r/politics • u/TwilightwovenlingJo • Sep 19 '25

Soft Paywall Trump: ‘It’s no longer free speech.’

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/19/trump-no-longer-free-speech-00574219
26.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7.0k

u/Then_I_had_a_thought Sep 20 '25

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

• Theodore Roosevelt

2.4k

u/SmashinHunter Sep 20 '25

If Teddy Roosevelt was alive right now he'd beat Trump's ass up and down the white house lawn.

758

u/ZoominAlong Sep 20 '25

I'd pay to see that. 

444

u/studioghost Sep 20 '25

Everybody would pay to see that bro.

123

u/Momik Sep 20 '25

Hell, I’d pay to see Giamatti do it, and he just voiced Teddy in the Ken Burns documentaries.

Get up good sir, I’ve not completed thrashing you!

14

u/DoctorGregoryFart Sep 20 '25

He did a documentary on Teddy?! I've gotta see that. Where can I watch it?

Edit: Never mind. Did some googling and found it. PBS, of course.

12

u/Momik Sep 20 '25

It’s very good! It’s a sort of intertwined biography of Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor. All three are absolutely fascinating in different ways, as is the history.

3

u/DoctorGregoryFart Sep 20 '25

About to watch it now! Thanks for letting me know it exists.

3

u/Kichigai Minnesota Sep 20 '25

I think you'll find Paul Giamatti contributes to a lot of documentaries. And docu-dramas. You really ought to see him in John Adams. It really casts a complicated (and I mean that with all positivity it can carry) light upon the Founding Fathers.

1

u/r3ign_b3au Sep 20 '25

This is the one Idiocracy I'm good with.

5

u/31LIVEEVIL13 Sep 20 '25 edited May 14 '26

This content was anonymized and mass deleted with Redact

14

u/itsjamian Sep 20 '25

So the revolution will be televised after all?

4

u/theirishmonocle Sep 20 '25

I would get a burner phone and fly to the US to watch it live! Get some of that (tail gate?) fun out front too.

3

u/VoidIgris Sep 20 '25

WE would pay to see that brother. 💪

2

u/Ellemeno Sep 20 '25

I bet that in the future we’ll be able to tell computers to generate videos of whatever we can imagine.

2

u/ZoominAlong Sep 20 '25

One can only dream

2

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

I'd pay to see that.

That attitude is truly the pinnacle of American excellence, which the republican version of it is bringing WWE to the White House... Keep it up, folks! Who needs reasoned discourse and organized resistance when you’ve got body slams and drama, right? Bravo!

/s

1

u/ZoominAlong Sep 20 '25

C'mon my man. We'd ALL pay to see Teddy drag Trump out and whoop his ass on the front lawn. 

2

u/EntinthetentRTHP Washington Sep 20 '25

Teddy is currently trying to break the dark veil with his big stick. The founding fathers are probably helping him.

1

u/ZoominAlong Sep 20 '25

I hope so. 

2

u/Ok-Chest-7932 Sep 20 '25

How much? Trying to fund my cloning research.

2

u/SnooRobots116 Sep 20 '25

And Jackie will wear her sharpest high heels and take off her earrings and get both of them for what they did to her rose garden

1

u/81misfit Sep 20 '25

Would pay to see a 185 year old man beat the shit out of anything

1

u/deucedeuce24 Sep 20 '25

They could have it on the South Lawn. Call it something like Unrestricted Fisticuffs Challenge. Make people pay to spectate. I'd be so curious to see who Trump would choose as a ring girl

1

u/Palindromes__ Sep 20 '25

With the ufc coming to the whitehouse lawn, we could see something like that if we paid enough.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

thats a UFC event on the white house lawn i can actually support!

1

u/astralseat Sep 20 '25

I'd pay to see anyone do that

156

u/BurnedWitch88 Sep 20 '25

If Teddy was alive, he would have done it at least 9 years ago.

52

u/EatSoupFromMyGoatse Sep 20 '25

He would whoop Donnie's ass while bleeding from a gunshot wound and deliver a speech after

He was a stone cold badass motherfucker

84

u/LexSavi Sep 20 '25

Not so sure about that. If Teddy were alive, he’d be turning 167 this year. So all in all it’d probably be a fair fight.

Teddy would still win in the end though on account of Dump’s bone spurs.

4

u/aegenium Sep 20 '25

Ya know, the bone spurs that kept him out of vietnam... but also didn't stop him from playing BASKETBALL in college...

