Trump decries cancel culture even as he embraces it

In a divisive speech at Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump railed against “cancel culture” and the left’s supposed wholesale embrace of totalitarianism. He accused his political opponents of “shaming dissenters and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees,” arguing that such behavior has “absolutely no place in the United States of America.”

Unfortunately, no other American has spent more time, energy and (taxpayer) resources trying to cancel dissent and enforce submission than Trump. Here are just a few of the ways that he has used or tried to use the powers of his office to punish critics and perceived enemies:

1. He has weaponized antitrust powers against a media organization he dislikes.

Trump repeatedly ordered subordinates to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner, which owns CNN. (Disclosure: I am a contributor to CNN.) As The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported last year, Trump ordered Gary Cohn, then the director of the National Economic Council, to pressure the Justice Department to intervene, but Cohn emphatically refused to comply.

2. He has threatened to “revoke” licenses of media organizations whose coverage he dislikes.

3. Since the Federal Communications Commission won’t go along with his instructions to revoke media licenses for specific news organizations, Trump has urged his followers to cancel subscriptions to the cable company that owns the news organization in question.

4. He has weaponized the U.S. Postal Service against the owner of a media organization he dislikes (The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos). Trump has made no secret of his desire to use the Postal Service to raise costs for Amazon, even if doing so might ultimately cause more pain for USPS.

5. Trump has allegedly weaponized the government procurement process against the Post and Bezos).

According to an October 2019 memoir by a senior aide to former defense secretary Jim Mattis, Trump in 2018 directed Mattis to lock Amazon out of a chance to bid on a lucrative defense contract. When Amazon’s bid was rejected, the company sued and argued that Trump’s public remarks improperly influenced the process.

6. He has repeatedly accused a TV host he dislikes of murder, with zero evidence.

7. He has fired from one job, and blocked from promotion, a national security official whose speech he dislikes.

After Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified before Congress about Trump’s notorious Ukraine call, Trump had Vindman and his twin brother, who did not take part in the impeachment proceedings, fired and escorted from the White House grounds. Now the administration has delayed awarding Alexander Vindman a scheduled promotion.

8. The president, other government officials and Trump family members have tried to block publication of books critical of the president.

9. Trump has demanded pledges of allegiance to him personally and blocked from jobs people who have ever said anything critical of him.

He has demanded loyalty oaths from rallygoers, government officials and even senior law enforcement officials. (So much for tolerating disagreement or dissent.)

10. He has encouraged or tacitly condoned violence against protesters, journalists and dissidents.

11. He gassed peaceful protesters outside the White House so he could stage a photo opportunity with a Bible.

Quite literally — and forcibly — canceling dissent.