For all their talk of democracy, today’s Democrats really don’t know the first thing about it.
This week former Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced that he’s moving his hit prime time show to a different medium: from a cable news network to Twitter — a social media platform.
That sent NBC guest host Tom Costello and former CNN host Brian Stelter into a bit of a panic. They wondered who was going to "police" Carlson’s speech with no corporate brass to play traffic cop.
"Twitter was already under fire for misinformation, disinformation, all-out lies, anti-Semitism, racism before Elon Musk took over, and now it’s gotten kind of crazy, right?" said Costello on Tuesday’s "Hallie Jackson NOW."
Yeah, under previous management Twitter was “under fire for misinformation, disinformation, all-out lies” — primarily in its attempt to swing the 2020 presidential election to favor Joe Biden.
The most egregious example was when it silenced the New York Post’s reports on the Hunter Biden "Laptop From Hell" that placed then-candidate Biden behind an influence-peddling scheme that raked in millions.
Costello wondered "will anybody be able to police what Carlson says? Or is this the point? It's just a free-for-all?"
The purpose of free speech is to allow everyone an open microphone — without anyone policing, editing or censoring your thoughts and ideas.
Stelter agreed with Costello that Twitter was “a free-for-all” because "it’s what Elon Musk wants to provide." He added that "this move by Tucker may cement the idea of Twitter as a right-wing website, and we see some users trying to go off to other sites instead."
Stelter misses the point of a free speech platform also, as Musk demonstrated early Wednesday morning when he reached out to far-left former TV host Don Lemon, after he’d been terminated by CNN two weeks earlier.
"Have you considered doing your show on this platform?,” Musk asked Lemon. “Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger."
Would Lemon enjoy the same audience share as Tucker Carlson?
Unlikely, but he’d at least have a platform from which to speak his mind.
What’s most discouraging is that government, which is charged by the First Amendment with protecting speech, is doing the exact opposite.
The New York Post is the nation’s oldest, continuously-running daily newspaper. It’s also the outlet that first broke the Hunter Biden laptop story in October 2020 — and was silenced because of it.
We now know that Twitter didn’t act on its own. The FBI pressured Twitter and other social media outlets to suppress the story.
Since Biden entered office the attacks on free speech have escalated.
Early into his administration, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki openly admitted that the administration was "flagging" what they called "problematic" posts for censoring.
"We are in regular touch with the social media platforms and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff and also members of our COVID-19 team — given as Dr. Murthy conveyed, this is a big issue, of misinformation, specifically on the pandemic," Psaki said.
"It’s important to take faster action against harmful posts," she added, "and Facebook needs to move more quickly to remove harmful violative posts."
In recent days, as a Hunter Biden indictment becomes more likely (and more embarrassing to the president), he’s targeted the New York Post, the outlet that’s covered the story the hardest and thus embarrassed the president the most.
On Monday the administration pulled the Post’s press credentials, according to an email White House staff sent to the newspaper, which as of last year had the nation’s fifth-largest print circulation.
"We are unable to accommodate your credential request to attend the Investing in Airline Accountability Remarks on 5/8," the email said. "The remarks will be live-streamed and can be viewed at WH.gov. Thank you for understanding. We will let you know if a credential becomes available."
But chances are Biden didn’t think of this on his own.
He learned from the best — Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Two years ago the Kremlin pulled the Proekt investigative media outlet’s press credentials, "in an act of revenge for a series of deeply embarrassing revelations about Vladimir Putin and top Kremlin officials," The Guardian reported.
When Tucker Carlson announced his decision Tuesday to use Twitter to continue his messaging, he emphasized the importance of freedom of expression
"You can’t have a free society if people aren’t allowed to say what they think is true," he said. "Speech is the fundamental prerequisite for a democracy. That’s why it’s enshrined in the first of our constitutional amendments."
For all their talk about "our democracy," Biden and other Democrats fail to understand its most fundamental element — and they really don’t care. Their only concern is getting and retaining power.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.