On the Other Hand

Make America Great Again

 On the other hand, Donald Trump seems determined to hand the Democratic candidates for Georgia Senate a huge favor.  No, I don't mean the rally denouncing the Republican candidates and calling for an end to the GOP.  That is the work of a fringe group, miniscule compared to the total number of Georgia Republicans.  All evidence is that Georgia Republicans plan to turn out in great numbers to vote for revenge.

I mean Trump's threat (to all appearances quite serious) to veto the entire defense budget unless it repeals Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 immunizes internet service providers from liability for content published on their sites (with a few exceptions such as copyright infringement or child pornography), so long as they do not create the content.  The reasoning underlying the law is that so much content is posted on the internet that providers cannot possibly police all of it and take down everything that is defamatory or otherwise actionable. Immunity from liability is what makes it possible for internet providers to make their service generally available.  Otherwise they would be so busy curating content to offer access to ordinary citizens.

However, it does not forbid internet providers from taking down content that they deem objectionable. Therein lies the rub.  Many internet service providers take down false, inflammatory, or defamatory content when it is brought to their attention.  Because right wingers tend to publish a lot more false inflammatory or defamatory content than other people, they get taken down more often and feel unfairly treated.  Thus many right wingers want to give internet service providers an ultimatum -- publish absolutely everything, no matter how false, inflammatory, or defamatory (except copyright infringement and child pornography) or be held liable for content. Except that many right wingers do not fully understand the implications of an outright repeal of Section 230.  They assume repeal would force the internet to publish their worst lies.  In fact, it would make internet service providers more likely to take down their content. Right wingers really want to modify, not repeal, Section 230.

Trump tiny desk

On the other hand, in demanding the right to publish anything they want, no matter how false, inflammatory, or defamatory, right wingers sometimes find themselves on the receiving end of their own medicine and don't like that much either.  (Thus, for instance Devin Nunes' suit against Twitter was barred under Section 230).  So, too, Donald Trump seems to have been inspired to want to repeal Section 230 because Twitter posted a picture mocking him for sitting at a tiny desk.

The point here is the Congressional Republicans can't just cave and add a repeal of Section 230 to the defense bill without doing untold damage to the workings of the internet.  So they are placed in an impossible dilemma -- defy Trump by overriding his veto, or allow our troops to go unpaid.  Congress began by passing the bill by a veto-proof margin, hoping that the threat to override would be enough to make him back down.  Trump (apparently) is not backing down, so Republicans are left with no good options.*

Again, I would urge the Georgia Democratic candidates to press the Republicans on the issue.  Force them to commit either to publicly defying Trump and incurring his anger, or else letting our troops go unpaid.  And, of course, the Democrats should promise that they will pay our troops.

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*Politico thinks their best option is to stay in session for ten days, excluding Sundays, after the bill passes the Senate.  In that case, Trump can fail to either sign or veto and the bill will pass without his signature.  If Congress adjourns and Trump fails to act, the bill s deemed vetoed.