1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy.. But equally dangerous is how quickly the Trump administration used this tragedy to inflame division and distort the meaning of free speech. Before the facts were known, fa-right voices and Trump himself urged escalation instead of restraint. Now that the facts are known, Trump continues to press forward with its plan. Susie Wiles speaks of using law enforcement to police what she calls civil speech. The administration boasts of driving dissenting voices out of academia and the press. Officials frame America as a violent dystopia to justify expanding government control over who can speak, what can be said, and how. That is not protecting free speech. It is censorship by the state — authoritarianism dressed up in patriotic language. Can you gather congressional members to both denounce political violence in all forms, and the Trump administration’s dangerous attempt to crush our First Amendment rights. Protect our free speech!