Billy Long: Media, big tech have declared war on Trump, supporting Biden

 

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

“We’ve lost Cronkite” was stunning news at the time when CBS’ well respected and highly trusted nightly news anchor Walter Cronkite ‘Uncle Walter’ as we called him turned against the Vietnam War and actually expressed his personal feelings on a subject that was tearing the very fabric of the United States apart. 

The only other time I remember him expressing personal feelings was when he appeared to cry on air while reporting that JFK had been assassinated. 

You’d be hard pressed today to watch 15 minutes of a news broadcast and not be able to figure out which team they are rooting for but also who they are openly cheering against as they try to fix the outcome. They clearly think their opinion should also be your opinion. 

Today, news anchors and networks have abandoned their role in our political system as neutral third parties in their unrelenting pursuit of truth. They have been joined in the fight by private companies from your favorite gym to Big Tech who have decided loudly and proudly to celebrate their liberal ideologies and to make sure we as a country are fully ‘Woke’ as they describe it. 

No one cared when Donald J. Trump had a hit television series for several seasons and they certainly weren’t bothered by taking his campaign contributions but wow, one little escalator ride to announce his bid for the highest office in the land and ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ set in overnight. 

At that moment, Democrats raged against what would become the unstoppable and well-oiled Trump train, and by the time President Trump took his oath of office, Democrats had launched an all-out, take-no-prisoners war against the Republican party where they were bound and determined to derail the President’s progress and success no matter the cost to the American public or our country. 

Unfortunately, the war wasn’t confined to the city limits of “the Swamp”; Big Tech began to censor Conservative voices, and once they got away with it, their leaders became more brazen in their efforts to silence their opponents first amendment tights with virtually no consequences or accountability coming from the Democrats they’ve protected.

The latest offense coming out of Silicon Valley is old hat for Republicans, but the direct attack Twitter launched when it censored a legitimate and reputable publication from posting an unflattering story about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, is not only disgustingly biased but outright dangerous. 

As you probably know by now, last week, Twitter blocked users from sharing a New York Post article that contained salacious details surrounding Hunter Biden securing a meeting between an executive at a company he sat on the board of and his father, then vice president, who was supervising the Obama Administration’s Ukraine Policy. 

While the story might not sway the decision of voters, they have the right to hear it. However, thanks to Twitter’s pre-emptive actions to shield the Democratic nominee, Americans may never have had the opportunity.

As we’ve progressed through President Trump’s first term, so too have we witnessed the progression of Big Tech’s political bias, transitioning from concerning to activities that are now synonymous to an in-kind donation to the Biden Campaign. 

Democrats have repeatedly turned a blind eye to this behavior because it’s in their favor, but now that it threatens our fundamental right to free speech, I sincerely hope they decide this is a problem they can no longer ignore.

Big Tech has engaged in increasingly abusive assaults on conservative voices and has demonstrated that they will continue to do so absent Congressional intervention. Tech Giants like Twitter have enormous power and influence over every aspect of our lives and have consequently secured an incredibly influential position in politics and our election. 

With this power comes the responsibility and duty to be fair arbiters on their platforms and promote transparency, not cherry-pick what can be shared based on their CEO’s political ideologies.

Congress should agree that manipulation of this kind is a direct attack against the Constitution and should hold any company that seeks to censor Americans accountable. The bottom line is that this level of censorship is something we’d see in and expect from China, not the U.S., and any effort to address such censorship should be met with nothing less than unanimous and bipartisan support.

Pelosi’s favorite line during their impeachment sham was to reference Ben Franklin’s answer to what kind of government we had, “a republic, if you can keep it.” Yet when our country faces a real threat to our founding principles, her silence, and that of her party’s, is deafening. 

We can’t keep a republic if we have companies willfully silencing voices they do not agree with in an attempt to sway an election in their chosen candidate’s favor. We can’t keep a republic if we selectively censor voices for no reason other than disagreement. 

Though we have a contentious political climate, at least we are fortunate to have one wherein all voices across the political spectrum are recognized. Madam Speaker, do not turn a blind eye and don’t make this a partisan issue; we must hold Big Tech accountable for their actions. We are lucky to have this Republic; let’s do what we can to keep it. 

To paraphrase George Washington’s famous words to his men as they prepared to cross the Delaware ‘GET IN THE BOAT!’ To preserve our liberty and freedoms it is time for all good Republicans and Democrats to come to the aid of their country, work together and get in the boat to fight this scourge.