MAGA man claims he felt as threatened by Biden as people now feel by Trump

Russell in Texas said he feared being audited by the IRS if he criticized Biden, offering no evidence. Meanwhile, Trump's CPB searched a man's phone texts at the airport, and deported him.

On my SiriusXM program last week, we discussed the alarming story of the French scientist whose phone messages were searched upon arrival to Houston from France for a conference. And many people called in, expressing their fear of the tactics of intimidation, assaults on privacy, and attacks on free speech by Donald Trump’s administration.

Customs agents blocked the scientist from entry and deported him, apparently because he had text messages critical of Donald Trump’s positions on scientific research, according to the French minister of higher education. You have to wonder why they targeted this scientist, since searching phone messages of people entering the U.S. is very rare. Only 0.01 percent of people entering the country in 2024 had data on their cell phones, computers or any other electronic devices searched at a port of entry.

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Russell from Texas, a Trump supporter, and self-described “staunch conservative,” called in to say that our discussion about a “climate of intimidation” had “hit me odd.”

He then described working in a liberal high-tech company where he had to “bite my tongue,” fearful of saying anything that would offend people. This, of course, is similar to what many liberals who’ve called my show have said about working in conservative environments, particularly in the South, where all of their bosses and colleagues are MAGA, and I told him so.

And it’s far different from the government surveilling you, searching you, and punishing you. Except that Russell veered off into saying he feared posting comments on social media critical of the Biden administration for fear of being audited by the IRS!

On social media, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or whatever, I posted nothing, as far as my opinions, because my fear was someone from the administration, if you will, could see that and make me a target.

That’s completely paranoid—and told him flat out—because there’s no evidence of anything like that happening during the Biden administration. But there’s plenty of evidence of Trump and his administration punishing his critics—in his first presidency and now—including this recent story of the French scientist.

When I told Russell to give me some evidence to back up his fears, some sort of example, he couldn’t come up with anything. When pressed further, he eventually went to…Covid vaccine mandates, turning it into an anti-vax rant, which had nothing to do with what we were discussing. (And he was wrong on this too). That’s when we knew he lost the debate.

Listen in and let me know your thoughts!