‘Farage just looked unhinged and like a giant manbaby’
Nigel Farage has again proved his support for free speech only goes so far, shouting down a senior US Democrat who criticised Donald Trump at an event about free speech.
At a free speech event on the Online Safety Act on Wednesday, US congressman Jamie Raskin had begun making remarks on the history of free speech in the US.
The Democrat moved on to talking about the current threats to free speech posed by President Donald Trump, when Farage interrupted, preventing Raskin from finishing his speech.
On The News Agents podcast last night, Raskin said: “Two or three minutes into my speech, he [Farage] started screaming that this wasn’t about Donald Trump and he wasn’t going to allow this.”
Raskin said Farage told him: “‘You’re a guest here, you’re a guest in our country, you’re not being a good guest’”.
In response, Raskin told the Reform UK leader “You’re a host, you should act like a host.”
Farage then descended into name-calling, allegedly referring to Raskin as “the most pigheaded person he’d ever met”.
“You know what, this is why we had a revolution against people like you,” Raskin responded.
Speaking to host Jon Sopel about the exchange, Raskin said: “These people are in league with Donald Trump, they believe in free speech except for any speech that they don’t agree with. Then they’re not interested in free speech.”
Raskin said he and other attendees had just listened to an hour-long presentation from right-wing politicians and think tanks about how the European Union is crushing civil freedom and the new Online Safety Act is “actually going to destroy the right of Conservatives to speak”.
He said the Democrats simply wanted to give another perspective, but they were interrupted by Farage.
Other Democrats who confirmed the exchange were Representatives Lou Correa, Jasmine Crockett and Eric Swalwell. They all pointed out the irony of Farage’s outburst, noting it came at the end of what had otherwise been a respectful conversation about free speech.
“Farage just looked unhinged and like a giant manbaby,” Swalwell said.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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