JAMES TARANTO: Chalk and Awe: The new Free Speech Movement.

If you find Donald Trump’s presidential campaign a source of pure despair, allow us to offer some mitigation. The campaign is having at least one salutary effect. . . . “Thanks in large part to the Emory University students who pathetically panicked after seeing pro-Trump messages written in chalk on campus sidewalks, pro-Trump messages are now appearing on other college campuses,” the blog Legal Insurrection reported over the weekend. “The whole thing is going viral on Twitter under the hashtag #TheChalkening.”

Legal Insurrection has a series of photos, still more of which can be found at the Twitter accounts Students for Trump and Old Row. This new Free Speech Movement reinforces one of the prime arguments Trump supporters make for their candidate: that he stands against political correctness. . . .

It is possible that the left-wing cry-bullies demanding “safe spaces” are not representative of their cohort, merely good at getting attention, and at extracting concessions from administrators who generally share their political outlook.

There are, of course, narrowly defined limits to free speech, including libel, invasion of privacy, fighting words and incitement to violence. The New York Times story notes that “some students see the Trump name as synonymous with hate speech” and therefore worthy of censorship—though it fails to point out that “hate speech” is fully protected by the First Amendment.

That tells you all you need to know about the politically correct mindset. It not only seeks to censor uncongenial speech but wishes to declare an uncongenial individual ineffable—in effect, to render him an unperson. Unlike free speech, political correctness knows no limits. It is the essence of totalitarianism.

Yes, it is.