President Donald Trump is a grave threat to free speech, say Democrats and many in the media. The Justice Department this week indicted former FBI Director James Comey for a second time, charging him with threatening the President over an Instagram post last spring of seashells arranged to read “8647,” which the president described as mob talk for calling for someone to kill him. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr ordered Disney’s ABC unit to file early renewal applications for its eight broadcast licenses, days after Jimmy Kimmel joked that Melania Trump had “the glow of an expectant widow,” a quip that aired three days before a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump has gone after the media before, many note. He sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, later amending the claim to $20 billion, and Paramount, CBS’s parent, settled for $16 million last July. The Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in research funding for Harvard. A Trump executive order prohibits federal funds from going to K-12 schools that teach critical race theory or gender ideology. And another directs the Attorney General to coordinate with state and local prosecutors against teachers who facilitate the social transition of minors.
