{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Keen On America","title":"From Cancelled Students to Coddled Autocrats: The Crisis of Free Speech in America","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2059,"description":"Two years ago, free speech champion Greg Lukianoff came on the show to express his concerns about conservative students getting cancelled on college campuses. Today, he’s terrified of the President of the United States. The CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has spent decades defending free speech against overzealous university administrators. But in Trump’s second term, Lukianoff finds himself fighting a much scarier adversary: a government hostile to free speech. Law firms have capitulated under threats of losing security clearances. Students have been deported for saying the wrong thing. And Trump keeps admitting he’s targeting people for their viewpoints—virtually guaranteeing he’ll lose in court while expanding executive overreach anyway.1. The Complete Reversal: Trump Adopted the Left’s Censorship Playbook The administration that campaigned against campus “cancel culture” now deploys the exact tactics it once condemned—misinformation claims, hate speech codes, viewpoint-based punishments. “They rediscovered hate speech” after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Lukianoff notes, using it as justification to silence critics despite previously arguing hate speech should be protected.2. Law Firms Chose Cowardice Over Principle Major law firms immediately capitulated to Trump administration threats of losing security clearances and federal building access—effectively ending their ability to practice. Only Covington & Burling fought from the start, and those who resisted have largely won in court. “It’s cowardice and self-interest, to be honest,” Lukianoff says. “They try to make it sound like this is an existential battle... And it’s like, yeah, that’s why you fight then.”3. Trump’s Own Admissions Guarantee He’ll Lose in Court Trump can’t help himself: he publicly admits he’s targeting people for their viewpoints, which is “the sine qua non of what you’re not allowed to do under the First Amendment.” His ego and need for credit...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/bCpvkYgrorWYCv4ujOodZ7o-xqCKvQH-YHlEI5E7zpw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83NDM2/MGJjOTYyNjBkYzJi/ZDVhMTUwZDgwMWE3/ZDk3OS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}