President Trump has thrown his full support behind his administration’s hypocritical, McCarthyite censorship campaign.
“What do you make of Pam Bondi saying she’s gonna go after hate speech? … A lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech,” a reporter asked Trump on Tuesday as he was about to board his flight to the United Kingdom.
“[We’ll] probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly, it’s hate. You have a lotta hate in your heart,” Trump said, threatening the reporter and mostly ignoring the actual question.
“Would that be appropriate?”
“Maybe they’ll come after ABC. Well ABC paid me 16 million dollars recently for a form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me 16 million dollars for a form of hate speech. So maybe they’ll have to go after you.”
Reporter: What do you make of Bondi saying she is going after hate speech, a lot of allies say hate speech is free speech.Trump: Probably go after people like you, you treat me unfairly, you have hate in your heart. ABC paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, your… pic.twitter.com/MCMDjhQoMh
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 16, 2025
The president is referring to the lawsuit he filed against ABC New’s George Stephanopoulos, after the host said Trump was “liable for rape” while discussing Trump’s E. Jean Carroll case verdict in which he was actually liable for “sexual abuse.” And while a judge even acknowledged that the difference was semantic, ABC settled to avoid any further damage to their Disney ownership, giving Trump a victory in the process.
As for Bondi, she’s been pushing the same disinformation campaign that every conservative seems to be signing on to right now in an effort to take First Amendment rights from anyone they don’t like.
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi told Katie Miller, wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, on her podcast on Monday. “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi: “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society…We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.” pic.twitter.com/Bqj6TQOGwP
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) September 16, 2025
This is a complete about face that goes against everything the right—and Kirk himself— has been saying for nearly a decade. They’re just praying we don’t notice.
The post Trump Backs Pam Bondi With His Own Rabid Free Speech Threat appeared first on New Republic.
