'If You Can Keep It': Trump, Hate Speech, And Free Speech
Oct 27, 2025•43 min
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Episode description
A Hitler-praising group chat. A government official with a self-proclaimed “Nazi-streak.” A swastika flag in a sitting U.S. representative’s office.
Those are a few of the racist, antisemitic forms of speech and expression tied to notable Republicans in recent weeks. Vice President JD Vance downplayed outrage over some of these incidents as “pearl clutching.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed a memo designating groups like “Antifa” and Black Lives Matter as terrorist organizations. It’s part of the administration’s larger effort to crack down on what it calls a widespread left-wing conspiracy to carry out acts of political violence.
In this installment of “If You Can Keep It,” our weekly series on the state of our democracy, we talk about the Trump administration and the fine lines between hate speech, violence, and political dissent.
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
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Those are a few of the racist, antisemitic forms of speech and expression tied to notable Republicans in recent weeks. Vice President JD Vance downplayed outrage over some of these incidents as “pearl clutching.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed a memo designating groups like “Antifa” and Black Lives Matter as terrorist organizations. It’s part of the administration’s larger effort to crack down on what it calls a widespread left-wing conspiracy to carry out acts of political violence.
In this installment of “If You Can Keep It,” our weekly series on the state of our democracy, we talk about the Trump administration and the fine lines between hate speech, violence, and political dissent.
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
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