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TPM's Josh Marshall on how we combat this new McCarthyism and its assault on free speech [1]
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Date: 2025-09-19
A few months before the 2024 election, I wrote a post titled “How a Second Trump Administration would bring back McCarthyism.” That post was about the threat of Project 2025, but more specifically a far lesser-known bastard child of that manifesto, Project Sovereignty 2025, which was only publicly revealed last May. The latter was an explicit plan to attack and purge those people that this (then-theoretical) administration perceived as its “enemies” within the federal government, and it specifically announced the creation of a database to target specific individuals within various agencies within the federal government for removal.
The inescapable conclusion at that time — for me at least — was that this was a clear template for how the administration would attack all political opposition, not simply the federal “bureaucracy:”
That a private organization could publicly tout a McCarthy-like enemies list—and do so before this year’s election—indicates how Republicans and other right-wing extremists will operate if the tools of government are handed over to them. What is now a private effort of conservative think-tanks to intimidate swaths of the federal workforce portends an overall intent of exposing other opponents of Trump’s policies. In effect, Project Sovereignty 2025 can be understood as a prototype method for attacking anyone the administration deems an enemy. The movement’s Project 2025, if imposed, would enable this virulent form of McCarthyism by enlisting a Trump-loyal Department of Justice and FBI to investigate those who oppose Trump’s policies, either actively or by simply refraining to protect them from right-wing attacks. [***] If Donald Trump is reelected, this new strain of McCarthyism will be more dispersed, more agile, and more selectively targeted, enabled by political demagogues and a right-wing media establishment that has proved itself capable of deluding vast numbers of Americans. It will have the tools of a now-unaccountable and vindictive executive, and it will have devout followers behind it, spawning a McCarthyism on steroids, crafted for this hyper-partisan internet age. Elected Democrats—who will certainly oppose Trump’s regime—will find themselves under attack.
As it turns out, that is exactly what we are seeing now: a virulent form of McCarthyism “on steroids,” where political criticism, commentary and opposition is being snuffed out through the power of the state. The murder of Charlie Kirk is simply the vehicle and excuse for implementing a plan that was already poised for implementation. It was an implicit goal of Project 2025 from the get-go. And if it wasn’t Kirk’s unfortunate death that brought it into fruition, they would have found another excuse. Democrats and liberal organizations were slated to be targeted from the outset.
So, how to deal with this fascistic assault on anyone and anything who dares to oppose — or even criticize — this repugnant, anti-free speech administration?
Josh Marshall, writing for his Talking Points Memo, makes some salient points and offers some good strategies on how Democrats should proceed in the wake of the latest — but by no means the last --assault on our constitutional rights, namely, the ostensible co-opting of corporate power to silence the comedian Jimmy Kimmel because of his political commentary.
Marshall’s piece is mostly behind a paywall but I am reproducing a bit of it here verbatim, and will try to do justice to what I cannot fairly quote.
Marshall notes that the first thing the Democrats must do is illuminate the source of the problem, by highlighting it aggressively and constantly:
We are in a contest of spectacles of power. The first and most important thing is not to react or complain or bewail but to attack. To this end, where I would start, especially if I were a Democratic elected official, is by taunting every journalist I came into contact with from ABC, CBS and every other news and media organization that is now owned by the White House — which is a rapidly growing list. It may soon include CNN if Paramount/Skydance succeeds in purchasing Warner Brothers Discovery. “Yes, I will happily answer your question, but first, how can we trust your company, since it is owned by Donald Trump? You have to do whatever he demands.” Every time. Attack and attack and attack. Don’t complain. Attack. People are bewildered by what they’re seeing. They don’t like it. Everything that raises the salience of this issue is a win. They want to see someone talk back. There is a rich history which correctly views the tyrant not as a symbol of strength but as a weak and contemptible figure, vain and fragile, addicted to fawning and praise, murdered in his heart by the most innocuous of criticism. The whole system of autocracy is one built on individual degeneracy, the strongman and the toadies together.
Secondly, to illuminate the problem for the American public it is absolutely necessary for all elected Democrats and their allies — and the public— to understand and communicate exactly why this is happening. It is happening because the FCC under Trump appointee Brendan Carr has the power to allow or, more importantly, deny the ability of a large corporate conglomerate (in this case Nexsar, and probably others) to realize its plans of expanding control of local ABC affiliates through the acquisition/merger of other large conglomerates similarly situated. As Marshall notes, “Yesterday, Carr sent a clear message to Nexstar that if they wanted their merger they needed to do the right thing with Jimmy Kimmel.” The decision to indefinitely suspend Kimmel followed almost immediately.
This is why the administration knew its strategy would be effective. Profit — and continued profit -- is the most powerful of motivations, and in this case profit comes from appeasing the regulators. As Marshall notes, “Any company which operates in the highly regulated broadcast space is also vulnerable.”
