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Download the Viator app now to use code VIATOR10 for 10% off your first booking in the app. Regret less. Do more with Viator. Hey, folks. Joyce Vance here, co-host of the Cafe Insider podcast. I'm the former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and a law professor at the University of Alabama Law School. This is a recording of my latest Cafe note, Don't Stop Political Debate. As always, write to us with any questions and comments at lettersatcafe.com.
Dear listener, political violence or any violence directed against a candidate for elected office is unacceptable. America is a country where we resolve those differences at the ballot box.
It's precisely for that reason that we must not let the attack on Donald Trump become an excuse for silencing political debate. Americans have to be able to freely discuss ideas, policy, and candidates' qualifications in advance of an election. So while last Saturday's attack is a reminder for folks on both sides of the aisle to avoid the kind of invective that incites violence, talking about the candidates and their respective merits is fair game.
Vigorous debate is essential as voters make up their minds about who to vote for. Even Donald Trump insists on it. He argued in court that the First Amendment protected his right to engage in political speech even when it was only marginally political and concerned the prosecutions against him. Both Judge Mershon in the Manhattan DA's case and Judge Chutkan in the Washington, D.C. prosecution agreed, narrowly tailoring restrictions on Trump's speech to protect courthouse personnel and jurors.
That left Trump with a full range of political debate on the table, and he took advantage of it. The so-called gag orders even permitted him to criticize prosecutors and judges and claim the cases brought against him were directed by Joe Biden, despite the absence of any evidence to that effect.
There is no reason to believe that other Americans have weaker First Amendment rights around a campaign than the candidates themselves. Political debate should never involve the use of language like, some folks needed killing, as one gubernatorial candidate recently said.
It's a good moment to be careful about the casual use of expressions we frequently rely on in conversation, like saying fighting when we really mean debating, or putting a bullseye on someone when we're scrutinizing a position they've taken. Everyone understands that Trump and Biden are two very different candidates, and the directions they would take the country in differ sharply. The attempt on Trump's life doesn't change that.
Those differences mean that debate over the issues should be robust. Americans deserve that. None of this has to be difficult. It's how Americans have conducted themselves and their politics for decades. We have our political differences. Candidates duke it out, figuratively only, during political campaigns. Everyone agrees to abide by the results at the ballot box.
It's not wrong for people to say Donald Trump broke that mold rejecting and trying to reverse the voters' decision, even after the court told him he didn't have a legal leg to stand on. It's a fact. People must not be afraid to speak truth to power, even as we all condemn the act of violence we saw in Pennsylvania Saturday night. Here's an example. Project 2025, which you have likely heard of by now, is a plan to dramatically reshape the federal government if Trump wins.
Each chapter, focusing on an agency or entity of government, is written by a subject matter expert. More than 80% of them are people who were involved in the first Trump administration. Project 2025 is the work of the Conservative Heritage Foundation and has been publicly available since at least last November, but it only began to receive widespread public attention over the last few weeks.
It's a highly specific blueprint designed for implementation during the first 180 days of the next administration by a group of pre-vetted loyalists who would end access to abortion drugs and criminalize their provision,
Turn DOJ into a political tool Trump could use to protect his friends and punish his enemies. Use DOJ to conduct oversight of local district attorneys, second-guessing the way they exercise their discretion in the communities that elected them. End the Department of Education and with it programs like Head Start.
transform the federal civil service from a nonpartisan merit-based professional corps of workers to a workforce that is loyal to Trump, not the Constitution, by purging employees who disagree. And there is more. At 900-plus pages, Project 2025 is full of policy proposals ripe for debate in an election season.
Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025 after criticism of it as anti-democratic emerged, but many sources pointed out the linkages between Trump and the Heritage Foundation, including Heritage's president, who said it was legitimate for Trump to distance himself because of the politics. Whether it's Trump's plan is also a legitimate topic for debate in this election season.
But some people are criticizing citizens who want to exercise their First Amendment rights and engage in political speech, debating these plans and Trump's connection to them in the wake of Saturday's shooting. If we believe in democracy, we have to be prepared to go to bat for it, to make the case for it by engaging in discussions about the candidates and the issues, calling a politician's plan anti-democratic after studying it, especially when that conclusion is supported by facts,
Stay informed, Joyce.
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