On Halloween night, when the two leading candidates vying for a U.S. Senate seat on this year’s Missouri ballot hold their second and final debate, the hosts will have the opportunity to conduct a radical thought experiment.
The host of a Nexstar televised event asked incumbent Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce to consider the possibility that one of the presidential candidates actually meant what he said. and may ask what they would do if that happened. He tries to strip broadcast licenses from networks he doesn’t like, and jails journalists who refuse to identify their sources.
Both Mr. Hawley and Mr. Kunce are running for seats in organizations aimed at curbing the president’s power. At least for now, neither appears willing to criticize, much less criticize, the presidential candidate in question.
Hawley and Donald Trump’s cozy relationship became infamous on January 6, 2021, when they were photographed giving a fist-raised salute to the former president’s supporters just before storming the US Capitol. carved high. That’s no doubt why so many contributors from across the country are pouring money into his coffers, even though Kunce is trailing in the race.
However, when Hawley repeatedly asked Kunce who he would vote for in the presidential election, Kunce refused to say.
“Is it Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?” the senator asked.
Kunce: “I will work with anyone in the United States Senate to bring funding back to Missouri.”
This doesn’t give us much confidence that either person will stand up for the First Amendment in front of a president who wants to repeal it.
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I’ve covered five presidents and countless presidential candidates. They all feel that the news media is unpleasant and have tried to undermine reporters in various ways to control the message.
To put this on a bipartisan basis, Barack Obama was particularly happy about the subpoenas for reporters, but this sparked an organized backlash from civil liberties and free press groups that resulted in policy clarity by President Joe Biden. This led to a major transformation.
But the protections Biden extended against fishing for press memos and sources could easily be overturned unless signed into law by a bipartisan reporter shield bill. The bill passed the House unanimously and is currently stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. One of Mr. Hawley’s fellow Republicans, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Hawley is a member of that committee. Will he help bring this important legislation to the Senate floor? If Mr. Kunce becomes a senator, what will be his position on this bill? There are more good questions for debate moderators to consider.
Trump’s supporters say his repeated attacks on press freedom are all abusive and exaggerated. That rosy view doesn’t match the reality of his first term in the White House.
Trump not only used the term totalitarianism (“enemy of the people”) to attack reporters, but also provoked some of his supporters to commit physical violence against reporters. He also used the power of his office to punish critics in the media. In a rather despicable move against Amazon’s owner, the Washington Post, President Trump suggested raising taxes on Amazon. He tried to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner out of malice toward CNN. Later, the White House tried to expel an accredited reporter who asked a question that Trump didn’t like.
Most shamefully, President Trump has criticized Voice of the United States, a globally respected news organization funded by U.S. taxpayers and dedicated to broadcasting the truth to under-informed countries. – Tried to turn America and its sister news organizations into political propaganda arms.
Late in Trump’s term, Michael Pack, whom Trump appointed to head the U.S. Government Media Agency, refused to renew the visas of VOA reporters hired to broadcast to their home countries. Some, having worked for Uncle Sam, faced the possibility of having to return to a place where many now carry a target on their backs.
Fortunately, the end of Trump’s term brought an abrupt end to Pack’s reign of terror at VOA. But if Trump is re-elected, will the Senate confirm Pack to continue in his old job? How carefully will the Senate scrutinize the president’s nominees for that key post? Will senators sit back and allow VOA and Radio Free Europe to become Trump TV? These are all good questions for Hawley and Kunce.
The Founders, who drafted and ratified the First Amendment, sought to crush dissent by imprisoning them and stripping them of their rights through the right to assembly, the right to the press, and the infamous Stamp Act. and took such action against the British Parliament. Limit your ability to spread what you publish.
What would members of Congress do if faced with a president trying to do the same? Voters deserve to know.
Because, as the Founders understood, the freedoms of publishers and reporters are not the only freedoms that are threatened.
It’s yours.
Let us know what you think…
