Streetwise Professor

In my recent post enumerating the reasons to vote for Trump, the First and Second Amendments were at the top my list. And not only mine. Consider El Gato Malo: “and if you want to know why you should be a one issue voter on censorship and a free internet this election, THAT is why. it’s not just about this election, it’s about every election after it and who gets to speak.” (Emphasis in original). If there is one thing that red pilled Elon Musk, it is the First Amendment/censorship/free speech. Or look at people like Matt Taibbi or Michael Shellenberger or Glenn Greenwald: definitely not right wingers who have been strident critics of attacks on free speech under this Democratic administration.

It is therefore beyond outrageous to see Harris say that the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights in particular, is the reason to vote against Trump:

NEW: Kamala Harris says black men need to vote for her because Donald Trump will take their guns and free speech away.

You can't make this up.

Shannon Sharpe: Blacks for Trump. They feel that Trump is better for the black community. Can you explain that?

Harris: Right. That's… pic.twitter.com/B3xc9KiAIW

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 28, 2024

When has Trump ever said any of those things? Why didn’t he do them when he had the chance?: he was, after all, president for four years. Just didn’t get around to it? Or what?

This is the epitome of the Big Lie. Another irony given the non-stop Trump=Hitler 24/7 mantra.

But we’re the ones spreading disinformation, dontcha know.

The Democrats have been pushing for censorship hard for the past four years. They have created an entire parallel government structure to attempt to circumvent the First Amendment in order to censor social media. John Kerry and Hillary Clinton recently said the quiet part out loud: free speech is a problem, and must be restricted. The Democrats pant after the kind of system the EU has set up, unrestricted by any right to free speech. The belief that speech must be restricted is an article of faith on the left: just visit any college campus. “Your speech is violence.”

And spare me the “I’m in favor of the Second Amendment. I don’t believe we should be taking anybody’s guns away” crap. To anyone who believes that: Hey, I’m a Nigerian prince and I’ll make you unbelievably wealthy if you just give me access to your bank account: just drop it into the comments. Harris’ record–and Biden’s record–on gun control is crystal clear.

In sum, this pitch is as Orwellian as it gets. An inversion of truth.

The only bright spot here is that Harris feels compelled to cosplay as a stalwart defender of your Constitutional rights: it’s an implicit admission that she has nothing positive to offer, and that she is vulnerable on these issues. It’s also telling that she clearly feels it necessary to be spend the waning days of the campaign trying to secure black men’s votes. Her utterly outrageous pitch of a few weeks ago (Hey, brothas: vote for me and I’ll give you free money, a leg up in the weed business, and crypto!) which went over like a fart in church and Obama’s scolding (which generated a lot of outrage among those he was trying to cajole) are other examples.

Yesterday the Washington Commanders beat the Chicago Bears on a last minute Hail Mary. Harris gives every impression of attempting to do the same. Yeah, it sometimes works, but it’s a low probability play that is only resorted to out of desperation.