Dominic Cummings has claimed in a couple interviews now that Hillary Clinton and/or John Kerry called the First Amendment a “historic error which we will fix after the election” in the weeks up to the 2024 election. See for instance this interview (timestamped where he says it). He is clearly implying that this is a direct quote. I’m generally quite sympathetic to Cummings, but I found this very hard to believe.
Indeed, I can’t find any evidence of a quote from either Clinton or Kerry remotely like this. There was a CNN interview of Clinton from October 2024 where she called for the repeal of Section 230. There was also an interview with Kerry from around the same time where he says that the First Amendment is a “major block to stopping misinformation”. Perhaps he’s referring to these? But this doesn’t come close to as extreme a position.
Have I somehow missed Clinton or Kerry making this extremely inflammatory statement somewhere? Or is Cummings just lying (or misremembering or something?)
If this statement really wasn’t actually made anywhere, then I think I need to reassess how seriously I take Cummings. He often alludes to private conversations he had with senior politicians, officials etc. and ascribes to them extreme and inflammatory statements and positions. If he’s lying about something as easily verifiable as this, then I don’t see how I’m supposed to believe him on these supposed private conversations.
Dominic Cummings has claimed in a couple interviews now that Hillary Clinton and/or John Kerry called the First Amendment a “historic error which we will fix after the election” in the weeks up to the 2024 election. See for instance this interview (timestamped where he says it). He is clearly implying that this is a direct quote. I’m generally quite sympathetic to Cummings, but I found this very hard to believe.
Indeed, I can’t find any evidence of a quote from either Clinton or Kerry remotely like this. There was a CNN interview of Clinton from October 2024 where she called for the repeal of Section 230. There was also an interview with Kerry from around the same time where he says that the First Amendment is a “major block to stopping misinformation”. Perhaps he’s referring to these? But this doesn’t come close to as extreme a position.
Have I somehow missed Clinton or Kerry making this extremely inflammatory statement somewhere? Or is Cummings just lying (or misremembering or something?)
If this statement really wasn’t actually made anywhere, then I think I need to reassess how seriously I take Cummings. He often alludes to private conversations he had with senior politicians, officials etc. and ascribes to them extreme and inflammatory statements and positions. If he’s lying about something as easily verifiable as this, then I don’t see how I’m supposed to believe him on these supposed private conversations.