Our thin-skinned president particularly wanted to get rid of late-night comedians who made fun of him for years. Trump bullied networks and got Stephan Colbert's show canceled (effective May 2026) for starters.
Then he bragged Jimmy Kimmel would be next. And so, it was. Kimmel was canceled. The purge isn't going to end there, however. Trump's talking about Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers being his next targets.
Who officially made the decision to cancel Kimmel?
Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden made the decision to preempt the show indefinitely. It really helped that Trump had given them their marching orders to eliminate Kimmel's show weeks ago. It should be interesting to see if Kimmel comes back (with no apology) or if he sues their asses off.
Kimmel's suspension comes alongside wider efforts by Trump and other conservatives to police speech following Charlie Kirk's killing.
Will defending the First Amendment unite the majority of Americans? We're at a crossroad right now - today - where our freedom of speech is withering away beneath this newly formed authoritarian regime.
Former President Barack Obama wrote in a social media post recently that the current administration had reached a "new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn't like" and that media companies needed to stand up to the "government coercion" rather than capitulate to it.
Well said.
Free speech is under siege by a corrupt regime that seeks to dominate every area of our lives. Books are being censored at a rate that the Nazi party would have been proud of. Libraries are under siege from far-right Christian groups who want to install alternate realities in their version of the nation's history.
Senate Democrats yesterday accused the Trump regime of using Charlie Kirk's murder to silence critics. They pointed out it was a blatant case of censorship and state-controlled speech. The Republican reaction was an extended yawn before changing the subject.
Because they are minority in Congress, the Democrats can only bring up the violations of free speech which occur on a regular basis. Republicans have stifled every effort to bring resolutions to the floor to investigate the numerous crimes the Trump regime has - and is - committing.
As it Stands, sadly, I'm not even sure if free speech rights are something the majority of Americans are capable of rallying around. I say this because the polarized society we currently exist in has two versions of the Constitution and the truth.
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