AlterNet
When Disney/ABC suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel last week, Trump supporters quickly rallied to the President’s defense, insisting that Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr had not threatened the media company and that President Donald Trump was uninvolved in either the FCC’s actions or Disney’s decision. His critics — and even some prominent supporters — disagreed.
The President last night strongly suggested in a social media post that the critics were correct.
Back in July, Trump suggested that several late-night hosts should, or would, be fired — among them, Kimmel.
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show. “These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television. It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
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The President’s supporters — some perhaps mindful of the First Amendment implications of a sitting president pressuring for a talk show’s cancellation and of the FCC chairman’s threats against Disney/ABC — have been insisting the suspension (or “cancellation”) was nothing more than a business decision driven by ratings and profits.
The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins wrote one week ago: “A lot of the people currently mocking government-censorship concerns about the Kimmel suspension seem genuinely to have missed that the FCC Chair straightforwardly threatened ABC over his monologue: ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’”
On Tuesday night, President Trump lashed out, appearing to threaten ABC with some form of action after it decided to end Kimmel’s suspension.
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“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump wrote on his social media website Tuesday night. “The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled! Something happened between then and now because his audience is GONE, and his ‘talent’ was never there. Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE. He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution. I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers! Let Jimmy Kimmel rot in his bad Ratings.”
Kimmel’s first show back, Tuesday night, reportedly drew massive viewership on YouTube, according to CNN, after the two largest ABC affiliate owners, Sinclair and Nexstar, refused to air the show.
Sarah Longwell, founder and publisher of The Bulwark, on Wednesday responded to Trump’s latest threat, writing: “It’s important to remember that anyone who argued that ABC wasn’t acting at the behest of government pressure is both a liar and a fool.”
Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias also weighed in on the President’s comment: “A lot of right-wing people keep trying to explain that what’s going on with Trump and Kimmel isn’t the government trying to censor network television but Trump keeps clarifying that’s exactly what’s happening.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the President’s threat on Wednesday:
“This is a test of democracy,” Leader Schumer told MSNBC. “That is what dictatorships do. That is what autocracies do. And Trump seems to have this penchant that anyone he doesn’t agree with, he wants to shut up. That’s a dagger to the heart of America.”
The New Republic’s Greg Sargent looked at Trump’s remarks from a different angle:
“Trump’s explosion of rage last night over ABC’s reinstatement of Jimmy Kimmel shouldn’t be greeted with fear and weepy hand-wringing. It should be seen as a sign that his authoritarian designs are running into very deep resistance and that he’s weak and losing on many fronts.”
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