Okay, let me set the mood for y’all. It’s early on Monday morning, I got maybe three hours of sleep the night before, I have a million and one things to do at work before everyone gets in and I’m riding in the back of an Uber with a driver who’s listening to a Fox talk radio station. That has all the makings of a bad day. Not only were they talking about Trump’s rally…or lack thereof in Chicago, but the person on the mic was whining about Trump’s first amendment right of freedom of speech was impeded on by the protestors. I immediately rolled my eyes and scoffed loud enough to warrant my driver to catch my eyes in his rearview mirror. I haven’t really spoken much about this year’s election on my blog because I have a feeling that I’ll open up a can of worms when I do, but I had to say something this time. Monday morning wasn’t the first time I’d heard anyone mention Trump’s right to freedom of speech being taken away from him or limited by protestors at his rallies, and I’m honestly tired of people saying that. It couldn’t be further from the truth.
I’m not sure about y’all, but here in Texas we had to take at least three years of US History over the course of our grade school career and depending on where you studied in undergrad or grad school even more US history courses. We learned about the sordid history of this nation, and I don’t know about y’all but I came away with a pretty decent understanding of the Bill of Rights when I left high school. We know about the fifth amendment and how it can protect you in court, we know about the second amendment and how it gives us the right to bear arms (something we take full advantage of in this great state), we know about the cruel and unusual punishment law in amendment eight, and people often throw around amendment one but I don’t know if they truly understand it.
The first amendment allows us to practice whatever religion we like, say whatever we want (within means because there’s precedent of a few prosecutions by the Supreme Court), gather peaceably, petition the government with grievances, and news outlets to print what they want without persecution or prosecution from the government. It says nothing about allowing people to say whatever the hell they want to say and not have to face the repercussions of their words from the common man. This means if you say something stupid (Trump and his supporters who spew racist, classist, misogynistic and homophobic slurs) don’t be shocked when other people protest rallies and tell you that you’re wrong! The first amendment doesn’t protect you from that. Trump’s right to freedom of speech wasn’t violated because he couldn’t spew hateful remarks that night in Chicago and I really wish people would stop saying that.
People who spew hateful comments like that need to be held accountable for their backwards way of thinking and if that means it takes 50+ people busting up in a rally and singing Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” or pushing back when they’re assaulted then so be it. I’m tired of seeing these clips in the media of individuals being accosted and assaulted by not only the hateful people at a Trump rally but by some of the officers who were hired to protect them. Fox didn’t holler that their first amendment right to gather peaceably was being impeded on!
No, the first amendment was what allowed newspapers to print and many Fox correspondents to comparisons of President Obama to a monkey and also paint him as a terrorist when he clearly wasn’t and isn’t. So many jokes were made about his name and how close it was to Osama Bin Laden and nothing was done, and you want to know why? Because the first amendment allows for freedom of speech and protection of those news outlets. The same news outlets (and even Trump) were demanding President Obama’s birth certificate back in 2008 to make sure that he truly was an American citizen and there wasn’t an outcry. Where are those outlets now? It’s common knowledge that Ted Cruz was born in Canada and the US Constitution clearly states that a person can only be president (and vice president) if they’re a natural-born US citizen. But I digress.
Long story short, Trump’s first amendment right wasn’t violated during that rally and I truly wish people would stop saying it.