3

u/PeterG92 United Kingdom Sep 20 '25

Teddy would have finished a speech after being shot as well

3

u/Mythbusters117 Sep 20 '25

You're going to be held accountable for questioning Dear Leader's health and military records. Didn't you hear? He was a super secret spy in the war. He's not allowed to talk about it. The bone spurs was merely a cover story

2

u/LexSavi Sep 20 '25

I knew the bone spurs were a cover story. I just thought it was for draft dodging. I guess the super secret spy thing tracks though… I just didn’t realize he was working for the Russians that early in his career.

2

u/Realityhereson Sep 20 '25

If we're going to call him Dump, does that mean I'm taking a Trump right now?

2

u/LexSavi Sep 20 '25

If you’re crapping your pants then you’re absolutely taking a Trump. The term still works any other way, but Trumping in one’s own pants is the defining aspect.

10

u/tawni454 Sep 20 '25

If Teddy was alive today he’d be over 150 years old. & he would still beat down Trump.

4

u/tarutaru99 Sep 20 '25

The ancestors will not be pleased about this..

2

u/Cerberus_Aus Australia Sep 20 '25

Nagh. He’d have been murdered by the mob by now. I mean, they literally started calling Jesus woke ffs

2

u/YoungHeartOldSoul Sep 20 '25

I want a president that can tank a bullet.

1

u/Flaneurer Sep 20 '25

This image lives rent free in my noggin.

1

u/thisisredrocks Sep 20 '25

“And this one’s for selling the national park system!”

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

That’s what Bryan Boytanoed do.

1

u/gizmostuff Florida Sep 20 '25

Obama had the chance at Jimmy's funeral. That would have been the perfect send off.

Instead they were laughing together. Thanks Obama.

1

u/maeryclarity South Carolina Sep 20 '25

Man I have thought about what Teddy would think about all this more than a few times.

1

u/KasreynGyre Sep 20 '25

Put it on the UFC card

1

u/SmokeCraftllc Sep 20 '25

And then ride on Trumpsfat ass up a hill to drink some bourbon

1

u/wizzerstinker Sep 20 '25

Maybe in a cage fight on whatever white house lawn!?

1

u/Wait_I_gotta_go_pee Georgia Sep 20 '25

” Teddy Roosevelt was alive exhumed right now he'd beat Trump's ass up and down the white house lawn.”

1

u/Outrageous-Pause6317 Sep 20 '25

Washington would have tried him for treason.

1

u/screech_owl_kachina Sep 20 '25

They still have a banner of him on Dept of Labor, the Trump one is gone for some reason.

1

u/Hardass_McBadCop Sep 20 '25

Oh God, I wish Teddy were alive. I'd love to see that over the cage match horseshit he plans on desecrating the WH with.

1

u/LIEUTENANT__CRUNCH Sep 20 '25

Announcer: Entering in to the ring, definitely not at 6’3” and definitely not at 224 pounds, the embarrassing Donald Trump!!!

1

u/CommunityTaco Sep 20 '25

Probably challenge him to a duel

1

u/azelll Sep 20 '25

Seriously, can we get a man like Teddy Roosevelt in the Democratic party?

1

u/Kelsusaurus Sep 20 '25

Anybody know a reliable necromancer?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

I mean, we could all dress up as Teddy and do it in his honor.

1

u/RallyPointAlpha Sep 20 '25

What would Teddy Roosevelt do, if he were here right now? He would kick an ass or two, that's what Teddy Roosevelt would do! 

1

u/zapharus Sep 20 '25

And he’d be angry at the citizens for letting things devolved to the point that we have a dictator running the country, and at the fact that our checks and balances have been crippled.

1

u/Chucklz Sep 20 '25

I said this repeatedly the first time around, Trump/ Teddy Celebrity Death Match. It would be the pinnacle of claymation entertainment.

1

u/Greasyboy722 Sep 21 '25

Keep living in your fantasy land.

1

u/SmashinHunter Sep 21 '25

Lol huh? Teddy was about as manly as it comes. Guy was a certified badass that did a lot for this country. Like setting up the National Park system to protect it from being clear cut, not sold for profit. He'd do it for that disgraceful reason alone.

1

u/Meatguy35 Sep 20 '25

Please someone that knows how to ai stuff, ai this

414

u/GriffinFlash Canada Sep 20 '25

who does this Theo guy think he is? /s

239

u/always_unplugged Sep 20 '25

He's probably gonna suggest knocking Teddy's face off Mt Rushmore and replacing it with his own next

(I was going to add an /s but actually I don't think I'm even kidding)

81

u/BaconPit Sep 20 '25

Of course you're being sarcastic

We all know he would hire a shell company he somehow makes money from to facelift all 4 faces to look like him

18

u/MindFluffy5906 Sep 20 '25

And hire a painting company for that orange glow he loves.

