The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment
“The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment,” a weekly podcast from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, follows the Trump administration’s assault on the freedoms of speech and the press and features the people, communities, and institutions that are fighting back. Hosted by legal journalist Cristian Farias and advocates from the Knight Institute, each episode explores a major First Amendment story in the news and features the people most affected.
Episodes
10 episodes
The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment will be back next week
We’re taking a pause this week for the 4th of July. Everyone at the Knight Institute has been working hard to get ready for a big trial that we previewed during last week’s episode—check it out to learn more. We’ll resume next week with another...
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Season 1
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1:51
Protests, Deportations, and the Climate of Repression on Campus
In March 2025, the Knight Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian activism. As the case heads to trial on ...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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27:35
ICE and LA's Day Laborers
The ICE raids in Los Angeles outside Home Depot stores and other public spaces have targeted day laborers seeking a day’s pay. Host Cristian Farias talks to immigration lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham about how these raids threaten a recognized Firs...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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43:36
Speaking Truth to Trump’s FCC
The Federal Communications Commission, under Trump-appointee Brendan Carr, is acting less like a watchdog and more like an attack dog. Host Cristian Farias talks to Katie Fallow, the Institute’s deputy director of litigation, about the FCC’s...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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38:42
Public Broadcasting Digs In
After issuing his own sweeping executive order, President Trump has sent a rescission notice to Congress seeking to eliminate all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which includes NPR and PBS. Host Cristian Farias spea...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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36:49
We Want to Look at Your Phone
The government has long invoked its authority to search traveler’s devices—whether owned by noncitizens or citizens—at the U.S. border. Under the second Trump administration, this practice only seems to be growing more aggressive and targeted. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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38:07
Farmers Fight Data Purge
A mere ten days after President Trump took office in January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began purging climate-focused information from its web pages. Representing organic farmers and environmental activists, the Knight Institute and Ea...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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34:23
The Students Are Winning
In the first episode of “The Bully’s Pulpit,” host and journalist Cristian Farias describes a harrowing bail hearing for Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University Ph.D. student who was detained by ICE for co-authoring an opinion piece in a student n...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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27:00
Extended Preview: “The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment”
Cristian Farias, host of the new podcast by the Knight Institute, “The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment,” shares his goal for the show: “to chronicle in real time the coordinated, unprecedented assault by the president of the United...
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Season 1
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2:58
A Preview of "The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment"
“The Bully’s Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment," a weekly podcast from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, will follow the Trump administration’s assault on the freedoms of speech and the press and will feature the p...
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Season 1
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0:49