Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy attacked two fellow GOP presidential candidates for being "fair-weather fans" of free speech ahead of the third Republican debate next week.
Ramaswamy accused both Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of "textbook constitutional violations" for recent actions in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
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DeSantis recently called for the chancellors of state universities in Florida to deactivate chapters of the Students for Justice in Palestine, citing their "material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization." Haley, on the other hand, called for pulling tax-exempt status from schools that did not work to "combat antisemitism" while continuing to allow free speech.
"SJP’s views are repugnant, but the First Amendment is necessary to protect speech we hate. That’s why hate groups, pornographers, and teenage protesters feature so prominently in First Amendment litigation. As Thomas Jefferson explained: 'We have nothing to fear from the demoralizing reasonings of some, if others are left free to demonstrate their errors,'" Ramaswamy said.
The entrepreneur then said DeSantis's rationale was weak and called for the group to be allowed to function despite their views.
"In recent years, colleges have become anticonservative cancel-culture munitions factories. They’ve disciplined students for displaying photos of President Trump, punished professors for refusing to use nonstandard pronouns, and disinvited disfavored speakers or tolerated mobs that shouted them down," Ramaswamy wrote. "Fair-weather fans of the First Amendment like Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley undermine the conservative crusade against cancel culture. We can’t condition our pleas on whether we agree with the views expressed."
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Both Haley and DeSantis made clear in their statements that free speech should be protected. They argue supporting terrorist groups (including Hamas) or allowing antisemitism should not be promoted. In defending his actions on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, DeSantis argued the student groups had gone outside of "the realm of normal activity."
"Their own words are saying they're part of this organization, that they don't just stand in solidarity, that they don't just support what they did, but that this is their movement too. So once you hitch your wagon to a group like Hamas, that takes you out of the realm of normal activity, and that's something that we're going to take action against," DeSantis said. "So we believe we're totally justified within the law."