It may turn out that one of President Trump's greatest achievements will be the left's voluntary unmasking of its ranks as tyrant-wannabes, driven mad by Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Yesterday, appearing on CNN, he actually said out loud that he would "love" to be able to regulate the content of speech but, alas, is prevented by the pesky First Amendment.  Watch for yourself (less than two minutes):

David Ruiz of the Free Beacon has the transcript, and we pick up after the host Brianna Keiler discussed Lieu's questioning of Google CEO Sundar Pichai:

I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that's simply a function of the First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it's better the government does not regulate the content of speech."

Now, the second clause of his second sentence is curious.  That Congressman Lieu thinks that in the long run, free speech is a good idea suggest that right now, he doesn't think it's a good thing.  Does this mean that during the Trump presidency, free speech would be suspended if he had his druthers?  Would the "long run" be when Democrats have imported enough impoverished foreigners to guarantee perpetual rule?  Or maybe just when Trump is out of office?

Last March, I noted that TDS is driving what I called "the great unmasking of the left."

Driven to desperation by their fury at President Trump's election, his presidency, and Robert Mueller's failure to substantiate the bogus Russia conspiracy fantasy, progressives are escalating their rhetoric, and in the process, unmasking their true beliefs.  For decades, they have obscured their real goals, and pretended to be interested in moderate, incremental measures that they believe would be acceptable to mainstream Americans.  Using terms like "compassion" and "fairness," they have sought to justify handing more and more power to the state, and the importation of a population amenable to state control of all aspects of life.

But in reaction to President Trump's in-your-face persona and use of the mechanisms of state power for goals they oppose, they have escalated their rhetoric, and in the process exposed their real beliefs that long have been kept hidden from the broader public.

Ted Lieu represents the wealthy West Side of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills and coastal communities to the south, reliably blue, the former district of Henry Waxman.  So he's in no danger of losing a general election, assuming he is not blindsided in a primary, the way Joe Crowley was when Ocasio-Cortez took the nomination from him with just a few thousand votes.  But Lieu's district does contain a lot f people who make their livings in the entertainment industry, people who depend on the First Amendment's protections.  I wonder if he will be called out by anyone other than conservatives.

Image credit: YouTube screen grab.