December 6, 2020

At last night's rally in Georgia, Trump said that the "big tech" companies are "vicious and violent and untruthful." Violent?!

Maybe he just slipped and got his "v" words mixed up. He said "vicious" and maybe he was reaching for another alliterative adjective, but he said "violent." 

From the transcript, here's the jumbled context:

And by the way, tell our senators end Section 230. End Section 230. Put it in. We put it in. I want it in the defense bill. Put it in because it’s a national security problem. It’s a big national security. So hopefully, Mitch and the senators will put it in. But it’s the one chance we have to bring big tech, who are vicious and violent and untruthful, to bring big tech … It’s the only thing they fear is that we’re going to end Section 230. So hopefully, we will do it. It happens to be a politically very popular thing to do, by the way.

Here's a NY Post article on the issue, "Trump doubles down on veto threat for defense bill over Section 230." 

I just wanted to call attention to the strange allegation that the big tech companies are violent.

102 comments:

BarrySanders20 said...

Vindictive? Vengeful? Have varicose veins?

Bob Boyd said...

You could argue the business model results in violence such as the BLM and Antifa riots.

David Begley said...

Maybe Trump knows that Big Tech is funding BLM and Antifa. He is, after all, the President and gets the intelligence. Considering all the crimes that BLM and Antifa have committed, I certainly hope the DOJ is investigating them.

doctrev said...

https://creativedestructionmedia.com/investigations/2020/12/06/trump-forensics-team-in-antrim-
county-courthouse-at-9am-cst-examining-machines-group-reportedly-directed-by-general-flynn/

How very interesting. As for the President's allegations, perhaps he just knows something that we don't. If Ebay execs can behave this badly, what's Google up to?

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/ex-ebay-employees-sent-bloody-pig-mask-to-intimidate-critics-feds-say.html

John henry said...

Isn't speech the same as violence?

John Henry

Tank said...

Words are the new violence!

According to the left.

rehajm said...

Isn't speech the same as violence?

Exactly. This is the rule the left established. It's not supposed to apply to them but fuck them.

Scott said...

speech is violence. or so we have been told

Scott said...

speech is violence. or so we have been told

Owen said...

Your speech causes me pain = your speech is violent.

And my violence is just speech, so no problem there.

Trump exercising poetic license. Should he apologize? To the people who are choking off his speech?

Ann Althouse said...

There's also the slogan "Silence is violence."

All this expansive use of "violence" has been on the left.

daskol said...

I agree, that violence is linked in his mind to the tech companies because of their embrace of BLM/Antifa rioting and looting. I prefer that explanation to the postmodern equating of unpleasant speech with violence, which recently morphed into silence equating violence depending on the topic.

Carol said...

Isn't speech the same as violence?

And silence is violence!

So, you can't win.

Wince said...

Vile and violent?

Mikey NTH said...

Big Tech certainly goes out of its way to assist the Left in its violence, so yes, Big Tech is violent by association.

Birkel said...

The big tech companies are setting themselves up as the enforcers of fascism as they pair with Leviathan to commit violence to civil liberties.

There is no convincing counter argument I have seen presented.

Joe Smith said...

@AA

They're murdering democracy.

Isn't that violent?

n.n said...

vicious (adj.)

late 14c., "unwholesome, impure, of the nature of vice, wicked, corrupting, pernicious, harmful;" of a text, "erroneous, corrupt," from Anglo-French vicious, Old French vicios "wicked, cunning, underhand; defective, illegal" (Modern French vicieux), from Latin vitiosus (Medieval Latin vicious) "faulty, full of faults, defective, corrupt; wicked, depraved," from vitium "fault" (see vice (n.1)).


violent (adj.)

mid-14c., from Old French violent or directly from Latin violentus, related to violare (see violation). In Middle English the word also was applied in reference to heat, sunlight, smoke, etc., with the sense "having some quality so strongly as to produce a powerful effect." Related: Violently.

- etymonline.com

Probably a reference to their habit of censorship and steering democracy.

The Gipper Lives said...

"This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.

Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, founded in injustice and wrong, are sure to tremble, if men are allowed to reason... Equally clear is the right to hear. To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker."--Frederick Douglass

LA_Bob said...

I'm not sure I can imagine Donald Trump "reaching" for alliteration. I think this is just another instance of taking Trump literally rather than seriously.

But I'm sure he could "reach" for an rationalization if Chuck were in the White House Press Corp and asked him about the statement.

urpower said...

