“Be afraid, be actually afraid.” Those words from former Politico Magazine editor Garrett M. Graff captures the hyperventilation in the media this week. No it is not Vladimir Putin’s threat of unleashing a nuclear war or the word that our national debt has reached a staggering $31 trillion. No, it is the news that Elon Musk may go forward with the purchase of Twitter and . . . [trigger warning] . . . free speech protections might be restored on the platform. The pearl-clutching of various media and academic figures shows how engrained the censorship culture has become in the United States. …

NBC News reporter Ben Collins quickly raised the most immediate concern that the sudden ability to speak freely on Twitter could impact the midterm elections:

For those of you asking: Yes, I do think this site can and will change pretty dramatically if Musk gets full control over it.

No, there is no immediate replacement.

If it gets done early enough, based on the people he's aligned with, yes, it could actually affect midterms.

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 4, 2022

Consider that for a second: the loss of control over political speech could mean a loss of control over the midterm elections. There is, of course, no concern by Collins that Twitter (and other social media companies) have long been “aligned” with Democrats and the Biden Administration.

[I included another part of Prof. Turley’s essay in my VIP editorial today. Be sure to check it out, and be sure to sign up for our VIP or VIP Gold membership plans too. — Ed]