Now Democrats Care About Free Speech
And what a six months it's been.
But I can't help but wonder how differently things would be had Kamala won. I shudder at the thought, especially in terms of our rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and censorship.
Over the last several days, various and sundry Democrats have clutched their pearls and rent their garments over the end of 'The Late Show' and Stephen Colbert's career. They call it 'censorship' and a sign Paramount/CBS are doing the bidding of President Trump, the authoritarian who is canceling his critics. Molly Jong Fast when on MSNBC to call it 'scary:'
MSNBC's @MollyJongFast: Canceling Colbert isn’t funny, it’s "very scary"
"And even if it’s not quid pro quo, the idea of self-censorship. And I talk about my grandfather, Howard Fast, who was jailed by McCarthy during The House UN-American Activities, that that our government… pic.twitter.com/NJKSTfMy2p
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 21, 2025
The fact that Colbert will remain on air five nights a week from now until next May, when the three-year contract he renewed in 2023 expires, is lost on them.
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Television shows end, sometimes before their time, like ABC's 'Pushing Daisies,' one of my favorite shows that never got to finish its quirky storyline about a guy who can bring people back to life (or kill them) just with a touch. Other shows, like 'The Late Show' as helmed by Colbert, have left the airwaves long past their expiration date.
But I want to circle back for a moment to the notion of censorship, as it's the Left's favorite word this week.
What is happening to Stephen Colbert is not censorship.
What has happened to many Americans -- and what would've happened to many more under a President Harris -- is and was.
I think back to the 2020 campaign, when my Twitter account was suspended for several weeks because I posted screenshots of the Hunter Biden laptop story. The powers-that-were at Twitter said the story violated their 'hacked materials' policy (President Trump's stolen IRS filings not so much), and I was shut out.
I also think about all the people who were censored for questioning the COVID vaccine or COVID protocols (at the behest of the Biden administration, mind you), or those who were harassed out of their job for posting online things critical of trans ideology or basic biological truths such as 'women don't have penises.'
That was censorship.
For the 107 days of her presidential campaign, Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz ran on a platform of censoring American speech. Kamala Harris said platforms like X needed 'oversight' because guys like Elon Musk was 'directly speaking to millions and millions of people' and saying things Kamala didn't like.
Tim Walz said 'hate speech' and 'disinformation' weren't protected by the First Amendment; conviently enough Walz was also the guy who would define 'hate speech' and 'disinformation.' His state of Minnesota wanted to create a hate speech registry that would have classified saying COVID came from a Wuhan lab or supporting J.K. Rowling as 'hate speech.'
Speaking of Musk and Rowling, they're the reason we get to have these conversations and the reason I get to do this job free from fear of government censorship. Without Musk purchasing Twitter, not only would we be limited in what we could say on the platform, but the outcome of last year's election would've been wildly different. And not for the better.
J.K. Rowling could have sat quietly in her Scottish manor with her Harry Potter billions, enjoying time with her family and her dogs while she wrote another Robert Galbraith novel. Instead, she stood up for women and girls against the (sometimes violent) insanity of the trans activist crowds and made it possible for nameless nobodies like me to also say women don't have penises.
Donald Trump
J. K. Rowling
Elon Musk
Positions held by the vast majority of people are only one billionaire away from disappearing from public discourse entirely.
But no, tell me more about Stephen Colbert and censorship.
— Tweetoleon (@Tweetoleon) July 20, 2025
And going back to the times Americans were censored, where I was censored, I have to ask: Where were the Democrats then? Why weren't they championing the right of the average American to speak his or her mind? Why didn't they get just as outraged at my deplatforming as they do about Stephen Colbert? I am, allegedly, someone the Democrats 'care' about: a single, lower-middle-class mom. Colbert is a rich, white male. In the Left's world of intersectionality, I'm supposed to 'win.'
Then again, I'm also a conservative who engages in dangerous 'ungoodthink.' Colbert was, and will remain, a mouthpiece for the Democratic regime for the next ten months. He was not entertainment; he was an NPR segment with a house band.
I shudder to think where we'd be without Musk and Rowling. And for all their efforts, how does the Left -- who supposedly love free speech -- thank them? With relentless attacks, of course. They threaten Tesla owners, they burn books (and a few Teslas for good measure), they issue death threats. What they never do is debate the ideas or the merits of their arguments.
Then Colbert gets canceled, and the Left acts like it's the greatest danger to free speech they've ever seen.
Losing a propagandist has made the Democrats mad. But that doesn't make what happened to Colbert censorship.