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During Tuesday night’s debate, Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance detailed Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz’s support for the censorship of Americans.
When discussing his and Trump’s doubts about the integrity of the results of the 2020 election and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Vance argued that the real threat to democracy was “the threat of censorship.”
He drilled down on the effects of silencing free speech and told viewers, “It’s Americans casting aside lifelong friendships because of disagreements over politics. It’s big technology companies silencing their fellow citizens. And it’s Kamala Harris saying that rather than debate and persuade her fellow Americans, she’d like to censor people who engage in misinformation. I think that is a much bigger threat to democracy than anything that we’ve seen in this country in the last four years, in the last 40 years.”
Vance then discussed how he grew up in a Democratic household, along with his and Trump’s recent endorsements from Democrats who feel that their party has drastically changed in recent years.
“Now I’m really proud, especially given that I was raised by two lifelong blue collar Democrats to have the endorsement of Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, lifelong leaders in the democratic coalition. And of course, they don’t agree with me and Donald Trump on every issue. We don’t have to agree on every issue, but we’re united behind a basic American First Amendment principle that we ought to debate our differences. We ought to argue about them. We ought to try to persuade our fellow Americans,” Vance remarked.
Vance added, “Kamala Harris is engaged in censorship at an industrial scale. She did it during COVID, she’s done it over a number of other issues. And that, to me, is a much bigger threat to democracy than what Donald Trump said when he said that protesters should peacefully protest on January 6th.”
Walz accused Vance of trying to rewrite history and claimed that silencing people who make threats of violence was not censorship. He brought up book banning and reiterated his remarks about Trump being a threat because he would not admit defeat in the 2020 election.
Vance then asked Walz, “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”
Walz accused Vance of giving a non-answer and Vance rebutted with “It’s a damning non answer for you to not talk about censorship. Obviously, Donald Trump and I think that there were problems in 2020. We’ve talked about it. I’m happy to talk about it further. But you guys attack us for not believing in democracy. The most sacred right under the United States democracy is the First Amendment. You yourself have said there’s no First Amendment right to misinformation. Kamala Harris wants to use the power of government and big tech to silence people from speaking their minds. That is a threat to democracy that will long outlive this present political moment. I would like Democrats and Republicans to both reject censorship. Let’s persuade one another. Let’s argue about ideas, and then let’s come together afterwards.”
Walz chimed in and said, “You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater. That’s the test. That’s the Supreme court test.”
Vance hit back with, “You guys wanted to kick people off of Facebook for saying that toddlers should not wear masks,” and then added, “That’s not fire in a crowded theater. That is criticizing the policies of the government, which is the right of every American.”
