Olivia Troye - How to Kill NPR and Call It Freedom

Headlines scream daily crises, yet the quieter threat creeping underneath is more dangerous. Officials are erecting essentially “free-speech” commissions that decide which protests are acceptable, which books remain on shelves, and which experts may speak. Cross their line and you risk a lawsuit, unemployment, or even jail.

I’ve spent my career balancing national security and civil liberty—one hard-won rule: when any administration builds panels to manage speech, they risk crossing the line from protection into policing. In 2025, the hypocrisy has gone full tilt—because those now screaming “freedom” are the ones enforcing silence.

Across the country, new laws, and campus regulations are rolling out under the guise of liberty. But peel back the label, and you’ll find a pattern: political appointees deciding which speech is acceptable, which books are permissible, which protests are tolerable. And if you cross the line? Expect lawsuits, job loss, or even jail time. This isn’t theoretical. It’s happening. And the party that once lectured everyone else about the marketplace of ideas is now stocking the shelves with only one brand of truth.

The GOP once prided itself on being the party of the First Amendment. But today, that legacy has been replaced by loyalty tests and selective silencing. On November 30, 2023, I testified before U.S. Representative Jim Jordan’s so‑called Weaponization of the Federal Government committee. I was prepared to discuss how Trump-era pressure influenced DHS threat assessments and what we did when contacting social media companies. The microphones were on, but the appetite to listen was not. Republican members who once shouted about viewpoint diversity cut me off the moment the facts strayed from their narrative.

https://www.livingitwitholiviatroye.com/p/how-to-kill-npr-and-call-it-freedom