Voting Trump to Save Free Speech? w/ Hunter Ash

[Sorry for the audio glitches in the beginning, they go away after about 15 mins.]

In a new format, I have an extended conversation with Hunter Ash (@ArtemisConsort on Twitter) about why he’s decided to vote for Donald Trump for the first time this year. Hunter’s number one issue is free speech, and he explains why he believes Trump will be a safeguard against censorship.

This was a very interesting conversation because both Hunter & I are ostensibly hardcore free speech maximalists, but we have very different opinions about how beneficial or destructive a second Trump presidency would be to freedom of expression. The dialogue unearthed some fascinating epistemological disagreements between us. Major props to Hunter for being willing to have his beliefs subject to scrutiny.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 What even is free speech?

• 00:35 Free expression & personality cult conformity

• 01:02 Free speech concerns from Trump

• 01:42 Speech suppression from Democrats

• 02:14 SCOTUS misinformation case

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Links:

• Truth Social Terms of Service

• Dudes vs. Ideas: Why Personality-Based Movements are Doomed (Yassine Meskhout)

• Against Delusion-Based Politics (Yassine Meskhout)

• Public Health Self-Own (Yassine Meskhout)

• Trump on Surveillance, Protest, and Free Speech (ACLU)

• Neither Harris Nor Trump Is a Friend of Free Speech (Reason)

• Twitter Kept Entire ‘Database’ of Republican Requests to Censor Posts (Rolling Stone)

• “Why don’t we seize the assets of the Ford Foundation” (JD Vance)

• More Vance Than Anyone Could Ever Need (Reason)

• It’s Not Easy Trading Green (World Economic Forum)

• Kamala Harris 2019 Post-Debate Interview (CNN)

• Hillary Clinton Declares ‘We Lose Total Control’ If We Don’t ‘Moderate and Monitor’ Social Media Content More (Mediaite)

• Murthy v. Missouri (Wikipedia)

• NRA v. Vullo Brief (ACLU)

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Recorded 2024-10-17 | Uploaded 2024-10-20