Man With Biggest Platform in the Country Complains He’s Being Censored
JD Vance would not stop complaining Thursday about having been "censored," when what he was actually describing was being corrected.
During a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—a publicized event with a large crowd, hardly censorship—Vance transformed a speech meant to be about economic issues into a diatribe about free speech. He repeatedly claimed that Kamala Harris wanted to censor Americans' speech—without providing any actual instances where she had done so.
"We have leaders who would rather censor their fellow citizens than listen to them and persuade them," Vance said.
He referred to his previous, and fully debunked, claims alleging that illegal immigrants had taken over the cities of Springfield, Ohio; Aurora, Colorado; and Charleroi, Pennsylvania .
"We are seeing all across this country that criminal gangs, sometimes, are moving into our communities and making it unsafe for American citizens," Vance said. He immediately tried to walk-back his gross generalization. "And even if it's not criminal gangs, sometimes it's people moving into our communities who have no legal right to be there."
However, the groups that Vance has discussed, Haitian immigrants in Springfield and Charleroi, do have a legal right to be there. They are in the United States under Temporary Protected Status, a legitimate legal status that Vance has conveniently decided he doesn't believe in .
As for Aurora, Vance and Donald Trump have pushed claims that Venezuelan gangs have laid claim to apartment buildings in the area, an allegation that has been challenged by both residents and law enforcement.
Vance blamed the "thousands upon thousands of children" of undocumented immigrants for a decline in the quality of American education, and blamed immigrants for long wait times in emergency rooms.
At no point did he actually detail any supposed "censorship" of his words, but Vance's statements about these immigrants have been subject to thorough fact-checks because they were all, in reality, untrue. Despite all the supposed government censorship, he did manage to get the words out without being arrested, which must have been a relief.
Later, Vance turned back to the subject, claiming that he and Trump would "always fight for your right to speak your mind."
"The genius of the First Amendment is that when we debate our ideas, rather than censor one another, we can actually come to the table. We can disagree but still share a meal with one another afterwards," he said.
"You do not bring our fellow citizens together by trying to silence them. You bring our fellow citizens together by talking to them. And inviting the conversation about how we're going to make this country better, and fix our problems."
Of course, when Vance or Trump are invited to the table, they lose their minds at the slightest bit of correction, not censorship. Vance himself flew off the handle after the smallest fact-check during the vice presidential debate.
"We may not always agree with each other, but we will fight for your right to speak your mind because this is America, and we get to say whatever the hell we want to," Vance concluded his speech Thursday. He has repeatedly proved that painfully clear.
It's worth noting that Vance and Trump haven't limited their misinformation campaigns to immigration, but have also spent the better part of the last two weeks spreading false claims about federal hurricane relief efforts, all while the work was actually undercut by MAGA lawmakers , who opposed emergency funding until they wanted it.