Federalist Paper #10– “violence of faction”—the creation of division as injury to the political body.

David Begley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David Begley said...

Where is the FBI in all of this?

Instagram post by election worker in ATL admits that the election was stolen. A Smoking Gun.The Instagram post is on Lin Wood’s tweeter feed.

If the police won’t do their job and arrest criminals then we are totally and completely fucked.

Kevin said...

All this expansive use of "violence" has been on the left.

It won't stay that way.

Conservatives react to preserve the system.

Once it becomes clear the system has been destroyed, what's going to hold them back?

Ice Nine said...

Giuliani Covid positive today.

Michael K said...

The "Violence" so far is verbal and pixilated. That may not last.

We'll see. I can still remember Ritmo the troll accusing me in 2016 that I wanted a revolution. Well we got it but it was non-violent except in Democrat cities. Now, we will find out how much the other side wants peace.

Jim at said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
William said...

Come on Professor, you don't have to take Trump literally 100% of the time.

Big tech is to violent as peaceful is to demonstrations (i.e., riots).


IN 1913 Webster's (great on-line source, look it up): Violent =

1. Moving or acting with physical strength; urged or impelled with force; excited by strong feeling or passion; forcible; vehement; impetuous; fierce; furious; severe; as, a violent blow; the violent attack of a disease.

2. Acting, characterized, or produced by unjust or improper force; outrageous; unauthorized; as, a violent attack on the right of free speech.

Any questions?

tcrosse said...

"Voracious" is a good V-word for Big Tech. Ask anyone in Small Tech.

I'm Not Sure said...

If we're going to insist on taking Trump literally, it's only reasonable to do the same for Biden:

“We’re in a situation where we have put together, and you guys did it for our administration... President Obama’s administration before this. We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.”

Walls closing in yet?

n.n said...

Giuliani Covid positive today.

Past, possible, probable, or progressive? The disease progression is correlated with certain comorbidities correlated with age, but with early treatment, there is greater than 90% probability that he will not require hospitalization and will recover shortly.

rhhardin said...

They're violent like women are violent.

No job for you.

Roughcoat said...

"The use of violent rhetoric was a hallmark of Lenin's speeches."

rhhardin said...

V is for vagina anyway.

rhhardin said...

Churchill was always making the vagina sign to keep the morale up.

Roughcoat said...

Example of "violent rhetoric" in the previous post:

Writes Jeet Heer in "Movie Theaters Aren’t Dying—They’re Being Murdered/The Covid-19 pandemic is providing a perfect cover for media giants bent on replacing theatrical moviegoing with streaming at home" (The Nation).

gspencer said...

Violent is okay. What they've done to the voices of those who don't sing from the Liberal Hymnal is straight-up violence.

steve uhr said...

Bite the hand that feeds you. Trump w/o Twitter. He would be a wreck.

The Godfather said...

Look, the guy just misspoke. He stammered as a child. Give him a break.

Oh, you're talking about Trump not Joe?

Please disregard above comment.

traditionalguy said...

The big tech guys violently violated our election by teaching the Soros Dems all the ways for rigging the vote count using software called Dominion. Next stop the Deplorables purge and Gulag camps where violence is the norm.

Steve Pitment said...

If silence is violence, then actively colluding with your political allies to silence you political opposition by any any means necessary surely is. It's bonkers, sure. But Trump didn't usher on this new reality.

The Tangerine Tornado said...

Our posts, ideas, thoughts and opinions have been rounded up and sent to the tech equivalent of a Gulag never to be seen nor heard from again.

We can hope that by adapting the language of our oppressors, they will someday come to understand the pain they are causing.

readering said...

All's for the best in the best of all possible Trump worlds. Dear Leader always has a deep truths below what appear to be superficial falsehoods.

Howard said...

Vituperative

Chennaul said...

Virulent.

virulent
adjective
US /ˈvɪər·jÉ™·lÉ™nt, ˈvɪər·É™-/
virulent adjective (ACTING QUICKLY)


(of a disease) dangerous and spreading quickly, or (of poison) having an effect very quickly:
a virulent strain of flu
virulent adjective (FULL OF HATE)


fierce and full of hate:
virulent speech
Several newspapers mounted virulent attacks.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/virulent

Chennaul said...

Violent

Virolent

Virulent

Michael K said...

steve uhr said...
Bite the hand that feeds you. Trump w/o Twitter. He would be a wreck.


