‘The right to be safe as a right to feel safe’: Trump exploits progressive safetyism to crush campus protests

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President Donald Trump has launched an extensive attack on free speech rights in America, particularly targeting pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. This crackdown represents the most significant threat to free speech since the McCarthy era, with universities facing pressure to suppress student protests. Brown University political scientist Alex Gourevitch explains how the concept of “safetyism” has been weaponized against student protesters. These ideas, combined with modern mental health awareness, have been appropriated to justify restrictions on political speech and assembly. This precedent has made it difficult for them to defend free speech rights when they conflict with pro-Israel positions.