The NYT now says we must consider a review of the 1st Amendment. Free Speech is now too dangerous if it is unregulated. They argue that the American people can't be trusted to speak freely, we must have guardians over us who determine what is true and what isn't. Some more 1984 shit.
Of course all the hyperbolic orange man bad propaganda set it up nicely to make him a scapegoat for why the government needs to infringe on liberties.
“Instead of protecting speech, the First Amendment might need to be invoked now to constrain certain forms of speech.” What’s more important? Liberty, or the government feeling safe? That semi-rhetorical question proves, once again, it’s not the Constitution that rules, it’s those who interpret it.
"In making, embracing and disseminating innumerable false statements, Trump has provoked a debate among legal scholars over whether the once-sacrosanct constitutional protection of free speech has itself become a threat to democracy by enabling the widespread and instantaneous transmission of lies in the service of political gain.
There is a cadre of scholars, especially younger ones, who believe that the First Amendment balance needs to be struck differently in the digital age. The greatest threat is no longer censorship, but deliberate disinformation aimed at destabilizing democratic institutions and civic competence. Instead of protecting speech, the First Amendment might need to be invoked now to constrain certain forms of speech."