Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed The Tennessee Star’s National Political Editor Neil McCabe to the newsmaker line to talk about his recent piece citing the February 7th Homeland Security bulletin which comes “as close as you can get” to violating free speech.
Leahy: We are joined now on our newsmaker line by my very good friend, the best Washington correspondent in the country, the National Political Editor for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network, Neil W. McCabe. Good morning, Neil.
McCabe: Michael, very good to be with you, sir.
Leahy: You had a blockbuster story yesterday. The Department of Homeland Security released a bulletin on Monday that connects “false or misleading narratives about COVID-19 and election fraud online to terrorism.” What is that all about, Neil?
McCabe: First of all, Homeland Security puts out this bulletin roughly every six months. So this bulletin that expired is basically, this is what the threat environment is going to be like until around June.
So basically, what they’re saying is the biggest threat to the United States and Americans right now is domestic terrorists who are motivated by narratives they find online, specifically dealing with COVID, election integrity, and also 5G.
And they’re saying, hey, these narratives are very crazy, and they’re dangerous, and that these narratives are going to motivate either lone actors or cells of terrorists to further the goal of these narratives.
And they’re telling people, hey, if you know someone who may be saying some of this stuff, why don’t you call your local law enforcement, the FBI, Fusion Cells, which is a blend of intelligence and law enforcement.
And they also have a link if you think that somebody may be suffering from mental illness, maybe somebody who’s pushing some of these narratives is a little crazy, and here’s where you go to sort of get them the help they need.
Leahy: You’ve been a reporter for decades, Neil W. McCabe. Is this a violation of the First Amendment and freedom of the press?
McCabe: It comes as close as you can get. And I’m sure this thing was lawyered-out. What is kind of odd to me is that, for the first time, Homeland Security is really going after speech. And when I was growing up, we used to talk about the marketplace of ideas, where different ideas sort of clashed with other narratives and ideas, and basically, people sort of settled on something after there was sort of a competition of ideas. Nowadays with fact-checkers and everything else, it’s like there’s one truth and this is what it is, and if you don’t go with it, then you’re in trouble.
And the other thing that’s interesting about this bulletin, Mike, is that in August and November, Homeland Security put out the August bulletin to get everybody ready for the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and then they did a follow-up in November to sort of talk about the status of things post the 20th anniversary of 9/11. But they talked about real terrorist threats like Al Qaeda. The August bulletin talked about the influence of the Iranians, the Russians, and the Chinese.
All of that stuff has been stripped out. Those bulletins also, and this goes back further into other bulletins, said that the problem with domestic terrorism was motivated by domestic violent extremists who are racially or ethnically motivated.
All that ethnic and racial motivation stuff has been stripped out. Now it’s online and misleading narratives online. And so they really have made a pivot away from pushing that sort of racial stuff.
Now it’s online stuff. And it makes me think that maybe there’s been a change of personnel in Homeland Security. But basically, they’re going after free speech going right into the 2022 midterms.
Leahy: So those of us in the conservative media who write fact-based stories about the problems of election integrity in key battleground states in 2020, how is the Department of Homeland Security going to react to those of us who are writing those fact-based stories?
McCabe:Â You are undermining people’s trust in vital institutions of our democracy. You are a problem. And what they’re saying is one of these lone wolves or one of these terrorist cells is going to get ahold of your story or hear you on the radio and they’re going to execute acts of domestic terrorism because of what you’re telling them, the bad information that you’re telling them.
Carmichael: Neil, let me ask you a question. If somebody were to write a column saying that indoor mask-wearing is a bad idea and that wearing masks indoors don’t do anything good, would that be subject to what you’re talking about?
McCabe: Please, you might as well just drive yourself to jail. (Leahy laughs)
Carmichael: (Crosstalk) I’m looking at an article right now where Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is ending the indoor mask mandates effective February 15. By the way, Governor Murphy of New Jersey is ending the indoor mask mandates, because there’s so much evidence now that they don’t work.
I agree that this is what the Democrats in Washington are trying to do, but Democrats across the country are finding that this mask thing has gotten their population so riled up that they’re being forced to make changes.
Leahy: Your thoughts on that, Neil?
McCabe: I’ll just tell you that the polls are pretty bad for the Democrats right now, and a lot of it has to do with masks. And you saw it this morning in England. Boris Johnson just lifted a bunch of his COVID mitigation policies a month early just because he’s in so much trouble.
Leahy: He’s in big trouble over there. Hey, let’s go back to the inside baseball game in Washington at which you excel. So here’s a question for you. Crom pointed this out to me. The Democratic senator from New Mexico, Senator Ben Ray Lujan, suffered a stroke a couple of weeks ago.
He is unable to vote in the Senate, and they don’t do proxy votes in the Senate. What does that mean for the Biden agenda going forward in the Senate?
McCabe: Obviously, with a 50/50 split and Vice President Harris breaking a tie, that gives the Democrats control of the Senate by one vote. If he is not present on the floor he can’t vote, and we remember back in the Reagan days when Pete Wilson was brought onto the Senate floor on a gurney from the hospital.
I know a staffer who worked for Rand Paul that told me that he was once called at 2:00 in the morning. He showed up in his pajamas and a bathrobe and slippers to vote, and then went right back to bed.
It’s a problem. From what I hear the senator’s situation is not grave and they’ll be able to schedule important votes that are the 50/50 votes. They will be able to push them off into a time where he is back on his feet or at least in a wheelchair.
From what I understand it was not a serious stroke. He brought himself to the hospital, and hopefully he’s well and is on the path of recovery. It was a scare for Democrats.
Leahy:Â Crom Carmichael has a question for you about David Bossy. Go ahead with your question.
Carmichael: Biden’s got a bunch of very left-wing appointments that are being put forward, and if the senator from New Mexico can’t make it, then they’ll have to delay those, too.
McCabe: What you have to look out for is that a lot of times the senators will play a game where if a Democrat has a surgery or a wedding or something that they have to attend, a Republican will stay home. So don’t be surprised if a Republican decides to stay home to basically give these guys a break.
Leahy: Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins. Somebody like that, right?
Carmichael: Mitt Romney.
Leahy: Mitch McConnell. (Chuckles)
McCabe: Sure. And basically, it’s just sort of the horse-trading that goes on. It’s considered a courtesy. If it’s a big important vote, like a Supreme Court justice, sure. But if it’s some district judge or approving the name of some post office, a Republican is just going to stay home.
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
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