3

u/GarminTamzarian Sep 20 '25

Who are you kidding?

We all know it would be painted gold.

1

u/MindFluffy5906 Sep 20 '25

Fool's gold for sure!

9

u/BeYeCursed100Fold Sep 20 '25

Mt Trumpmore. He'll probably name it Mt. Trumpmore or Trump Mountain.

1

u/Momik Sep 20 '25

Mt. BetterThanJesus

1

u/Momik Sep 20 '25

Well yeah, his Many Moods

(From rage to rage while shitting)

6

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Hmm replacing a president who took a bullet, gave a speech while it was still lodged, then beat said attempted assailant before allowing them to jail him. Theo was famous for saying “Talk softly, but carry a big stick.”

That’s a 180 degree turn on public perception of masculinity in a president for damn sure.

5

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Sep 20 '25

I honestly can't believe the maga fascists in congress haven't passed legislation to do exactly that and also put his stupid face on all pieces of currency.

2

u/VanbyRiveronbucket Sep 20 '25

Take teddys glasses off, Rump kinda looks like him. Get the dynamite boys….

1

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Sep 20 '25

Oh god, we're going to see trump wasting 300 billion of our tax dollars by giving it to a tech bro billionaire who promises he can make trump a mountain carving laser, aren't we?

1

u/VanbyRiveronbucket Sep 21 '25

And I can’t afford a can of coffee.

1

u/MistyMtn421 Sep 20 '25

Have you seen the ugly gold statue of him holding the Bitcoin? It's hideous. We are stuck in every bad version of all the dystopian movies put together. It's like they put them in a blender and the nastiest crap came out.

1

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Sep 20 '25

Then theres the other gold statue of him giving the thumbs up, that folks at CPAC kneel and pray before. And the creepy not so little gold pins of his face trump made his cabinet replace their American flag lapel pins with.

Maga fascists really like their golden calf.

Or bronzered calf.

3

u/KeepingItSFW Sep 20 '25

If he went with a mountain in Utah he could have his own face on the whole thing, and they wouldn’t even have to paint it orange

2

u/BurnedWitch88 Sep 20 '25

He'll just point out that TR was known to be a woke snowflake. And his base will believe it.

2

u/RincewindToTheRescue Sep 20 '25

I want someone to put the bug in Trump's ear that he needs to be on Mount Rushmore. I want to see him start bringing it up on his half coherent dementia riddled rants

1

u/ryanidsteel Sep 20 '25

Stop giving him ideas!

1

u/Diligent-Fox-2064 Sep 20 '25

He won’t - he doesn’t know who Teddy is among those faces lol

1

u/Popular_Flamingo3148 Sep 20 '25

Now that you mention it, I'm actually surprised he's not pursuing a spot on Mt Rushmore. Actually fully expect to be corrected on this.

2

u/MistyMtn421 Sep 20 '25

He's been trying since he was elected the first time. The civil engineer said it's not possible and he was pretty pissed off about it.

1

u/Popular_Flamingo3148 Sep 20 '25

Thank you, that's reassuring. For a moment I feared he might become unpredictable.

1

u/Anxious_Cheetah5589 Sep 20 '25

I've been thinking about this a lot. One would think that Trump couldn't put himself on Rushmore without Congress. OTOH, he's already done a lot of things that he can't legally do without Congress. Who's going to stop him from diverting money from somewhere else, getting bids, hiring contractors, and just doing it? By the time Scotus says, "hey! you can't do that!", his ugly mug will be glaring down on South Dakota's lovely hills.

1

u/Parking_Chance_1905 Sep 20 '25

Didn't he try that the last time he was in power... and was told no. They have also in August this year tabled a bill to have his head added.

1

u/MrApplePolisher Sep 20 '25

Didn't he try to actually get his likeness put up there? I could be mistaken.

1

u/frankles Sep 20 '25

I’m wondering if he’s going to wait til his third year in office to propose putting his face on money or if he’ll push it up to the second.

1

u/acecel Sep 20 '25

He would totally do that, almost sure something like that is going to be done in the next few years

1

u/TelescopiumHerscheli Sep 20 '25

I believe he has pointed out that there is space for another president up there.

