The revelations about the Trump administration using Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to pressure Disney and ABC to silence comedian Jimmy Kimmel are as alarming as they are ironic. A president leaning on private companies to muzzle a critic is the very definition of government overreach. Yet what stands out is who has rushed to Kimmel’s defense: Sen. Ted Cruz and podcast host Joe Rogan — hardly champions of liberal entertainers.

Their defense, however, misses the mark. Cruz frets that Democrats might someday use the same tactics against conservatives. That is a partisan fear, not a principled stand. The real issue is far simpler: The First Amendment bars government from dictating who can speak and what they can say.

Defending free speech should not hinge on whic

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