I feel a rant coming on. Please bear with me. Donald Trump and his minions constantly declare they stand for free-speech and Democrats are actively attempting to quash it. Elon Musk has gone so far as to say he's saving free-speech, much to the dismay of liberals. What these supposed "free-speech" champions neglect is that, like any "freedom," "free-speech" isn't absolute. It has limitations. Don't believe me? Try speaking whatever is on your mind to your boss, and see what happens. The true meaning behind the First Amendment is that one is able to freely express their opinions without fear of governmental persecution. That's it. Just because the government cannot legally persecute you for expressing your First Amendment rights, that does not mean you're free from any form of repercussion. This is where Trump, Musk, and company ultimately fail to see the forest for the trees. When a person shares an opinion on social-media, while yes, that's their right, others possess the right to respond to said opinion with their own or with fact-checks. The social-media platform even has the right to remove the post or the member if the content goes against the company's terms of agreement. Here's where the problem lies, according to the self-descibed "free-speech" warriors. Starting in 2015, Donald Trump unfortunately awoke a voting bloc which had been relatively mute for some time. Sure, bigots have always existed, but for a while, they stayed quiet, for fear of getting fired, dumped or divorced, losing friends, etc. So, if they wanted to express their prejudices, they'd typically have to secretly form or join a group of like-minded individuals online or in person. The same held true for conspiracy theorists. Conspiracies have been around since the dawn of tinfoil, but again, most conspiracy theorists kept amongst themselves, for fear of ridicule, mockery, or worse. That all ended with the rise of Donald Trump on the political landscape. Donald Trump didn't invent bigotry nor conspiracies, but he normalized them, and Elon Musk is only exacerbating the troubling trend. Racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes, etc. are now feeling as though their prejudices have been legitimized; they no longer feel any inkling of shame in espousing them; and want the world to know about it. So, that's where we are. Bigotry is no longer largely hidden from the public; it's embraced by one of the two major parties in this country - the GOP. Conspiracy theories have gone from the fringes of society to mainstream - especially within the Republican Party. The bigots and conspiracy theorists have found their echo-chambers; feel a sense of power and purpose they'd never felt previously; and can't handle the dismissal they'd felt for so many years prior. Trump, Musk, Trumpers, Muskers, you have every right to believe and even express your bigotry and debunked conspiracy theories, but we have the right to call you out on your prejudices. We have the right to fact-check and prove you're lying. The First Amendment may prevent you from facing governmental persecution for your hateful, deranged beliefs, but it doesn't guarantee you being free of ridicule, mockery, and scorn. "Free-speech" goes both ways. Feel differently? Move to Russia, comrades. #RepublicansAreTheProblem #VoteBlue