Donald Trump: Free speech doesn’t protect the media when they ‘write bad’ things

President Trump‘s rhetoric went to a dangerous place this Thursday during the Social Media Summit at the White House, when he suggested that free speech does not apply to the media when they write negative stories about him.

During his remarks, Trump claimed that he had talked to the heads of social media and tech platforms, claiming that they’re not doing their part to reel in the alleged targeted censorship of conservatives.  Then Trump delved into the subject of free speech, saying that it doesn’t apply in certain instances when it comes to the “mainstream media.”

“And we don’t want to stifle anything, we certainly don’t want to stifle free speech. But that’s no longer free speech,” Trump said. “See I don’t think that the mainstream media is free speech either, because it’s so crooked, it’s so dishonest.”

“So to me, free speech is not when you see something good and then you purposely write bad, to me that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it,” he added. “But that’s not free speech.”

Trump then returned to attacking one of his favorite media targets, CNN, saying that they’ve turned the term “fake news” around to benefit themselves.

“The worst fakers of all,” he said, referring to the network.

“We’re just not going to allow it to happen like this,” he said, returning to the subject of free speech. “We’re not going to be silenced.”

Unsurprisingly, Trump’s words sparked a backlash on social media.

Featured image via screen grab/Mediaite

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.