Mainstream media is complicit in the biggest attack on free speech since the McCarthy era. Kimmel’s suspension is just the latest proof.
Jimmy Kimmel on the September 16 edition of his talk show.
(ABC)
Donald Trump has lamented the fact that the United States hasn’t won a major war since 1945. But the president might soon claim credit for breaking that streak, because he’s winning his war against one of his most implacable foes: late-night TV shows.
For decades, the hosts of these shows have mocked American presidents of both parties. These jibes against the commander in chief have typically been treated as what they are: a normal and benign cultural ritual in a country that ostensibly takes pride in its traditions of free speech and dissent. But Trump, like all would-be authoritarians, has a thin skin and no ability to laugh at himself. As a former reality-show star, he remains excessively obsessed with TV shows and ratings, seeing celebrities as rivals to be brought down. He’s often railed against programs such that lampoon him, such as Saturday Night Live (which he threatened to sue in 2019).
Late-night shows survived Trump’s first term. But it’s not clear that they’ll survive his second one—particularly because the corporations that own them keep caving in to the president. In July, CBS announced that it would be canceling The Late Show when host Stephen Colbert’s contract expires next May. This move was clearly an attempt to propitiate Trump at a time when White House regulators were evaluating a bid by Skydance Media to purchase Paramount, the parent company of CBS. The bid was approved later that month. Trump chortled at Colbert’s firing and wrote, “Next up will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel and then, a weak, and very insecure, Jimmy Fallon.”
On Wednesday, ABC offered up its own late-night sacrifice to Trump. The network announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air “indefinitely.” The proximate cause: Kimmel’s comments criticizing right-wingers for capitalizing on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. During his Monday monologue on his show, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Fairly examined, these words were neither offensive nor factually wrong. Kimmel wasn’t saying that the killer was definitely a part of the “MAGA gang”—he was objecting to the way MAGA was responding to the shooting. But the right seized on them and mischaracterized them as claiming that the assassin was a Trump supporter. One of those who went after Kimmel was Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who indicated he might use the regulatory power of his agency to punish ABC. On a podcast on Wednesday, Carr said, “Frankly, when you see stuff like this—I mean, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
These words were clearly a threat and had their intended impact. Responding to a journalist questioning him about Kimmel’s suspension, Carr sent back a GIF of characters from The Office doing “raise the roof” motions. Trump again took a victory lap, posting on Truth Social:
Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyer], two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT
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The fact that Trump’s war against late-night talk-show hosts is ludicrous should not disguise the fact that it is dangerous. It is part and parcel of the largest attack on free speech since the McCarthy Era of the early 1950s (which is more accurately designated the Second Red Scare).
Colbert and Kimmel are the most visible examples of the current free speech crackdown, but they are far from alone. The crackdown actually precedes Trump’s term. It was ignited as part of a more mainstream effort to crush criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. As with the Second Red Scare, liberals were either ignored or were complicit in this early phase of free speech repression, which was seen as acceptable since its victims were mostly radicals. But, just as they did during McCarthyism, liberals have discovered that the reactionaries empowered by going after radicals will soon go after liberals too.
Examples of free speech repression are now pervasive and include universities purging professors and journalists being fired from newspapers such as The Washington Post. On Monday, the paper fired columnist Karen Attiah, seemingly for perfectly reasonable posts about Charlie Kirk.
The current free speech crackdown is enabled by the cowardice of institutions. The legendary Late Show host David Letterman, who retired in 2015, used to regularly refer to his employers on NBC and CBS as “show business weasels.” Those corporate weasels are still in charge and even more beady-eyed and predatory than ever.
Reporting from Rolling Stone makes clear that the Kimmel suspension was motivated by pure cowardice:
In the hours leading up to the decision to pull Kimmel, two sources familiar with the matter say, senior executives at ABC, its owner Disney, and affiliates convened emergency meetings to figure out how to minimize the damage. Multiple execs felt that Kimmel had not actually said anything over the line, the two sources say, but the threat of Trump administration retaliation loomed.
“They were pissing themselves all day,” one ABC insider tells Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone also called attention to the clear economic motive behind ABC’s capitulation:
Carr’s demand that licensed broadcasters refuse to air Kimmel’s show — and Nexstar’s quick compliance with this request — comes as the company prepares a corporate merger that will require FCC approval.
The political economy of the new authoritarianism is clear: In an increasingly plutocratic America, where a handful of corporations control most of the media, an authoritarian president such as Trump can easily destroy free speech. The corporate weasels (and other elite institutions) are calculating that Trump has the immediate power to hurt them, and that they won’t suffer any penalty for surrendering to Trump if/when Democrats are back in power.
The lawyer Matthew Segal has suggested a darker possibility: “In my opinion, when companies or institutions cave to Trump despite the law being on their side, they are not misunderstanding the law; they are making educated guesses that the U.S. is heading in a direction where, in practice, the law won’t matter.”
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To defend free speech and stop the rise of authoritarianism, the left needs to organize to change this cost/benefit analysis. One obvious move would be to boycott companies such as Disney (which owns ABC). Another would be to pressure Democratic politicians to guarantee that they will punish any corporate or institutional surrender to Trump that violates democratic principles.
The heartening truth is that the new authoritarianism is far less rooted in a popular consensus than the Second Red Scare was. Trump is the head of a minority faction, and polling shows he has historically low approval ratings. Organizing against Trump’s authoritarianism is both necessary and politically sound. As scary as Trump’s attack on free speech is, the real danger is not the president but an opposition that refuses the courage this moment requires.
Don’t let JD Vance silence our independent journalism
On September 15, Vice President JD Vance attacked The Nation while hosting The Charlie Kirk Show.
In a clip seen millions of times, Vance singled out The Nation in a dog whistle to his far-right followers. Predictably, a torrent of abuse followed.
Throughout our 160 years of publishing fierce, independent journalism, we’ve operated with the belief that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. We’ve been criticized by both Democratic and Republican officeholders—and we’re pleased that the White House is reading The Nation. As long as Vance is free to criticize us and we are free to criticize him, the American experiment will continue as it should.
To correct the record on Vance’s false claims about the source of our funding: The Nation is proudly reader-supported by progressives like you who support independent journalism and won’t be intimidated by those in power.
Vance and Trump administration officials also laid out their plans for widespread repression against progressive groups. Instead of calling for national healing, the administration is using Kirk’s death as pretext for a concerted attack on Trump’s enemies on the left.
Now we know The Nation is front and center on their minds.
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Bhaskar Sunkara
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