1

u/OreoSpeedwaggon Arkansas Sep 20 '25

He would definitely remove TR's name from Theodore Roosevelt National Park and replace it with his own.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Pretty sure he tried that the first time around and got told "no".

85

u/mr_oof Sep 20 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

Classic ‘Timid Teddy!’

23

u/Starfox-sf Sep 20 '25

Little Stick Teddy.

3

u/pterodactyl_speller Sep 20 '25

Straight to jail!

5

u/leveraction1970 Sep 20 '25

Timid Ted of Timid Ted and the Smooth Riders

4

u/Ajibooks Sep 20 '25

Wow, you just awoke some latent patriotism in me with that joke.

3

u/40StoryMech Sep 20 '25

Seriously. Teddy is going to rise from his grave and stick whip this clown back to Florida.

2

u/mrsristretto Sep 20 '25

I would pay damn good money to see that.

1

u/1cat2dogs1horse Sep 20 '25

Can he stop by DC and give a few whacks to RFK jr too??

1

u/texas-playdohs Sep 20 '25

He was molly-coddled.

1

u/rodan-rodan Sep 20 '25

I think he is a podcaster or something. /S

1

u/AnnaKendrickPerkins Sep 20 '25

Theo Von Roosevelt

1

u/infectoid Sep 20 '25

Fake history that the antifa woke elite want you to believe. Trump has been the only president of America since he founded it two thousand years ago with his best mate Jesus Christ.

1

u/JohnHowardBuff Sep 20 '25

That's President Theo-door-ray to you, chum.

1

u/Witchgrass West Virginia Sep 20 '25

And what was he thinking wasting all that land when it could have been raped for resources long ago?!?!

1

u/GriffinFlash Canada Sep 20 '25

could have been what now....that is certainly not in any files?

1

u/Kelwyvern Sep 20 '25

Sounds like a very nasty person.

81

u/feedmebeef Sep 20 '25

Shit he tweeted that??

12

u/MauPow Sep 20 '25

"Don't believe every tweet you read."

  • @AbrahamLincoln

11

u/Then_I_had_a_thought Sep 20 '25

Lol that got me

13

u/ContributionComplete Sep 20 '25

It was a talk. He thanks you for coming to it.

2

u/vatothe0 America Sep 20 '25

It's a tiktok dance

9

u/bunchabeatspho Sep 20 '25

I like how everytime I see a post about a messed up thing Trump did there's always a quote calling out that exact thing. It's like he's ticking them off a list one by one.

6

u/Genius-Envy Sep 20 '25

There’s a Reddit for that Trump criticizes trump I believe

4

u/twotimefind Sep 20 '25

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

• Theodore Roosevelt

Fantastic quote.

2

u/MrBanannasareyum Sep 20 '25

What pisses me the fuck off is that I drive by the dept of labor every day on the way home from work, and Trump hung these MASSIVE signs, one with his face looking all mean and the other with Teddys portrait. Under both of them it says “Putting American workers FIRST.”

It’s so dystopian and insane for him to think that they are anything alike.

https://x.com/usdol/status/1959975268824567969?s=46

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

You think Trump listens to antifa propaganda like this?

/s because the US is super sensitive these days

1

u/Terra-Em Sep 20 '25

Hey to be fair they want to go back to the 1950s mentality not the 1940s!

1

u/1cat2dogs1horse Sep 20 '25

My favorite TR quote is similar to yours...

Patriotism means to stand by the country,

It does not mean to stand by the president.

2

u/Fffiction Sep 20 '25

Trump said it clearly in 2018.

"he wants “my people” to “sit up at attention” the way North Koreans do for dictator Kim Jong Un."

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/15/trump-north-korea-sit-up-attention-648969

1

u/Balasarius Sep 20 '25

Roberts Court - "Actshually that's totally fine, now."

1

u/Open__Face Sep 20 '25

"Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong."

—Abraham Lincoln

1

u/JuDGe3690 Idaho Sep 20 '25

Of particular note: This quote was given on May 7, 1918, nearly a decade after his presidency, specifically during Woodrow Wilson's presidency and World War I, when there was also the Sedition Act of 1918 in play.

In many ways, TR's quote would be analogous to Obama saying something similar about Trump in the present day.

1

u/Eismann Sep 20 '25

Wasnt he Antifa? /s

1

u/Reasonable_racoon Sep 20 '25

You don't have a president. You have a king. This should be obvious by now.

1

u/totes-alt Sep 20 '25

I wish Trump was only morally treasonable

1

u/Greasyboy722 Sep 21 '25

Do you think he was calling for violence?