This page is part of a resource collection on Authoritarianism & Bigotry in the Second Trump Administration.

Image: AFP via Getty Images

Trump’s assault on freedom of speech takes many forms. See Cross Cultural Solidarity’s resource pages on:

• Attacking the Free Press.
• Attacking Academic Freedom.
• Attacking the Scientific Community.
• Attacking the Arts.
• The Erasure & Rewriting of History.
• Banning Books.
• The Detention & Deportation of International Students Practicing Free Speech.

Additional Resources

Podcast: The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment.

Additional Articles

2025

March 7.   The New York Times: These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration.

April 3.   ACLU: Court Hears Arguments on the Unconstitutional ICE Detention of Rümeysa Öztürk: Öztürk is a Tufts Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar who was detained in retaliation for writing an op-ed critical of the university.

April 7.   NPR: Freedom of speech is shifting under the Trump administration.

April 8.   NPR: ‘Citizenship won’t save you’: Free speech advocates say student arrests should worry all.

April 9.   NPR: How the powerful are using lawsuit threats to silence media and ‘Murder the Truth’.

April 9.   Colin Moynihan & Mitch Smith: Senate Panel Demands Information About Gaza Protest Group at Columbia: Lawmakers want the university to turn over all its records about Students for Justice in Palestine.

April 10.   The New York Times:Stanford Protesters Charged With Felonies for Pro-Palestinian Occupation.

April 10.   NPR: ‘What did I say in class today?’: Teachers feel watched under Trump’s anti-DEI push.

April 14.   NPR: Under Trump, freedom of speech in universities takes on a new meaning.

April 15.   NPR: Scientists worry about free speech rights under the Trump administration.

April 21.   Clint Smith: What It Means to Tell the Truth About America: and what happens when empirical fact is labeled “improper ideology”.

April 25.   Naomi Nix and Sarah Ellison: U.S. attorney for D.C. accuses Wikipedia of ‘propaganda,’ threatens nonprofit status.

May 1.   Eileen Guo: Senior State Department official sought internal communications with journalists, European officials, and Trump critics. Trump appointee Darren Beattie requested records regarding a large list of high-profile names, organizations, and right-wing buzzwords for a “Twitter files”-style document dump about alleged conservative censorship.

May 17.   Hannah Allam:With Comey questioning, the Trump administration again targets speech: Since January, federal officials have repeatedly sought to punish opponents for activity traditionally protected by the First Amendment.

September 12.   Sam Levin: UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move. Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents.’

September 18.   Lili Loofbourow: Kimmel’s suspension confirms what many suspected after Colbert’s cancellation: Media companies must punish Trump critics if they want their mega-mergers approved.

September 19.   Domenico Montanaro: Kimmel’s suspension for Kirk comments sparks furor over free speech and censorship.

September 19.   Clare Lombardo: ‘We are all Jimmy Kimmel’: What late night hosts are saying about Kimmel’s suspension.