What would Parler pay him to switch ? Do you know how stupid you sound ? No, not stupid, just deluded.

bagoh20 said...

Yes, violent, because as we've been told, silence is violence, and nobody silences more voices than these companies. Face it, whenever you think Trump is wrong, you are. It's been a hard lesson for me too, but I got it.

Let's also remember that the riotous violence across the nation's Democrat run cities was facilitated and organized almost entirely via social media who then censored voices opposed to it. Yes, violent.

Inga said...

Giuliani Asked Michigan Witness to Remove Mask at Hearing 4 Days Before Testing Positive for COVID-19

Hmmmm, maybe not such a good idea, but to be fair Rudy could’ve gotten infected anywhere right wingers congregate without masks.

Heartless Aztec said...

Silence is violence. Make the left play by their own rules.

bagoh20 said...

"All this expansive use of "violence" has been on the left.".

Trump is a leader and this is a dog whistle to the rest of us that we are no longer going to play by our rules. Get ready for us playing according to the Left's rules. You ain't gonna like it, but that's the point. It's gonna be fun for us. I don't think we are going to sniff the hair of young girls, sexually assault women at work, or spank the monkey on Zoom calls, but we can let our hair down and rumble for the cause.

5M - Eckstine said...

I can see room for using violent. In a similar manner big tech uses it against Trump.

Information bullies who hide and reveal information to fit their goals. Hiding the violence of the ANTIFA movement in the media would be a form of violence by big tech.

Trump just joked about his 5th Avenue violence. Big Tech is putting it into actual practice. Not joking around.

5M - Eckstine said...

Violence is coming though. If one has read conservative threads over a few years there is a noticeable exponential increase in thoughts of violence.

The judges are on trial here.

Inga said...

Hopefully Rudy didn’t spread the Trump love all over the place.

How Many People Did Rudy Giuliani Infect?' Twitter Reacts to Trump Lawyer's COVID Diagnosis

“Shortly after President Donald Trump announced Sunday that his attorney Rudy Giuliani had tested positive with COVID-19, many on Twitter began sharing videos of Giuliani attending crowded events in recents days without wearing a mask.

"After testing positive for Covid-19, Rudy Giuliani filed a lawsuit with the lab demanding the results be overturned," actor George Takei tweeted.”

I’m sure Rudy will be fine after he gets the Regeneron.

Spiros said...

Was Trump talking about radicalization and terrorism? Or mass shooters live-streaming their murders on Facebook (Christchurch, New Zealand) or terrorists beheading people and posting the videos on youtube?

rcocean said...

Oh, so Trump talked for 70 minutes - without a teleprompter or a script - and made an error. well, thanks for that Althouse.

I found it more important that Trump gives another 8 minute segment detailing all the fraud that has Biden ahead. But hey.. lets not talk about that.

Finally, its typical of the Republican's that despite Big Tech funding the D party with massive amounts of Cash (Ratio D to R is 90-10) AND Big Tech censoring Trump and Conservatives, they COULD NOT WAIT to reward them with deleting section 230 and giving them a Hug Present with 500,000 H-IB cheap labor. What is the point of supporting the R's? They only want to support Big business and globalism. Everything else is bullshit.

tim maguire said...

Trump adopted several woke tropes last night. Speech is violence was one. Victimhood was another. Not a proud moment, but still, let the lefties call him on it.

Phil 314 said...

Well the big tech companies are something but is there anyone else besides Trump who can weigh in on them?

rcocean said...

The deletion of Section 230 AND the flooding the country with cheap labor to help Democrat Big Tech reminds me of the Republican DCMA bill of 1998 the R's passed to help Hollywood in 1998. The R's don't care if Hollywood or Big Tech support the D's 90-10, as long as they throw them so chump change.

Pathetic.

Iman said...

Vile... vulnerable... voracious... venomous... villainous...

Ralph L said...

Hitchcock warned us about the Twitter birdie long ago.

Qwinn said...

I don't think he will delete 230. That would be bad and unfair to companies that haven't abused the privilege, like Craigslist.

This is the Art of the Deal. He says delete 230, everyone screams, he'll say, fine, as long as the protections are removed from the proven bad actors (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.), and gets exactly what he wanted in the first place.

If 230 is deleted wholesale, I think that would be very bad and I would criticize Trump for it, but he's just doing the obvious intelligent thing of asking for more than he really wants so that there's room to negotiate.

