The term “liberal” is thrown around a lot in order to describe a person with a leftist ideological bent but there’s very little that is liberal about the left nowadays. In fact, they’ve become so illiberal that they’re even calling for the First Amendment rights of those they disagree with to be stripped so that they can no longer voice opinions that disagree with theirs.

Glenn Greenwald is having none of it, and when GQ Magazine’s Julia Ioffe suggested Fox News lose its rights to free speech, he came down on her and the illiberal ideas that are circulating around mainstream press figures.

Greenwald first highlighted Ioffe responding to a tweet from MSNBC contributor David Frum who said he had “sympathy” for one of the men involved in the Capitol riot who claimed he had “Foxitus” and “Foxmania.” The man’s attorney claimed that his client had watched too much Fox News and watched too many speeches from the president, and thus he raided the Capitol.

That’s when Ioffe had her bright idea and mused that if enough people are saying they’ve been brainwashed by Fox News, then at some point Fox News is just like the man who shouted “fire” in a theater and should lose their right to free speech.

Here’s GQ’s [Julia Ioffe] suggesting that the “authorities” should start considering declaring Fox News to be outside the bounds of First Amendment press freedom protections (invoking the historically ignorant fire-theater cliché to justify it). This is a “journalist” saying this!” tweeted Greenwald.

This prompted Greenwald to send a follow-up tweet, coming down, not just on Ioffe, but the entirety of the “liberal” press that has left the idea of freedom behind in order to embrace authoritarianism.

“I cannot stress enough what a civil liberties crisis it is that the leading advocates of censorship in the US are liberal journalists: the same people whose duty is to champion the First Amendment, not demand its gutting,” Greenwald continued. “And look how much they worship and revere “authorities.”

I cannot stress enough what a civil liberties crisis it is that the leading advocates of censorship in the US are liberal journalists: the same people whose duty is to champion the First Amendment, not demand its gutting.

And look how much they worship and revere "authorities": pic.twitter.com/AdPvMjD4BQ

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 7, 2021

Greenwald struck right at the heart of the issue with the mainstream press today. They’ve been in power for so long that they’ve gotten two very false ideas stuck in their head.

The first is the primary issue that underlies the problem with the mainstream press. They truly, honestly believe that they are the good guys and that it’s their ideology and beliefs that are right and correct. They comfort themselves on every opinion they have with the self-assurance that they’re on the “right side of history” and this is only reinforced by their fellow mainstream, blue-checked leftist reporters who pat each other on the back.

This is why they can suggest that certain people with differing opinions are actually terrorists, insurrectionists, and literal Nazis without batting an eye despite having little to no proof. They truly believe they’re fighting the good fight against a great evil.

Secondly, they’ve become part of the “official” crowd. They work for official mainstream news organizations with official clearances and official blue checkmarks on Twitter. They perceive themselves to be part of the authorities, and in a way, they are. Their ideological community not only owns the official news stage for the nation, but their comrades also hold the White House, the House, and the Senate.

The “authorities” that Ioffe is appealing to is her own team. In her mind, she might find them separate, but they’re not. People like Ioffe have a belief, use their platform to convince everyone they can of said belief, opening the door for people with her same beliefs in the halls of Washington to make said belief the law of the land.

Greenwald is spot on with his warning. What Ioffe and her ilk are doing is dangerous and more so than anyone not paying attention gets. This is a civil liberties crisis just waiting to happen, but the people calling themselves “liberals” will think themselves fully justified in their illiberal thinking and won’t listen to opposition or even reason because their “conscience” will push them away from oppositional thinking.

They will bring fascism and claim it’s freedom.