Attention folks who pleasure themselves immensely by condemning a certain real estate magnate for his racially inflammatory language about illegal Mexican immigrants.
Donald Trump has free speech rights too — even though, with one honorable exception, nobody seems to care.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio early this month ordered a “review” of Trump’s contracts with the Big Apple in light of his broadside about Mexicans. The obvious implication was that his contracts, such as one for operating a Bronx golf course, would be cancelled.
But the New York Times and other liberals trashed de Blasio for trampling on free expression.
Oh, wait. No.
That is actually what they said about former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani when he tried to end City funding of the Brooklyn Art Museum because it displayed a dung-splattered portrait of the Virgin Mary.
Or when conservatives objected to the National Endowment for the Arts funding an innovative artist who put a bullwhip up his bodily orifice that is a good description of WaPo‘s Erik Wemple. (He put it up his asshole.)
The reality is that long established and fairly well known case law says you can not deny an organization or individual government funding for offensive speech. Indeed, a federal appeals judge stymied Giuliani’s attempt to de-fund the Brooklyn Art Museum.
Nevertheless, the NYT and their fellow travelers looked the other way when de Blasio positioned to nix Trump’s contracts.
Enter veteran civil libertarian Norman Siegel, one of the few people in public life who has enough integrity to criticize, without any media pressure, people in his own ideological camp.
Siegel, the lawyer for Occupy Wall Street weirdos who successfully sued the NYPD for wrecking their makeshift library, has even bucked gay rights advocates.
He objected to efforts by then-New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to banish Chick-fil-A from Gotham because the chain’s founder pointedly opposed gay marriage.
It is hard to think of any body else on the left who has ever objected when the gay mafia knee caps opponents.
True to form, with the cancellation of Donad Trump’s City contracts looming, Siegel told the New York Daily News that any such decision by de Blasio would be blatantly unconstitutional.
De Blasio listened, sort of.
Last week, the mayor announced that there were no legal grounds for the cancellation of Trump’s current contracts but, “We’re certainly not looking to do any business with him going forward.”
Not so fast, Bucko, says Siegel.
“In the Mayor’s rush to condemn Mr. Trump he forgot the principles embodied in the First amendment,” he told The Mirror. “Not doing business with Trump is an abuse of his authority. The liberal-left which used to be the be victims of censorship are now being the perpetrators.”
