It’s not hard to uphold free speech in general while also denouncing the content of particular speech. Trump didn’t do that. He has criticized the speech of others so many times, often harshly, that to see him refrain from denouncing neo-Nazis and white supremacists with the sort of pointed language he’s used to denounce so many others was glaring.
You’ll notice I didn’t say anything in this article defending the use of force in response to speech. I didn’t call on the police to shut the rally down or in any way argue the rally-goers did not have the right to peacefully assemble.
That wasn’t an accident.
I previously wrote a detailed article criticizing those who try to forcibly shut down speech with which they disagree. Among other points, I defended Skokie v. Illinois and denounced the violent protestors who shut down a Trump campaign rally in Chicago and a Milo Yiannopoulos presentation in Berkeley.
The message of the “Unite the Right” rally was appalling and goes against the core values of America. Nevertheless, they have the right to express it peacefully, and the government was right to give them a permit.
If the president focused his comments on that message — and stuck to it — I wouldn’t be criticizing him.
