Auburn head men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has never been shy about sharing his political opinions. Whether on conflicts at home or abroad, Pearl has often spoken out when he feels strongly about certain topics, such as antisemitism on college campuses.
With former President Donald Trump claiming a decisive victory on Monday in the Iowa caucuses, securing a first step toward the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, MSNBC made an intentional decision to not broadcast Trump’s victory speech.
Host Rachel Maddow said the network has stopped giving an “unfiltered, live platform” to Trump in an effort to not “knowingly broadcasting untrue things.”
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Rather than showing the speech, Maddow said the network will “inform viewers if there is any news made in the speech” — to which Pearl called “beyond disturbing for our Democracy.”
This is beyond disturbing for our Democracy. This is how State run media operates quietly in dictatorships,except here they are explaining and openly justifying it!Americans should be able to hear and decide for themselves. Do you want candidates speech monitored and censored? https://t.co/LL1aNn0gwt
— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) January 16, 2024
“This is how State run media operates quietly in dictatorships, except here they are openly explaining and justifying it! Americans should be able to hear and decide for themselves. Do you want candidates speech monitored and censored?” Pearl tweeted in response to Maddow and MSNBC’s decision to censor Trump.
Trump’s victory in Iowa with 51% of the vote was the largest margin of victory by any Republican in the state’s history. Florida governor Ron DeSantis came in second with 21.2%, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley earned 19.1%, with Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race after earning 7.7%.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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