Jimmy Kimmel’s bosses sold us all

Donald Trump deplored the fact that the United States has not won a major war since 1945. But the president could soon claim the credit for having broken this sequence, because he won his war against one of his most implacable enemies: television shows at the end of the evening.

For decades, the hosts in these programs have laughed at the American presidents of both parties. These gibes against the commander -in -chief were generally treated as what they are: a normal and benign cultural ritual in a country which is ostensibly proud of its traditions of freedom of expression and dissent. But Trump, like all potential authorities, has thin skin and no ability to make fun of himself. As a star Ancian of reality, he remains excessively obsessed with television shows and notes, seeing celebrities like rivals to fall. It is often reduced against programs that launch it, as Saturday Night Live (which he threatened to continue in 2019).

The late evening shows have survived Trump’s first term. But it is not clear that they will survive its second – especially because the companies which have them continue to give in to the president. In July, CBS announced that it would cancel The late show When the contract of the host Stephen Colbert expires next May. This decision was clearly an attempt to make Trump at a time when the white house regulators evaluated a media Skydance offer to buy Paramount, the mother company of CBS. The offer was approved later this month. Trump retaliated with Colbert’s dismissal and wrote: “The next step will be an even less talented Jimmy Kimmel, then, a weak and very unsure Jimmy Fallon.”

On Wednesday, ABC offered its own end of evening sacrifice to Trump. The network announced that it was drawing Jimmy Kimmel’s show from the “indefinitely” air. The immediate cause: Kimmel’s comments criticizing right -handers for capitalizing on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. During his Monday monologue in his show, Kimmel said: “We hit new stockings during the weekend with the gang Maga trying desperately to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them, and do everything they can to score political points.”

Quite examined, these words were neither offensive nor false. Kimmel did not say that the killer was definitely part of the “Gang Maga” – he opposed the way in which Maga replied to the shooting. But the law has seized them and has badly loaded them as claiming that the assassin was a supporter of Trump. One of those who pursued Kimmel were Brendan Carr, president of the Federal Communications Commission, who indicated that he could use the regulatory power of his agency to punish ABC. On a podcast on Wednesday, Carr said: “Frankly, when you see things like this – I mean we can do it the simplest or hard way. These companies may find ways to change driving and act, frankly, on Kimmel, or there will be additional work for the FCC to come. ”

These words were clearly a threat and had their expected impact. Responding to a journalist asking him about Kimmel’s suspension, Carr returned a GIF of characters from The office Make “lift the roof” movements. Trump again took a victory tour, publishing on Truth Social:

Excellent news for America: the disputed notes on Jimmy Kimmel’s show are canceled. Congratulations to ABC for having finally had the courage to do what should be done. Kimmel has no talent and notes worse than even Colbert, if possible. This leaves Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyer]Two total losers, on the false NBC news. Their notes are also horrible. Do it NBC !!! President DJT

The fact that Trump’s war against the end-of-evening talk shows is ridiculous should not hide the fact that it is dangerous. It is an integral part of the greatest attack on freedom of expression since the McCarthy era in the early 1950s (which is more precisely designated the second red fear).

Colbert and Kimmel are the most visible examples of the current repression of freedom of expression, but they are far from alone. The repression actually precedes the term Trump. He was ignited as part of a more common effort to crush the criticism of the Israel genocide in Gaza. As with the second red fear, the liberals were ignored or were accomplices of this first phase of repression of freedom of expression, which was considered acceptable because his victims were mainly radicals. But just as they did during the McCarthyism, the liberals discovered that the reactionaries authorized by going after the radicals will soon also continue after the Liberals.

Examples of repression of freedom of expression are now omnipresent and include universities that are serving teachers and journalists dismissed from newspapers such as The Washington Post. On Monday, the newspaper licensed the columnist Karen Attiah, apparently for perfectly reasonable publications on Charlie Kirk.

The current repression of freedom of expression is activated by the cowardice of institutions. The legendary Late show The host David Letterman, who retired in 2015, regularly referred to his employers on NBC and CBS as “Show Business Weasels”. These company belettes are always in charge and even more piercing and predatory than ever.

Report of Roller clearly indicates that Kimmel’s suspension was motivated by pure cowardice:

In the hours preceding the decision to draw Kimmel, two sources familiar with the problem say that the senior executives of ABC, its Disney owner and the affiliates summoned emergency meetings to understand how to minimize damage. Several leaders said Kimmel had said nothing above the line, say the two sources, but the threat of reprisals from the Trump administration is looming.

“They were pissed all day,” an ABC initiate told Rolling Stone.

Roller Also drawn attention to the clear economic reason behind the capitulation of ABC:

Carr’s request that approved broadcasters refuse from Air Kimmel show – and the rapid compliance of Nexstar with this request – go as the company prepares a business merger which will require the approval of the FCC.

The political economy of the new authoritarianism is clear: in an more and more rather rather -ocratic America, where a handful of societies control most of the media, an authoritarian president like Trump can easily destroy freedom of expression. The corporate belettes (and other elite institutions) calculate that Trump has the immediate power to hurt them, and that they will not suffer any penalty to go to Trump if / when the Democrats are back to power.

Lawyer Matthew Segal suggested a darker possibility: “In my opinion, when companies or institutions are Trump despite the law on their side, they do not understand the misunderstanding law; They make informed assumptions that the United States is heading in a direction where, in practice, the law did not count. ”

To defend freedom of expression and stop the rise of authoritarianism, the left must be organized to modify this analysis of costs / advantages. An obvious decision would be to boycott companies such as Disney (which owns ABC). Another would be to put pressure on democratic politicians to guarantee that they will punish any delivery of companies or institutional to Trump which violates democratic principles.

The encouraging truth is that new authoritarianism is much less rooted in popular consensus than the second red fear. Trump is the chief of a minority faction, and the survey shows that he has historically weak approval notes. The organization against Trump’s authoritarianism is both necessary and politically solid. As scary as Trump’s attack on freedom of expression, the real danger is not the president but an opposition which refuses the courage that this moment requires.