The President's Ability to Control Free Speech

In September of 2019, President Donald Trump was accused of soliciting interference from another country in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. These accusations came from a phone call between President Trump and the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The transcripts translated that one of the purposes of the call was to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden is a pawn for President Trump because of his past dealings with China and Ukraine. He is said to have sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. President Trump is attempting to use Hunter Biden’s past against his father in the 2020 Election. However, the big issue with this situation as far as free speech goes, is that President Trump is harassing the ‘whistleblower.’ 

The statements put out by Trump on Twitter or at press conferences are not illegal themselves, but he is harming the right of free speech. Once the transcripts leaked, President Trump attacked the whistleblower’s credibility, questioned the meager whistleblower protections in place, and labeled the whistleblowers as “spies.” President Trump even suggested that the spies should be treated as they would in “the old days.” It seems that President Trump is recalling to the punishments of sedition in the early United States. This is where someone would get punished by a fine or jail time, for criticizing the United States government. Regardless of what the President meant by treating the whistleblowers like “the old days,” he is still harming the reliability of the First Amendment. The President is harming the credibility of current whistleblowers and intimidating future whistleblowers with his words. He is attempting to limit the speech of U.S. citizens, and this is a humongous problem for free speech. 

I do believe that a good view of government and the officials involved is important. However, limiting the speech of people is not necessary. Limiting the speech of whistleblowers allows for more tyrannical actions by government officials. In other words, the power of the government will continue to grow due to their falsehoods not being expressed. Democracy is the essence of this nation, and without the powers of free expression the country’s democracy is injured drastically.