During a typically free-wheeling two-hour speech at CPAC on Saturday, President Donald Trump invited UC Berkeley assault victim Hayden William up on the stage. Williams was the conservative activist from the Leadership Institute who brutally punched while recruiting on campus for Turning Point USA. Calling the assault disgusting, Trump praised Williams, noting that “he took a hard punch in the face for all of us…and we can never allow that to happen.” The president advised him to sue all all potentially culpable institutional parties affiliated with the so-called birthplace of the free speech movement in addition to the alleged assailant. (Attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who is fired Google software engineer James Damore’s legal counsel, is representing Williams in whatever civil claims he may pursue.) Williams pointed out at conservative students across the country “are facing discrimination, harassment, and worse” if they exercise their free-speech rights. “If socialist progressives had their way, they would put the Constitution through a paper shredder in a heartbeat,” he added.
Keep Williams’ remarks in mind next time your college calls your phone number in an attempt to get a donation.
With Williams still at the podium, Trump announced the following:
“Today, I’m proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research dollars. If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they’ve got to allow people like Hayden, and many other great young people and old people to speak. Free speech.”
On Friday, cops arrested a suspect in the assault on Williams pursuant to a felon warrant. He faces charges of on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon likely to produce great bodily injury, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“It’s not clear what such an Order would require, how it would work, or if it would withstand legal challenges — but breaking the repression of non-liberal speech on campuses is a worthy goal,” Prof. William Jacobson observed on his Legal Insurrection website.
