Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Free speech in Trump’s America: Battle of Ideas Festival Speeches
#FreeSpeechDebate
#CensorshipCrisis
#trumpadministration
Speaking at this year’s Munich Security Conference, the US vice president, JD Vance, declared: ‘Free speech, I fear, is in retreat’, vowing that the Trump administration would ‘fight to defend it’. The early days of the administration suggested this promise would be fulfilled. The administration moved quickly to challenge entrenched race and gender ideologies, oppose federal censorship on social media, and confront ideological overreach in universities and public institutions, offering hope for free speech.
Yet some of the administration’s actions have triggered alarm among civil-liberties groups. Deportations of foreign students voicing pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas opinions – carried out using visa revocations – have led to accusations of selective suppression. Seven FIRE members (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) even signed an open letter urging universities, media outlets and law firms to resist what they saw as state overreach. Even some conservative voices are questioning whether recent actions have shifted from defending free expression to imposing a new orthodoxy.
Are those who once decried cancel culture now engaging in it from the other side?
The speakers on this engaging panel all defend free speech but take differing views on what’s going on. They are:
Simon Hankinson - Senior research fellow, The Heritage Foundation
Dr Cheryl Hudson - Lecturer in US political history, University of Liverpool
Dr James Orr - Associate professor of philosophy of religion, University of Cambridge
Tom Slater - Editor, spiked; co-host, spiked podcast and Last Orders
Nadine Strossen - Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School; senior fellow, FIRE; former president, ACLU
The chair is:
Alastair Donald - Co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival; convenor, Living Freedom
This video was filmed and edited by WORLDwrite volunteers attending the Battle of Ideas Festival 25. These are the introductory speeches only. To avoid duplication, the full debate will feature on the Battle of Ideas YouTube channel. WORLDwrite volunteers filmed over 50 sessions at the festival. To edit, sound clean and prepare these videos for the Academy & WORLDwrite channels, takes at least 2 days each. With no paid staff the charity needs your help to keep its edit suites switched on. Please chip in if you can to help us keep going by visiting the charity's JustGiving page at justgiving.com/charity/worldwrite Or hit the Donate button below the video. Thank you for watching and for your support.
Free speech in Trump’s America: Battle of Ideas Festival Speeches
#FreeSpeechDebate
#CensorshipCrisis
#trumpadministration
Speaking at this year’s Munich Security Conference, the US vice president, JD Vance, declared: ‘Free speech, I fear, is in retreat’, vowing that the Trump administration would ‘fight to defend it’. The early days of the administration suggested this promise would be fulfilled. The administration moved quickly to challenge entrenched race and gender ideologies, oppose federal censorship on social media, and confront ideological overreach in universities and public institutions, offering hope for free speech.
Yet some of the administration’s actions have triggered alarm among civil-liberties groups. Deportations of foreign students voicing pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas opinions – carried out using visa revocations – have led to accusations of selective suppression. Seven FIRE members (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) even signed an open letter urging universities, media outlets and law firms to resist what they saw as state overreach. Even some conservative voices are questioning whether recent actions have shifted from defending free expression to imposing a new orthodoxy.
Are those who once decried cancel culture now engaging in it from the other side?
The speakers on this engaging panel all defend free speech but take differing views on what’s going on. They are:
Simon Hankinson - Senior research fellow, The Heritage Foundation
Dr Cheryl Hudson - Lecturer in US political history, University of Liverpool
Dr James Orr - Associate professor of philosophy of religion, University of Cambridge
Tom Slater - Editor, spiked; co-host, spiked podcast and Last Orders
Nadine Strossen - Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School; senior fellow, FIRE; former president, ACLU
The chair is:
Alastair Donald - Co-convenor, Battle of Ideas festival; convenor, Living Freedom
This video was filmed and edited by WORLDwrite volunteers attending the Battle of Ideas Festival 25. These are the introductory speeches only. To avoid duplication, the full debate will feature on the Battle of Ideas YouTube channel. WORLDwrite volunteers filmed over 50 sessions at the festival. To edit, sound clean and prepare these videos for the Academy & WORLDwrite channels, takes at least 2 days each. With no paid staff the charity needs your help to keep its edit suites switched on. Please chip in if you can to help us keep going by visiting the charity's JustGiving page at justgiving.com/charity/worldwrite Or hit the Donate button below the video. Thank you for watching and for your support.
