Joy Reid

Absolutely.

The Arab Spring was the same thing.

What regimes fear is independent media because independent media tells the stories that the mainstream media suppresses on behalf of the regime.

Can I just add one more thing on the idea of these protests?

Because it is chilling.

And I think whatever your politics are, whatever your political party is, you should be alarmed at the idea of your government attempting to use the highest sort of its awesome power

of the state to stop people from protesting.

I'm old enough to remember when people showed up to protest against President Obama, our first Black president, with long guns, standing opposite the Capitol with long guns.

And they were fully protected by the First Amendment to stand there

in this threatening posture against the president of the United States.

There was nothing you could do.

Up until the point where they broke into the Capitol, as much as I detest MAGA, those protests were perfectly legal, as they were screaming obscenities and chanting, hang Mike Pence.

They were protected by the First Amendment up until the point where they started literally attempting to kill police officers.

When you think about the protests during the Tea Party movement, which were vile, they were holding monkey dolls and hanging an effigy, the first Black president of the United States.

perfectly protected on the First Amendment.

Understand the broad protections of the First Amendment, they don't just protect left, they protect the right too.

So if those of y'all in MAGA think you wanna live in a world where the Department of Justice can prosecute you for protesting because your protest is loud or because your protest annoys some people who are sitting in a building or your protest is inconvenient to people, rue the day.

when there is a Trump on the other side who decides to wield the awesome power of the government against you.

Because anything you think you're satisfied with seeing done to your opponents can be done to you too.

Everyone ought to oppose.