Something the Republican party seems unable to learn, or at least did until Trump started showing them how.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Antifa and BLM, both of which are backed and protected by Big Tech, are very violent.

If you conspire with someone who beats people up, IIUC you can be charged as an accessory to their violent crimes.

No?

jeremyabrams said...

Dropping a small business in the rankings because of ideological impurity, causing its financial destruction, sounds pretty violent to me.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

steve uhr said...
Bite the hand that feeds you. Trump w/o Twitter. He would be a wreck.

Snicker. How about CNN, MSNCB, NYT, and WaPo? Any shred of profits they've had in the last 4 years is due to Trump

Anonymous said...

The gaslight media has been telling us that right-wing free speech is violence and left-wing violence is free speech for some time now. Let's run with these delusions and turn them against our enemies.

Anonymous said...

Once it becomes clear the system has been destroyed, what's going to hold them back?

The general feeling among folks I know is that Antifa/BLM will permanently cease to be a problem for this country about 36 hours after the police forces are defunded and disbanded.

Qwinn said...

And when crime inevitably skyrockets, Antifa and BLM will be deputized as their replacement. Names might change but it will be the same people.

Then the fun will really begin.

Skippy Tisdale said...

Inga said...

Again I ask, is there no way to block commenters here?

Oso Negro said...

If they were violent, would we know?

Mikey NTH said...

Skippy if you click next to the name you collapse the comment.

Joe Smith said...

"Hmmmm, maybe not such a good idea, but to be fair Rudy could’ve gotten infected anywhere right wingers congregate without masks."

You know who gets covid? People who fucking do things and don't hide in basements.

Fuck left wingers (that would be you).

I'm Not Sure said...

An amazing percentage of the population talk about covid as though it was the andromeda strain.

I blame the media.

Michael said...

The Left is more than happy to use "violence" metaphorically (although they claim it is literally). And surely Big Tech does violence to the truth, and to average citizens' rights to express themselves without fear or favor. Not all violence is damage to person or property.

Qwinn said...

Big Tech routinely demonetizes conservatives. They deliberately inflict significant, and sometimes severe, financial damage to those who don't share their politics.

If I demonetize your website that was expected to bring in $10,000, or I come to your house and do $10,000 worth of damage to your property with a baseball bat... is there a practical difference in terms of the harm done?

Ken B said...

They have not been violent. They are perhaps abettors of violence in whipping up this year’s riots, and they are beneficiaries of violence that cripples other sources of information. and modes of commerce. They have embraced the effects of violence, provided cover and aid to the violent.

Qwinn said...

Holy crap, is Michigan a clusterf**k


Protest Erupts In Front Of Radical MI Sec of State Jocelyn Benson’s Home After Lawmakers Discover All MI County Clerks Were Ordered to Delete All Election Related Data From Computers [VIDEO]

On Friday, Kristina Karamo, host of the Kristina Karamo Project, Dr. Linda Lee Tarver a 29-year former Secretary of State election integrity liaison, and Angelic Johnson, went to Lansing, Michigan to put Michigan’s Democrat Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on notice after it was discovered by Phil Kline, director of the Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society, that Benson had given the far-left Rock The Vote group full “front door access” to Michigan voter rolls.

100 Percent Fed Up – According to Karamo, the information provided to Rock The Vote, a far-left activist group that identifies as “non-partisan,” included sensitive data like social security numbers, addresses, birth dates, and eye color of Michigan residents. According to Amistad’s Phil Kline, Rock the Vote was also given the ability to add names to the MI voter rolls.

...

The Michigan Star reports- the Amistad lawsuit notes that Benson circumvented the explicit intent of the Michigan Legislature, which established an absentee ballot process designed to minimize the risk of fraud. Benson allegedly violated numerous provisions of this process by sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications to every household in the state. Benson compounded the error by establishing a process for online absentee ballot applications, again without statutory authority. This precludes the possibility of obtaining an actual signature from the voter, as required by law. The secretary of state’s unlawful actions flooded the state with absentee ballots, which are inherently less secure than in-person voting.

...

Yesterday, another Benson bombshell dropped when Republican legislative leaders discovered that the MI Board of Elections (BOE) ordered all county clerks to delete election-related data from government computers.

Qwinn said...

Because deleting all election related data from government computers while fraud lawsuits are ongoing is exactly what innocent people do.

Qwinn said...

Innocent government workers who are primarily motivated to conduct a safe and secure election also *always* give far-left groups like "Rock The Vote" complete access to the voter rolls, including complete authority to add whatever names they want to the lists.