Third, it is important to realize — as Marshall points out — that taking such opinions away from the American public does not decrease the demand for them. If anything, it whets and increases that demand. How many of you have actually watched this specific Jimmy Kimmel show? I didn’t — it’s on too late for this guy. But I, and the majority of the public, get to hear what he says through other media such as BlueSky, TikTok, etc.
So in this media environment the sacking of Kimmel by ABC does not have to mean Kimmel — or anyone else who dares to criticize this regime — will be muzzled. In fact, other forms of media do exist to get these types of views and opinions out, such as podcasts or other non-authoritarian media sources. In other words, the way to counter censorship is to one-up the censors. That effort requires financial backing, creativity and infrastructure, but it can be done, and it needs to be done.
Lastly — and probably this is the most important — is to remember that the Democratic party is not simply an “opposition party” at this point. It’s the party that is by its nature best suited to constitute the strongest defense to such tactics, as Marshall puts it, “in the midst of an attempted authoritarian takeover of the American Republic.” That provides an enormous opportunity for Democrats, who represent the more than half, if not a clear majority, of people in this country who find the administration’s tactics abhorrent, no matter what their contrived excuse is.
What we’re experiencing is a blatant, opportunistic attempt to profoundly and radically alter the entire American experience, the way this country perceives itself and its own, historical values. Marshall suggests that Democrats lean into this aspect, and notes that some of them, such as Sen. Chris Murphy, are doing just that:
x This is a massive, history making abuse of your power. It will define your legacy and one day you will come to regret punishing free speech and trying to destroy democracy.
[image or embed] — Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) September 17, 2025 at 8:53 PM
But Marshall believes elected democrats like Murphy can even do better: “I want lawmakers to be telling people like Carr and his ilk not that they’ll have regrets but that they’ll face consequences.”
And in fact many Democrats are starting to realize this.
x Swalwell: There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. To the FCC chairperson and anyone in involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room answering questions
[image or embed] — Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) September 18, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Democrats are not helpless. They are in reality two or three seats away from power in the U.S. House of Representatives at the very least. So we use this assault by the administration to make that a reality.
As he writes:
History is long. No one is in the saddle forever. It is critical for an opposition to give the people a vision of forward trajectory in time, that this isn’t the end of the story, that consequences can be delayed but not evaded. It’s such a demonstrable point. Think even of the longest lasting fascist or authoritarian dictatorships. Franco? About 35 years. Pinochet? 16 years, ousted by a referendum. I don’t imagine this will last for even a tiny fraction of that length of time. My point is simply to demonstrate the incontestable point: no one remains in the saddle forever.
Marshall acknowledges he hears over and over again how the 2026 elections won’t happen, won’t be fair, etc. His response is to challenge us, if we feel that way, to do something about it. That means simply working our damndest to make them happen, and being vigilant to call out any GOP ratfuckery. And fight against these anti-American thugs who are tearing down the foundation of everything good and decent about this country.
And really, what else can we do? Corporate conglomerates don’t exist to serve the public. They exist to make themselves rich. If the public wants to be fairly served and represented, the public will have to demand it.
To this end, Marshall stresses that it’s important to remember these actions by and in support of Trump are not going over well at all with the public. Further, as pointed out by Heather Cox Richardson in her most recent Substack post, “it’s becoming clearer every day that opposition to the president is not partisan.” She notes that right -wing figures such as Tucker Carlson and Karl Rove are even sounding the alarm, warning that Trump’s strategy is antithetical to core American values (A cynic would venture that they are simply worried about their own positions under a future Democratic administration, but I digress).
Marshall believes that strategy will be perceived as even worse once the public understands what’s actually occurring, and its implications. Ultimately, he counsels that we need to remember who exactly we are as Americans, and the country we want to live in. It is most certainly not the dull, monochromatic and obedient authoritarian state that these people appear to imagine.
It’s down at the most democratic level of our system where the resistance is strongest and growing — juries that refuse to indict or convict amid Trump’s bogus crime crackdown, voters who are showing they’ve had enough. [Trump] slashes at the civic orthodoxies and values we were all raised on. This remains his opposition’s greatest advantage. It simply needs to be exploited.
Marshall doesn’t shy away from the fact that the situation is dire, and of course, it is. There has not been an equivalent, sustained assault on free expression, nor a campaign of intimidation, in this country since the days of Joe McCarthy. And the truth is that he’s ultimately relying on ordinary Americans to realize just how dire it is.
But regardless of what people like Stephen Miller and Russell Vought may think or want, this is a very, very large and diverse nation with a long, unruly and storied history of freedom of speech. If any time was the time to defend that legacy, it is now, no matter what cynical strategy this administration uses to attack it.
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