‘Un-American.’ Andy Barr responds with anger to Twitter’s ban on Trump
Kentucky Congressman Andy Barr said Friday night that he is “outraged” that Twitter intends to permanently suspend President Donald Trump’s account.
“I am outraged that an American social media company permanently banned a U.S. President and other conservatives from its platform while the Ayatollah of Iran, the Leader of the Nation of Islam and many officials from the Chinese Communist Party operate freely on their platform,” Barr said in a statement. “Banning conservative Twitter accounts and recent attempts to try and cancel or remove conservative books from Amazon and other online retailers will not bring our country together. Instead, these efforts put us on a path towards implementing the Chinese Communist Party’s social credit system, where access to online platforms, public spaces and much more hinges on expressing the acceptable political views.
“This is totally un-American, and I urge Americans to unify around the Constitution, Bill of Rights and fully embrace the free exchange of ideas that is a bedrock principle of our American Republic.”
Twitter said in a blog post Friday that it had made the decision to shut down @realDonaldTrump because of “the risk of further incitement of violence.”
The social media platform said two tweets by Trump on Friday were in violation of its policy on glorification of violence.
“Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks,” the statement said.
Trump tweeted on Friday that “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
Soon after, he also tweeted: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
On Wednesday, after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and Trump shared a video in which he referred to them as “very special” people, Twitter temporarily banned the president.
Former Trump security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell also had their accounts shut down on Friday. Twitter told the Associated Press it cracking down on accounts “solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Vanceburg, also commented shortly after Barr’s statement was issued Friday night.
“What the hell is happening?” Massie wrote. “Twitter and Facebook are shutting down accounts. Apple and Google are shutting down Parler as people try to migrate there. Are we living out some kind of dystopian novel this week?”
