The knee-jerk overreaction to any comment that is not in complete support of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk is not sitting well with all conservatives who have long deplored what they have called “cancel culture.”
In a column on Substack reacting to the executives at ABC/Disney putting Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on hiatus due to comments he made, not about Kirk, but about his MAGA supporters, conservative Matt Lewis harshly objected to MAGA fans raising the temperature in the culture wars.
Noting that the loss of livelihood is affecting more than Kimmel for relatively benign comments about the murder of Kirk, Lewis took a shot at the conservative extremists for going over the line.
Pointing out “The impulse to cancel some voices this past week is understandable,” Lewis cautioned, “now, in an amazing turn of events, conservatives are now aping the progressive scolds and speech cops, only with red hats.”
“Actually, their version is worse,” he accused before elaborating, “The left’s ‘accountability culture’ mob might have been overbearing, but their agenda was (with a few notable exceptions) largely driven by hall monitors. Today’s ‘woke right’ is executing things in a more overt, efficient and official manner — which for the record means it can violate not just the spirit of the 1st Amendment but the actual, you know … 1st Amendment.”
The conservative columnist singled out Vice President JD Vance, embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and publicity-hungry Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) as the biggest offenders.
Pointing to Vance telling Americans, “When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. And hell, call their employer,” Lewis asked, “Which raises the question, what if their employer is the government? That would be awkward. But no problem! Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly telling staff to track down soldiers guilty of wrongspeak. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is trying to get teachers terminated, tweeting: ‘We don’t fund hate. We fire it‘ — which feels like the sort of slogan Mao might have had printed on a T-shirt.”
“Let’s be clear — opposition to cancel culture is merely the latest principle that Trump-era Republicans have conveniently abandoned. Indeed, almost every tenet that conservatives held dear a decade ago has been reversed,” he wrote, “They’ve finally realized that this is their cancel culture now.”
“Maybe that’s the grubby little secret about politics in the Trump era,” he suggested. “Almost nobody cares about values or morals — or 'principles' — anymore. Free speech, limited government, fiscal restraint — these are all rules for thee, but not for me. Cancel culture wasn’t rejected, it was just co-opted. So go ahead. Drop a dime. See something, say something. Big Brother is watching.”
“Irony, meet guillotine,” he concluded.
You can read more here.