U.S. Rep Matt Gaetz believes liberals enforce cancel culture not so much to promote racial harmony but rather to intimidate conservatives into self-censorship.
In a recent interview with Newsmax, the Florida Republican said conservatives are at risk of being marginalized in many ways as “Woketopian” President Joe Biden and the progressives who have his ear push shifting standards of what is acceptable discourse.
“If Big tech and big media and big corporations can team up to cancel the president of the United States, as they did in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, then they can do it to any of us,” Gaetz told host Rob Schmitt.
“While we’re able to joke about the absurdity of these things, tonight, each and every day Americans have to decide whether or not to self-censor, to self-cancel, to maybe not fly their America First flag at full but rather half-mast. And I think that’s really the goal of the left, to cause us to be less expressive about our love for our country and our values.”
Gaetz added that Corporate America was undermining its own cause – and bottom lines – by opting to not donate to pro-Trump Republicans and instead embrace liberal-accommodating politics “to advance values that will ultimately destroy them,” meaning socialism and communism.
Gaetz also said Democrats would simply ignore requests from Republicans, like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, to host hearings to explore the scourge cancel culture is becoming – and what it might bring.
“This is a real thing,” Gaetz added. “And right now it’s about the flow of information. But what happens when the financial sector is impacted by the cancel culture? What happens when, as a consequence of the political donations you’ve made, or the Facebook post you’ve made, you’ve got different opportunities to get a loan or a credit card or a bank account.”
“I’m worried that we’re heading in that direction,” Gaetz said. “It’s increasingly troubling to me that we seem to see a unity of common purpose in Big Government and Big Business to try to squelch patriotic populism in our great country.”
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