Senator Hawley urges Americans to push back against corporate ‘muzzling’ of free speech as liberals continue shouting ‘traitor’

US Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has received accolades for penning an op-ed in which he denounced Big Tech’s control over free speech, but the Republican’s critics are still furious at him for challenging the 2020 election.

Writing in the New York Post, Hawley warned that “corporate monopolies” were silencing alternative views that they don’t like and “forc[ing] their political agenda on America.” 

Comparing the situation in the United States to China’s “social credit score,” the Missouri senator claimed a growing army of “trained enforcers of woke orthodoxy” was being used to detect dissent. 

The alliance of leftists and woke capitalists hopes to regulate the innermost thoughts of every American, from school age to retirement.

Hawley has labeled himself a victim of such tactics. The lawmaker became a target of liberal activists and media outlets after he challenged the presidential electors from Pennsylvania, claiming the state had violated its own election laws. Numerous court cases have dismissed cases that alleged similar unlawful activity. 

He was later accused of playing a role in inciting rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, and was subsequently dropped by his publisher, Simon & Schuster, which had asked him to write a book about political censorship in the country. An independent publisher, Regnery Publishing, announced last week that it would bring out his book. 

Hawley was one of several lawmakers who publicly questioned the integrity of the 2020 election results. As a result, many have blamed him for helping, even indirectly, to foment the chaos in the capital. 

A hotel has also pulled out of hosting a political event for Hawley, claiming that it did not want to be associated with individuals who “supported and incited” the unrest in the capital. 

Citing these experiences over the past three weeks, the lawmaker said now is the time to take action and defend the First Amendment from corporate overreach. 

His message was well-received among conservatives, even while many acknowledged that there was a bumpy road ahead for those who wanted to safeguard freedom of expression. 

Others said they agreed with Hawley’s somber assessment but thought that the GOP was far from blameless, accusing the Republicans of failing to protect conservatives and Donald Trump supporters from “domestic terrorism” allegations being hurled by Democrats and the media. 

However, Hawley’s detractors were equally vocal with their continued insistence that the senator was guilty of egging on violent demonstrators and threatening the safety of his fellow lawmakers. Countless people responded to his op-ed with messages and memes calling him a “traitor.”

One pundit poked fun at Hawley’s comparisons to China, arguing there were no parallels between state-enforced censorship and “private citizens criticizing a politician.” 

There was also a seemingly inevitable tsunami of comments calling Hawley a Nazi and a fascist.

Corporate control over speech has become a hot button issue in the United States, following the decision by Twitter to indefinitely suspend then-president Trump. The social media company claimed it feared his messages could spark further violence following the riot at the Capitol, which has been linked to several deaths. Several platforms followed suit, raising serious questions about whether private companies should be allowed to deplatform public figures.

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