Congressional Democrats are sounding the alarm about the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech, accusing the president of trying to silence his critics and lead the country down a “road to autocracy.”
They said President Trump and his allies have led an “assault on democracy” since he began his second term and have escalated attacks on the First Amendment right to free speech since the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“It’s repulsive, repulsive, that the Trump administration is perversely using his awful death as a predicate to supercharge their longstanding campaign against political opponents,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said.
“One of the great hallmarks of our country is free speech, whether you agree or disagree, and this administration is trying to snuff it out,” the New York Democrat said. “They don’t want people to even speak when they don’t like what they say. That is the road to autocracy.”
Democrats pointed to several examples of the Trump administration targeting free speech, including Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr pressuring Disney-owned ABC to remove late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel from the air.
“This administration is scaring people into silence, ridiculing reporters and blocking them from the White House, suing and extorting settlements from the media, threatening ABC over Kimmel, taking funding from nonprofits, intimidating businesses who cave to their demands,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, Florida Democrat. “We need to be asking, what will be left of this nation when the Trump administration is finished?”
Mr. Trump dismissed the suggestion on Thursday that Mr. Kimmel’s removal was an attack on free speech.
“He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference in the U.K. “So you can call that free speech or not; he was fired for lack of talent.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri Republican, posted on X that the left “waxes poetic about ’free speech’ when Jimmy Kimmel loses his show for brazenly lying to his viewers and plummeting in ratings.”
“But when their side weaponizes the federal agencies against the entire conservative movement — it’s crickets,” he said.
Democrats said Mr. Kimmel’s situation is just one example of the Trump administration’s effort to silence dissenters.
Sen. Alex Padilla, California Democrat, cited the president’s efforts to “extort” universities for not falling in line with his agenda and sending the National Guard to respond to “overwhelmingly peaceful protests” in Los Angeles. He also cited his personal experience being thrown to the ground and handcuffed for interrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference.
“History shows us that when leaders start silencing entertainers and journalists and critics, it’s not because they’re strong,” he said. “It’s because they’re weak.”
The Democrats’ remarks came at a press conference where they announced plans to introduce legislation called the No Political Enemies Act, or NOPE Act, to create a legal defense for anyone targeted for political speech.
“We need to build new protections in court when a political opponent of the president is targeted by Trump’s DOJ or his regulatory regime simply for political speech,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, who is leading the effort.
The Connecticut Democrat said the legislation “builds real consequences” for government officials who target First Amendment-protected speech. He did not elaborate on that. He also said the measure provides people harassed by the government “an ability to recover attorneys’ fees.”
While the First Amendment itself serves as a legal defense, he said, “this seems like a moment in which you have to give some really tailored defenses and rights to defendants so they can more easily raise First Amendment defenses in court.”
The legislation is still being written and will be introduced within the next couple of weeks.
Although leaders in both parties have called for a toning down of political rhetoric after Mr. Kirk’s assassination, some Democrats at the press conference did not hold back.
Mr. Frost said Mr. Trump “believes that he’s a king.”
“Fascism is not on the way. It is here,” he said.
Republicans have said that when Democrats use words like “fascist” and “Nazi” to describe Mr. Trump or other Republicans, they are fanning the partisan flames that have led to political violence. Authorities have said Tyler Robinson, the man charged with killing Mr. Kirk, engraved anti-fascist messages on bullets found in his rifle.
Mr. Murphy said Democrats have an obligation to be honest about Mr. Trump “acting in a way that is scarily similar to many would-be despots all across this world, all across history, who have tried to transition a country from democracy to autocracy.”
“This is another tried-and-true tactic of despots,” he said. “They label any criticism of them as hate speech or terrorism or incitement to violence. This is how democracies disappear.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson accused Democrats of doubling down on hate.
“Why do Democrats continue to incite left-wing violence by slandering Republicans as ‘fascists?’ This is the same inciteful language that Charlie Kirk’s assassin carved into his bullet casings. While President Trump is committed to stopping political violence by getting to the bottom of the left-wing network that funds and fuels it,” she said.