What could possibly be wrong or suspicious about that?

Fritz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Qwinn said...

And to tie back into the Big Tech aspect of the post...

Remember hearing that Zuckerberg spent $400 million on this election?

That's where Rock The Vote got their funding from. So, effectively, Zuckerberg paid lots of money for the ability to add whatever names he wanted to the Michigan voter rolls.

If you completely pollute the voter rolls with fraudulent voters, does that count as violence?

I vote yes. And whether or not it counts as doling out violence, it certainly merits receiving some.

Jupiter said...

"All this expansive use of "violence" has been on the left."

Yes, and all the expansive use of violence has been on the Left, also. Thus far.

I can't find buckshot for under a dollar a shell. Still plenty of birdshot for sale. Nobody is too concerned about the birds, I guess. But a lot of us seem to be pretty worried about those bucks.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

silence is violence, right?

Well - the tech companies cover for Antifa Nazi Arson. so there your have it.

TickTock said...

Funny but nut a good look, Jupiter

Joanne Jacobs said...

I think he meant to say "vile." Or he's preparing us for four years of "guess what the president meant to say."

Butkus51 said...

They condone and cover up violence. Get it?

gadfly said...

Section 230(c)(2) provides immunity from civil liabilities for information service providers that remove or restrict content from their services they deem "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected."

So what possible damage can this law have on an outgoing president with just 44 days left in his term? And what does he care what Big Tech does or doesn't do in this time period. I have been telling you that the man is crazy and this proves it. What is Big Tech going to do? Zap him with data streams? Absolutely an earth-shattering violence threat. I worry far more about Trump's access to the nuclear codes and I would think others do as well.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Gadfly wrote:
So what possible damage can this law have on an outgoing president with just 44 days left in his term?
who judges whether content is "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected"?
Gadfly is the most ignorant person on the internet.

Mr. Forward said...

Tried to join a polka band. Band leader said “fiddles were for barn dances”. Told him it was a violin. He said “violins is silos”.

The acoustics were great but I didn’t like the climb.

Darrell said...

Silence is violence.

--So Saith The Left

Mark said...

Qwinn said "as long as the protections are removed from the proven bad actors"

You seem to misunderstand what proof is.

When were Google, Twitter, and Facebook PROVEN to be bad actors? I see lots of allegations, but proof actually requires more than shit your crazy uncle said.

Much like election allegations. Saying you believe it true doesn't prove something. And you know that.

tim maguire said...

Qwinn said...
I don't think he will delete 230. That would be bad and unfair to companies that haven't abused the privilege, like Craigslist.
...
If 230 is deleted wholesale, I think that would be very bad


Quite right. 230 needs reform, not repeal. Its problem is not that it shouldn’t exist, but that it’s over-broad and applies to companies and activities that shouldn’t be protected.

tim maguire said...

Mark said...
Qwinn said "as long as the protections are removed from the proven bad actors"

You seem to misunderstand what proof is.

When were Google, Twitter, and Facebook PROVEN to be bad actors?


In this situation, it’s you who doesn’t seem to understand what proof is. In any case, selectively removing protection is unnecessarily cumbersome; it would also be slow and litigious, as usual favoring the big companies that have the resources to fight it. All that’s really needed is some definitions—what’s a platform that's protected, what’s a publisher that isn’t.

RichAndSceptical said...

From dictionary.com

"of, relating to, or constituting a distortion of meaning or fact."

wildswan said...

Silencing is violence. Query.

Mike Petrik said...

They commit violence against the truth.

Qwinn said...

Sigh.

Mark, any platform that literally censored the NY Post Hunter Biden Laptop story on the patently false premise that it arose from hacked materials (an issue that never bothered them with Trump's taxes) and then refused to unsuspend the NY Post account for a week is a proven bad actor as far as 230 goes. Full stop.

Martin said...

The SJWs who are in charge of most of our institutions, and in particular are the public faces of all the big tech/social media companies, insist that speech they don't like is violence.

So, why should Trump not reciprocate the sentiment? Why is that odd? It's the New Normal.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

chi com virus for democrats = violence against humans for the World Order (D)

Michael K said...

I see lots of allegations, but proof actually requires more than shit your crazy uncle said.

Lefty Mark did not believe that Russia story about Trump for a minute. For a microsecond.

Right, lefty Mark?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Hillary was in bed with Russians.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

zefal said...

Fomenting the riots. How clueare you?