3,700 Nonprofits Sign Open Letter Condemning Trump for Targeting Free Speech

Thousands of nonprofit organizations have penned an open letter condemning President Donald Trump for signing a memorandum indicating his intention to target the free speech of social justice groups under the guise of combating political violence.

The organizations — more than 3,700 in total — noted that the murder of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk in September played a key role in the Trump administration’s directives. Trump has claimed, without evidence, that the gunman was motivated by left-wing ideology, and has seized upon the killing as an opportunity to conduct a sweeping crackdown on leftists and his political opponents.

The letter from nonprofits suggests that Trump’s stated motivations are a ruse, and that his real objective is to suppress dissent.

“We of course unequivocally reject political violence,” the organizations wrote in their open letter. “But we won’t mince words. No president – Democrat or Republican – should have the power to punish nonprofit organizations simply because he disagrees with them.”

Such actions are “not about protecting Americans or defending the public interest,” but rather “about using unchecked power to silence opposition and voices he disagrees with,” they continued.

The groups added:

This attack on nonprofits is not happening in a vacuum, but as a part of a wholesale offensive against organizations and individuals that advocate for ideas or serve communities that the president finds objectionable, and that seek to enforce the rule of law against the federal government. Whether the target is a church, an environmental or good government group, a refugee assistance organization, university, a law firm, or a former or current government official, weaponizing the executive branch to punish their speech or their views is illegal and wrong. It is also an attack on the very notion that government power must serve the people, not those in office.

The letter was published earlier this month, just a couple of weeks after Trump issued an executive order declaring that “antifa” is a domestic terrorist group. Following that declaration, the president released a memo detailing what his administration might do to address the supposed domestic threat.

“Antifa” — short for “anti-fascist” — isn’t a real nationwide organization, but rather a political belief. As part of his campaign against “antifa,” Trump said that the administration would be monitoring groups with “anti-American,” “anti-capitalist,” and “anti-Christian” views, as well as those who are “extreme” on issues of “migration, race and gender,” without providing legal specifics.

The memo could pose a direct threat to any nonprofit group that the administration deems to fall into those categories. For example, the directive orders the IRS to “take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism,” and to refer “such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution.”

Beyond the open letter condemning Trump’s plan to target left-leaning groups, several organizations’ leaders have expressed dismay with the transparent attempt to interfere with their free speech rights.

“President Trump’s order mobilizing federal law enforcement to investigate perceived opponents of his administration turns reality on its head,” and “fabricates a nonexistent plot as a pretext to suppress speech and ideas across the U.S. political spectrum,” Human Rights Watch executive director Federico Borello said late last month.

“A missive from the most powerful man in the world carries so much force that it is, inevitably, a blunt instrument. When the president uses his pen to take aim at anything, it will cause a chilling effect,” wrote Adam Goldstein, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression vice president of Strategic Initiatives.

Goldstein added:

What will the overreactions to this new memo look like? Donors ending their support because they don’t want to risk an investigation? Groups being denied bank loans or leases because they’re on a government list with no way to appeal that determination? Activists going underground because they want to challenge an orthodoxy, hiding their opinions from the places where they would otherwise be challenged in the marketplace of ideas? If this is the plan to save American values, what’s the plan to destroy them look like?