GOP Senator Who Once Championed Free Speech Now Says It’s Overrated

In a stunning reversal, Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming—once a vocal defender of the First Amendment—now says free speech isn’t the “ultimate right” after all.

Lummis, who co-sponsored the 2023 Free Speech Protection Act alongside Sen. Rand Paul, told Semafor she no longer believes Americans should enjoy nearly unrestricted freedom of expression. Her comments come in the wake of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, a killing that has shaken the far right and spurred President Donald Trump’s administration to openly threaten critics.

“I used to think the First Amendment should always be the ultimate right,” Lummis said. “And that there should be almost no checks and balances on it. I don’t feel that way anymore.”

She went further, suggesting that unchecked speech leads to violence: “We just can’t let people call each other those kinds of insane things and then be surprised when politicians get shot and the death threats they are receiving and then trying to get extra money for security.”

Lummis’s about-face is especially striking. Just two years ago, she warned the Biden administration was plotting to muzzle dissent, calling free speech a “sacred freedom.” Her bill sought to bar the government from pressuring social media companies to remove posts—a grievance Republicans railed about during Biden’s term. That bill stalled and never became law.

Now, with Trump back in the White House, many of those same Republicans are abandoning the absolutist free speech rhetoric they once used to bludgeon Democrats.

The shift is happening at the highest levels of government. This week, President Trump raged that the “97 percent of networks” critical of him “should have their license taken away.” Vice President JD Vance has urged Republicans to call the employers of anyone celebrating Kirk’s death. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that the “radical left cheering violence” must be silenced once and for all.

Civil liberties groups say the rhetoric is authoritarian. “This is exactly what happens when a president believes he’s above the Constitution,” said Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “We’re witnessing a systematic effort to punish political speech.”

Even some on the right are uneasy. Sen. Ted Cruz warned colleagues not to cheer the FCC’s pressure campaign that forced ABC to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air. Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson bluntly cautioned that branding “hate speech” as a crime would dishonor Kirk’s own freewheeling style: “There’s no sentence Charlie Kirk would have objected to more than that.”

And Elon Musk—who once styled himself a “free speech absolutist”—has quietly softened, agreeing with Trump allies that saving “Western Civilization” matters more than constitutional purity.

Democrats, meanwhile, are sounding the alarm about what they call creeping authoritarianism. “This is the logical end of Trumpism,” said Sen. Cory Booker. “Republicans talked a big game about liberty under Biden. Now that their guy is in power, they’re ready to tear the First Amendment to pieces.”

The irony is striking: the very people who once insisted Democrats were out to silence conservatives are now advocating government crackdowns on critics, late-night comedians, and everyday Americans online.

As the 2026 midterms loom, Democrats are betting voters will see through the hypocrisy. “We’ve gone from ‘don’t tread on me’ to ‘do what Trump says or else,’” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “That should terrify anyone who actually cares about democracy.”