Russia, Russia, Russia

On Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for Americans to be "criminally charged" if they engage in free speech that sounds like Russian propaganda. She said, “we are not going to let adversaries, whether it is Russia, China, Iran, or anybody else, basically try to influence Americans as to how we should vote in picking our leaders.” But she has no problem with America influencing the elections of other countries around the world for over a century. She went on to say, “I also think there are Americans who are engaged in this kind of propaganda, and whether they should be civilly or even in some cases, criminally charged, is something that would be a better deterrence.” Clinton also accused Republican members of Congress of parroting “Russian talking points” on “the floor of Congress”. This is coming from a person and a party that has falsely claimed that their opponent colluded with the Russians to rig the 2016 election. 

What is “propaganda”?  Webster’s dictionary defines propaganda as, “the spreading of ideas, information, or allegations deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause”. So, almost all political speech, especially during an election year is propaganda. Therefore, calling Donald Trump a fascist or Hitler is propaganda. Spending four years claiming that Donald Trump was an agent of Vladimir Putin is propaganda. Paying for the Steele dossier on your opponent and giving it to the New York Times so the false and damaging disinformation in it will be spread throughout the media is engaging in propaganda. Going on a cable “news” network and insinuating that your opponents are spreading Russian propaganda and should be criminally charged, is by definition spreading propaganda. So, by her very words, Hillary Clinton should be arrested for propaganda

The entire Democrat playbook for campaigning and winning elections is propaganda. They call their opponents racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, fascist, Nazi, Hitler. That is all propaganda. In 2012, when Joe Biden told a group of black people in Atlanta that Mitt Romney is going to “put you all back in chains”; that is propaganda. Democrat nominee for President, Kamala Harris has repeatedly called her opponent Donald Trump a “threat to democracy”; that is propaganda. On Wednesday, former White House adviser Susan Rice claimed that if Donald Trump is reelected, he will implement "mass deportation of American citizens." That is propaganda. Barack Obama calling Donald Trump “crazy” and claiming that Trump has “no compunction and no shame about tapping into America’s dark history of racial and ethnic and religious division.” That is propaganda.

Propaganda is everywhere. The Americans who are protesting for Palestine, claiming that Gaza is an open-air prison, that Israel is an apartheid state, that Israel is committing genocide, and that Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal is spreading Hamas terrorist propaganda. Should all those people be arrested? Every person who has ever gone to a protest or a political rally and held up a sign with a slogan on it was engaging in propaganda. Should all those people be criminally charged? Almost every TV show or movie made in Hollywood spews forth left wing propaganda. Should we start arresting actors, writers and directors in Hollywood for propaganda? Of course not.

The ironic part is that the party that believes there is no such thing as objective truth, that all “truth” is relative, that each and every one of us are entitled to our “own truth”, wants to turn it over to the government to determine what speech is true and what speech is not true, what speech should be censored and what speech is allowed, who should be criminally charged for speaking their truth and who should be allowed to speak their truth. If there is no such thing as truth, if our subjective feelings have become objective truths, then there is no such thing as misinformation or disinformation. Then, nothing should ever be censored.

This is not about protecting America. It is about Democrats censoring their political opponents to rig the election in their favor. On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed two bills, AB 2655 and AB 2839, aimed at banning “deepfakes” — digitally manipulated video or images of candidates before elections, as well as at prohibiting digital “disinformation” during elections. In 2022, Kamala Harris running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that there is “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.” Most of what the Democrats claim about Republicans, could easily be classified as “misinformation” or even “hate speech”. Baselessly calling someone a “Nazi” or “Hitler” is hate speech. But the Democrats are not interested to preventing the “misinformation” or “hate speech” that they disseminate, they are only interested in censoring speech that they do not like.

While we are fighting over what American citizens can or cannot say in an attempt to prevent our enemies from spreading propaganda throughout our country, China has infiltrated our colleges and universities, and has infected their curriculum with pro-Communist China propaganda; China has infiltrated our bureaucracy and is spreading pro-CCP propaganda throughout all levels of our government; China is using its power to censor any anti-CCP messaging in Hollywood movies; China is using its monetary influence to politicize professional sports and athletes; China is buying up large swaths of prime strategic real estate throughout our country, and no one in our government, on either side of the aisle, is doing anything about it because all of this is not about protecting Americans or making America a strong and safe nation, it is all about politicians attaining as much power as they possibly can.

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.