Why the Left Self-Censors in Trump 2.0 Era

Secretary of State Marco Rubio just declared war on the Biden administration’s censorship regime.

Over the past half-decade, bodies like Global Engagement Center (GEC), crafted by our own governing ruling class, nearly destroyed America’s long free speech history. The enemies of speech had new lingo to justify their authoritarian impulse. It was “disinformation,” allegedly pushed by nefarious foreign governments, that was the No. 1 threat to “our democracy.” To protect “our democracy,” this “disinformation” had to be identified and stamped out.

That matters to Hollywood dwellers as much as the rest of us. 

The former talk a good fight about free speech but stayed quiet as GEC and others clamped down on free expression. Remember The Twitter Files?

Why? Could it be that conservatives and free thinkers alike felt the GEC’s sting while they got virtually a free pass?

Quick, come up with another reason that makes sense.

Now, stars are either censoring their own work or finding their voices silenced by fellow progressives. This time, it’s all tied to President Donald Trump. The Commander in Chief, they fear, might punish them for speaking up.

Consider:

“The White Lotus” star Carrie Coon said the show toyed with giving her character a nonbinary child but backed off those plans. Why?

Trump.

“The season was written before the election. And considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, [writer/director] Mike [White] felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation,” Coon continued.

The President had no say on the matter. The show’s creator made the call.

Far-left actor Seth Rogen gave a speech where he said President Trump had “destroyed” science in record time. (Maybe he meant to say Dr. Anthony Fauci?)

“It’s amazing that others in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science…It’s amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320 million and RFK Jr., very fast.”

Variety pressed the Breakthrough Prizes committee behind the gala for an explanation. The response seemed less than credible.

Seth Rogen made an onstage jab at President Trump during the science-honoring Breakthrough Prizes on April 5. The comment has since been edited out of the organization’s “full” upload of the ceremony:

“It’s amazing that others in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the… pic.twitter.com/6Tum3yzyg9

— Variety (@Variety) April 16, 2025

Writer/director Chris Columbus also has self-censorship top of mind in the Trump era. He told The San Francisco Chronicle that he wishes he could remove a small but memorable moment from his 1992 comedy smash, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” 

The sequence finds young Kevin bumping into a certain real estate mogul. The cameo tested well at the time, but Columbus has regretted it ever since.

“I can’t cut it,” the San Francisco resident told the Chronicle in a recent interview. “If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country. I’ll be considered sort of not fit to live in the United States, so I’ll have to go back to Italy or something….”

“But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone.”

A successful Hollywood director fears what others think about a seven-second sequence from one of his most successful projects.

Censorship isn’t all bad, right?

Need more?

The White House Correspondents’ Association, part of the corrupt Legacy Media, recently hired and then fired far-Left comic Amber Ruffin from hosting its annual D.C. gala. The announcement didn’t mention Ruffin’s name – a classy move, no?

Ruffin planned to go scorched Earth on Trump that night. Apparently, the biased body thought that might be a bad look.

Maybe withholding key information from news consumers is an even worse look.

 

The president didn’t attend the previous four WHCA dinners during his first term. He recently announced he’s skipping this month’s gala, too.

President Trump had nothing to do with that cancellation or the others.

None of this is new.

Major studios routinely censored films over the past decade to appease Chinese censors. Stars like Tina Fey voluntarily removed episodes of “30 Rock” from circulation due to alleged “blackface” moments.

Now, the excuse to censor is a fear of Trumpian retaliations. Yet we saw nothing of the kind during the president’s first term.

And he had plenty of excuses to do just that.

Remember how many stars called him a Nazi, Adolf Hitler, or both? What about celebrities wishing for his death or staging it in music videos or theatrical productions?

“The Late Show” spent years calling Trump a Russian asset before we collectively learned it was a Deep State talking point, nothing more.

Late-night hosts have picked up the anti-Trump cudgel over the past few months, alongside the far-Left “Saturday Night Live.” Why don’t they fear blowback from the Commander in Chief? 

In the Left’s meek defense, Trump has occasionally lashed out at his Hollywood critics. He warned that “SNL,” for example, should be taken off the air for its extreme bias.

He never followed through.

A president should never, ever suggest such a threat. It’s one of Trump’s most alarming flaws.

So what explains the new wave of self-censorship? Here’s a theory – projection.

The modern Left loves censorship. Progressives shout down conservatives on college campuses. Democratic lawmakers savaged Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi when he testified before them.

Sites like TheWrap and Rolling Stone had no qualms with Cancel Culture during the madness of the past few years.

They’re projecting what they might do if they had President Trump’s power and mandate. D

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