trump and his administration. That being said, many are still not willing to let the federal government censor the media,” he added.
The poll comes out not long after President Trump suggested last week that NBC News could have its license revoked for spreading “fake news.”
“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” the president said on Twitter.
We said it last week, and I’ll say it again here: The president of the U.S. has no place threatening news organizations with government retaliation. Free speech is a fundamental right, which is why it’s protected and enshrined in our founding documents. No news group ought to have its broadcasting license revoked because a government official doesn’t appreciate its programming. That’s how communists deal with the press. And this is America, not some two-bit dictatorship.
Also, NBC’s chief network doesn’t even have a government license. Good luck revoking something that doesn’t even exist.
