The president has slashed $400m in funding from Columbia University. He wants to stifle criticism of Israel \u2013 but the real target is dissent<\/p>\n
For those who fear Donald Trump is a despot in the making, don\u2019t worry: he has an answer. \u201cI\u2019ve stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America,\u201d he triumphantly declared in his State of the Union address. \u201cIt\u2019s back!\u201d JD Vance scolded Europe in his speech at the Munich security conference last month, declaring that \u201cfree speech is in retreat\u201d across the continent.<\/p>\n
Like all authoritarian creeds, Trumpism turns reality on its head and empties words of their meaning in an effort to sow confusion and disarray among its critics. On the same day Trump announced the revival of free speech in Congress, he posted on Truth Social that federal funding for educational institutions that allow \u201cillegal protests\u201d will be ceased. Notably, illegality was not defined, but the issue Trump is referring to, of course, is Palestine. \u201cAgitators will be imprisoned\/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,\u201d he declared. \u201cAmerican students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!\u201d<\/p>\n
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist<\/p>\n
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