Donna Brazile Gets Laughed at on 'The Five' Over First Amendment Ignorance
There have to be days Democrats cringe at Donna Brazile.
The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, who managed Democrat Al Gore’s unsuccessful presidential campaign back in 2000, has a history of histrionics.
But her moment of jaw-dropping ignorance Wednesday on “The Five” was outside even Brazile’s flapping envelope.
It came during a heated discussion about the social media giant Twitter’s decision Tuesday to “fact check” two posts by President Donald Trump about the potential perils of mail-in voting.
Absurd and Orwellian moment on The Five in which Donna Brazile says “there is no first amendment right to lie.”
pic.twitter.com/XmII5lw31H— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 28, 2020
“The president’s tweet should have been deleted. I would have deleted the president’s tweet,” Brazile said. “And you know why? Because it’s a bald-faced lie. It’s Republicans who use absentee ballots to get out their votes.
“That is traditionally the way the Republicans have always motivated their voters: ‘Go ahead and vote early.’
“So, I think that the social media platform companies should regulate themselves and they should make sure that these conspiracy theories — the one the president put out about Joe Scarborough, it should be deleted.
“The lies need to stop. There is no First Amendment right to lie. Period.”
The moment of silence that greeted Brazile’s claim was quiet — but it spoke volumes. Almost as much as the literal laughter that followed.
“Actually you can,” co-host Dana Perino said. “There’s a right.”
Brazile was undaunted.
“There’s no First Amendment right to lie,” she said. “There is no First Amendment right to lie. There’s no First Amendment right to lie. You just go ahead and lie.”
Maybe she thought repeating the statement would make it true? Children do that too, sometimes.
The reality, as anyone who gave the matter even a second’s worth of thought, is that what constitutes “truth” for probably 95 percent of what gets said on social media is a subjective decision. (Not many Twitter posts proclaim the sun’s rising in the east.)
What Brazile is really saying is that she doesn’t think Americans enjoy the right to voice their opinions if those opinions conflict with Democratic authority. Her citation of Trump’s questionable posts about “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough last week doesn’t change the thrust of her argument:
She clearly doesn’t think the First Amendment applies to speech that doesn’t comply with received Democratic wisdom.
Does Brazile think the First Amendment wouldn’t apply to liberal Twitter users who parroted the endless lies of the loathsome Adam Schiff, who publicly claimed that there was evidence of collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia “in plain sight” when he knew the House Intelligence Committee had heard testimony from scores of witnesses saying the opposite?
Would she think the First Amendment wouldn’t apply to Twitter posts that echoed the ludicrous claims that former President Barack Obama’s two terms in office were scandal-free?
Social media users took notice her her remarks:
I think this is like when liberals say “your first Amendment rights can’t infringe on my rights not to be uncomfortable!!!” Lol liberals and their constitutional knowledge
— George Myers (@myersmyersG) May 28, 2020
People shouldn’t lie but freedom of speech means just that. You can say pretty much whatever you want. You might get sued in some cases, though.
— teri (@lldnt) May 28, 2020
Donna’s okay sometimes but this is lunacy
— Dana (@Grandbulldoggie) May 28, 2020
At this point, she belongs on The View.
— Why Ban Flat Earth? (@whybanflatearth) May 28, 2020
Just as a refresher, the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
That’s pretty self-explanatory, and the word “true” doesn’t appear anywhere. (And if the First Amendment didn’t protect lies in the media, there wouldn’t be an American media, at least as we know it. Even a liberal like Donna Brazile should know that much.)
There’s no doubt Democrats would love nothing more than to squelch conservative opinions on social media — especially heading into a presidential election that will be as pivotal as the Trump-Clinton matchup in 2016.
Twitter’s treatment of the president’s tweets that sparked the whole conversation on “The Five” is evidence enough of that.
What Democrats can’t want is one of their most recognizable faces spouting the party’s actual opinions on national television.
It might make the rest of the country think Democrats don’t really care about freedom at all.
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