After years of wiggling his way out of one jam after another, it looks like President Trump has reached the end of the road. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that Donald Trump, the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters, is canceled.
Following the siege on Capitol Hill by a pro-Trump mob that left five people dead, including one Capitol Police officer, Twitter initially locked Trump out of his account for posting three tweets that gave off the impression that he was condoning the violence while also repeating his claims that the election was stolen from him. One of the tweets included a video in which the president told the mob who stormed the Capitol, "We love you. You're very special."
Twitter initially flagged the tweets and then shortly removed them "due to a risk of violence." But by the end of the week, Trump was banned by virtually every platform with the biggest blow coming from Twitter itself.
According to the social media website that the president used more than anything else, Trump was permanently suspended "due to the risk of further incitement of violence," saying they've made it clear that those in power "cannot use Twitter to incite violence." [SOT] Of course, the President isn't handling this well.
According to Politico, Trump went "ballistic" after being permanently suspended by Twitter, and was reportedly "scrambling to figure out what his options are." Many of Trump's supporters began abandoning Twitter in droves for alternative platforms.
Former Congressman Steve King, R-Iowa, a fringe figure on the right, compared the censorship by Big Tech to Kristallnacht, the Nazi German pogrom against Jews that historians view as a prelude to the Holocaust. Others have said that conservatives are going to face levels of discrimination not seen since Jim Crow.
Big tech censorship is nowhere near these truly awful events in human history. However, there is a strong case to be made that this is a step too far, and it's even more interesting when hearing that sentiment from the most unusual sources.
Following Trump's suspension, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who oversees a country that has far more limitations on freedom of speech and expression, put out a statement criticizing Twitter, calling the move "problematic."
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is hardly supportive of the president, put out a statement, saying, "It should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions."
Perhaps the most damning blow to Trump is the PGA's latest move to withdraw its 2022 PGA Championship tournament from Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, N.J.
Whether or not it is justified to deplatform the sitting President of the United States, it opens up Pandora's Box and sets a new precedent and standard for big tech companies to police and moderate content that may be deemed objectionable or reprehensible by the public. This is a watershed moment, not just for America, but the world, and it's looking a whole lot more dystopian as a result.
