Republican nominee for Vice President JD Vance has been a tireless stumper for the MAGA movement since he secured his spot as Donald Trump‘s second-in-line.
Sen. Vance (R-OH) has courted controversy defending a number of his statements like saying Democrats were bossed around by “childless cat ladies” and that teens are enterprisingly turning “trans” as a way to get accepted into Ivy League universities.
(More harmfully, perhaps, Vance has also repeated debunked stories about Haitian migrants eating pets in his home state, where even Republican Governor Mike DeWine said it wasn’t true.)
But in a last-minute pre-election day claim, Vance turned up the volume on his easily refuted claims, saying at a rally: “You know something Donald Trump will never do? Donald Trump will never go out there and say that his fellow citizens should be censored or silenced for disagreeing with them.”
Yeah, he just says shoot journalists. #VoteEarlyForDemocrats https://t.co/oHM73HQlzO
— Nancy Levine Stearns (@nancylevine) November 3, 2024
Even in a political world where fudging the truth is normal and outright falsehoods have become the coin of the realm, this particular assertion by Vance — uttered during a week when Trump had plainly called for CBS’s broadcast license to be revoked, among other First Amendment threats — is a bold taunt to fact-checkers.
[NOTE: As many of the commenters mention, Trump regularly threatens the First Amendment rights of those who disagree with him — he does so unapologetically and unambiguously.]
Journalist Victoria Brownworth’s response to Vance referenced this reality when she wrote: “What a stunningly egregious lie.”
What a stunningly egregious lie.
— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) November 4, 2024
Some resistors who have been able to maintain their sense of humor offered sardonic Scarface-themed analogies in response, as in: “You know something Tony Montana will never do? Tony Montana will never go out there and become a drug lord and use violence to gain wealth.”
“You know something Tony Montana will never do? Tony Montana will never go out there and become a drug lord and use violence to gain wealth.”
— Matt Chatham (@chatham58) November 4, 2024
Others offered more concrete examples to refute Trump’s alleged belief in a sacrosanct First Amendment. One cited Trump’s recent call to imprison anyone who burned an American flag, an action which is protected as free speech.
Others, thinking of Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos‘s squashing a pre-election endorsement of Kamala Harris, brought up instances of Trump’s threats in the past that critics believe influenced Bezos’s controversial decision.
Not exactly how I remember it https://t.co/yK93MmKFs7 pic.twitter.com/hpyTQx4gqB
— Aaron Levie (@levie) November 4, 2024